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Newtown Residents Stunned Day After Sandy Hook Shooting

NEWTOWN, Conn. – Newtown residents Saturday were reeling as they began to learn the names of victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook School

Sign posted in Sandy Hook center Saturday expresses remorse for the mass slayings at Sandy Hook School.

Sign posted in Sandy Hook center Saturday expresses remorse for the mass slayings at Sandy Hook School.

Photo Credit: Ken Liebeskind

As of 3 p.m., Saturday, authorities had not officially released the names of the 20 students and six staff members who died. 

“I’m scared and I’m scared for my brother, Henry, who’s nine years old, he has a lot of good friends there.” said Molly Villodas, 11, a student at the nearby St. Rose school, which was locked down after yesterday’s shootings.

“We were at mass when they told us there was a lockdown, then we finally got back to school and I was in the science lab hiding for two hours and all of a sudden I see police running into the school,” she said.

Megan Oslewski, 14, a freshman at Newtown High School, also experienced a lockdown. “We hid beneath the seats for three hours and I was really scared because I know one student there. Our school is a half mile down the road from Sandy Hook so we were hiding so he couldn’t see us,” she said of the shooter.

“Everyone knows families, we’re waiting on egg shells for the list,” Lauren DiMartino, a Newtown mother of two said, early Saturday afternoon as she walked back from the Sandy Hook center where residents had gathered.

Laura Ferraro, from New Milford said, “When they confirmed it it was awful, I still feel like I’m in a dream. You don’t see this kind of commotion in a town this size."

Ferraro is a patient care technician at Norwalk Hospital and said three victims of the shootings were sent to the hospital for treatment yesterday.

JR Shine and Connor Collier were collecting donations for victims’ families. “We do what we can to help out,” Shine said. “It’s devastating and there’s a tremendous amount of grief. Raising money helps us deal with the grief and helps the community get together.”

Oslewski said Newtown “is known for the wrong reason now, it’s the second worst shooting in America. I remember hearing about Columbine and never realized how serious it was until this happened. But this community is so tight. It’s good for people to stay together.”

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