Connecticut school shooting victims
A gunman forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., killing 20 children and six adults before committing suicide at the scene. Authorities have said the shooter, identified by law enforcement sources as Adam Lanza, 20, also killed his mother at their home prior to his rampage at the school.
Charlotte Bacon, 6
Charlotte’s uncle, John Hagen, remembered her as a girl who ran off the edge of a pontoon and jumped into a lake without a sliver of hesitation.
She loved animals, especially dogs, and her favorite place was the zoo. Using persistence to get her way, as she did with the holiday outfit, was typical of Charlotte.
“She was a fearless little girl. She was able to talk to any adult and carry on a conversation,” Hagen said. “She was outgoing. She would walk into room and just light up a room, she really would. She was a strong-willed young woman.”
Charlotte, who had curly dark red hair and blue eyes, was born in Chicago and moved to Connecticut with her family four or five years ago. Her father, Joel Bacon, is a scientist and her mother, JoAnn, is a homemaker, Hagen said.
Her brother, 9-year-old Guy, was also a student at Sandy Hook and survived the shooting.
Daniel Barden, 7
Daniel played the drums in a band with his brother James and sister Natalie, said his aunt Kathleen Giblin.
The Barden siblings were following in the footsteps of their father, Mark, a musician who performs locally.
Daniel also loved reading, swimming, soccer, foosball and chess, Giblin said.
In a photo provided by the family, Daniel has red hair, blue eyes and freckles. His two front teeth are missing.
The Barden family issued a statement describing Daniel as “always smiling, unfailingly polite, incredibly affectionate, fair and so thoughtful towards others, imaginative in play, both intelligent and articulate in conversation: in all, a constant source of laughter and joy.”
Rachel D’Avino, 29, school staff
Rachel D’Avino, 29, was working toward a doctorate at the University of Saint Joseph in Hartford. Her family said in an obituary that she had just finished her final requirements to become a board-certified behavior analyst, an occupation that had become her passion. Her best friend, Tony Cerritelli, had recently asked her parents for permission to marry her — he planned to propose Christmas Eve.
She loved animals, photography and karate. She had a knack for cooking and baking. But her biggest passion, her family wrote, was working with autistic children as a behavioral therapist. She treated her students like family, the obituary said, throwing holiday and crafting parties and welcoming them into her home.
A close friend from college said D’Avino was a recent hire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where she worked in special education. “She was one of the funniest, loudest, happiest people ever,” said the friend, who asked that her name not be used out of respect for the family. “She was willing to do absolutely anything for the kids she worked with.”
Olivia Engel, 6
At age 6, Olivia Engel seemed the life of the party. Seen in pictures shared by family friends, she visited Santa Claus and ate birthday cake, swung a pink baseball bat and posed on a boat, modeled a white dress and made silly faces.
“She loved attention,” Dan Merton, a longtime friend of the Engel family, said. “She had perfect manners, perfect table manners. She was the teacher’s pet, the line leader.”
On Friday, Merton said, she was excited to come home after school and make a gingerbread house.
“Her only crime,” he said, “is being a wiggly, smiley 6-year-old.”
Dawn Hochsprung, 47, principal
Principal Dawn Hochsprung, 47, was an irrepressible and happy administrator, beloved by students and parents alike. A married mother of two adult children, plus three stepchildren, she was also working toward her doctorate of education at the Esteves College of Education at the Sage Colleges near Albany, N.Y., an intense 27-month program that required her to attend courses on Friday evening and all day Saturday.
Esteves College Dean Lori Quigley said Hochsprung talked about making her school’s environment positive and “was all about school safety. … I have to say — her smile — you can see it in pictures. She is nonstop smiling. You rarely come across people who are as positive in their outlook, not only in life, but in their jobs. She really saw her job as serving her community.”
Dylan Hockley, 6
Dylan Hockley lived with his family across the street from the gunman and his mother, Nancy Lanza, 52, who was found dead in her home.
Dylan was born in Winchester, England, on March 8, 2006, according to an obituary.
In addition to his parents, Ian Thomas Hockley and Nicole Marie Hockley, he is survived by his brother, Jake Alexander Hockley; grandparents Henry and Theresa Moretti of Cranston, R.I.; grandparents Thomas and Ivy Hockley of Eastrea, England; and uncles Kevin Hockley of Peterborough, England, and Gary Hockley of Chicago.
Catherine Violet Hubbard, 6
Catherine Violet Hubbard was a first-grader at Sandy Hook Elementary school. On Saturday, her parents declined to speak with reporters, but emailed a statement: “We are greatly saddened by the loss of our beautiful daughter Catherine Violet and our thoughts and prayers are with the other families who have been affected by this tragedy.”
Catherine was known for her love of animals and constant smile, the Hubbard family said in an obituary released Sunday. The family said it “prays that she, all the other students of Sandy Hook Elementary and all those affected by this brutal event find peace in their hearts.”
Nancy Lanza
Nancy Lanza, mother of the shooter, was killed at home by her son, Adam Lanza, according to law enforcement sources, before he drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Rhonda Cullens, 52, who lives around the corner from the Lanza home on Founders Lane, described her as a short, thin woman with strawberry blond hair, a stay-at-home mother with two sons. Another neighbor, Gina McDade, said Nancy Lanza was “always chatty and well put-together.”
“She was a social person,” McDade said, adding that she felt sorry for Lanza and “the tarnishing of her family.”
Grace McDonnell, 7
Grace McDonnell lived a few miles southeast of the elementary school where a gunman took her life on Friday. At the door of the home on Saturday evening, a man in a plaid shirt declined to talk about Grace. He would not give his name. “We ask you to respect the family’s privacy,” he said. A young boy and girl peeked out from behind him in the doorway. “We are dealing with it,” he said politely before closing the door.
The family has released a statement: “We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from so many people. Our daughter Grace was the love and light of our family. Words cannot adequately express our sense of loss.”
Across the street, Andrew Domingos, 21, confirmed that Grace McDonnell lived in the house with her parents. Like Grace, Domingos had attended Sandy Hook Elementary School. He can’t believe this would happen here. “It’s shocking,” he said. “This is the last town where this would occur.”
Emilie Parker, 6
When her friends were feeling sad, Emilie Parker reached for the markers and colored pencils that she almost always carried.
“She never missed an opportunity to draw a picture or make a card for those around her,” her father, Robbie Parker, said. “I can’t count the number times Emilie… rushed to grab a piece of paper to draw them a picture or write them a note.”
She was bright, creative and loving, particularly to her 3- and 4-year-old sisters, Parker said. She taught them to dance, to read, to do arts and crafts. “They looked up to her,” Parker said. “It would be really sweet to see the times when one of them would fall or one of them would have their feelings hurt and would run to Emilie to get their support and hugs and kisses.”
Her father was teaching her Portuguese. The last words they exchanged were in that language, as Emilie got ready for school and Parker got ready for work.
She said good morning and asked how her dad was doing. Parker said he was doing well. She said she loved him.
“And I gave her a kiss,” Parker said, “and I was out the door.”
Jack Pinto, 6
Jack Pinto loved playing sports — flag football, baseball, basketball, wrestling and skiing were among his passions, his family said in an obituary released Sunday. His family described him as “incredibly loving and vivacious” with a “lively and giving spirit and steely determination.”
He idolized New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz, his favorite player, to the point, Cruz was told, that his parents were considering burying the boy in Cruz’s jersey, according to an Associated Press report.
Cruz, who was moved by the reports of his young fan, wrote the words “Jack Pinto ‘ My Hero’” on one shoe and “R.I.P. Jack Pinto” on the other before Sunday’s game.
According to Reuters, the first grader was also a member of the Newtown Youth Wrestling Assn. A Twitter account for the wrestling association said: “We’re sad to announce we’ve lost one of our youngest wrestlers. Our hearts ache for his family & all the families.”
“Jack will forever be remembered for the immeasurable joy he brought to all who had the pleasure of knowing him, a joy whose wide reach belied his six short years,” his family said in his obituary.
Noah Pozner, 6
Noah Pozner was “very very bright and mature,” said his uncle, Arthur Pozner.
“The questions he kept asking me, highly technical questions about a lot of things,” said Pozner, like how appliances and electronics worked. “He was curious about everything in life.”
Noah loved playing video games and was a social child, said Pozner, but he was also reserved, sometimes serious, and when he spoke to grown-ups “he would speak on an equal basis, like an adult.”
“The way he looks at people, his expression on his face,” said Pozner. “He would look into your eyes and analyze your answer, and maybe ask more questions. And he’d try to process everything.”
Noah’s twin sister, Arielle, is a first-grader at Sandy Hook but assigned to a different classroom, according to the Associated Press. She survived the attack.
Jessica Rekos, 6
Jessica Rekos, lifelong Sandy Hook resident, loved all things to do with horses. She watched movies about them, read books about them, and they were often featured in the 6-year-old’s drawings and stories. Her parents had promised her a real horse when she was older.
This Christmas, she’d asked Santa for new cowgirl boots and a cowgirl hat, her parents said in an obituary released Sunday.
“Jessica was our first born. She started our family, and she was our rock,” they said. “She had an answer for everything, she didn’t miss a trick and she outsmarted us every time.”
The Rekos family dubbed Jessica “our little CEO” because of her knack for carefully laid plans.
“We cannot imagine our life without her,” the family wrote. “We are devastated.”
She is survived by her parents, Krista and Richard, and her brothers Travis and Shane.
Lauren Rousseau, 30, substitute teacher
After six years as a part-time substitute teacher, Lauren Rousseau, 30, became a full-time substitute teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School last fall, according to reporter Robert Miller of the Danbury News-Times. Her mother, Teresa Rousseau, who is a copy editor at the News-Times, told the paper that her daughter lived at home. Working at Sandy Hook “was the best year of her life,” said Teresa Rousseau.
“She had so many interests — music, dance, theater,” her mother said. Her boyfriend told the paper they had planned to see “The Hobbit,” then attend a party on the night of the shooting.
Mary Sherlach, 56, school psychologist
Mary Sherlach enjoyed traveling with her husband, Bill. She spent her time in the garden, at the theater or nestled with a book. She also “truly enjoyed working” with staff, parents and children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., according to her teacher Web page. Sherlach described herself as “always ready to assist in problem solving, intervention and prevention.”
Her Web page said she had worked at the school as a psychologist since 1994. It described her and her husband, married for more than 30 years, as the “proud parents of two beautiful daughters, ages 25 and 28.”
Victoria Soto, 27, first-grade teacher
In the face of danger, she protected her students. As the gunman approached Room 10 on Friday morning, first-grade teacher Victoria Soto gathered her students and hid them in a closet.
“Regardless of the intimate details of what took place in that classroom,” Soto’s cousin Jim Wiltsie said, “she was doing what was right in her heart and what she was doing to protect her kids.”
Soto, 27, was in her third year of teaching first grade at Sandy Hook, she wrote on her teacher’s page for the school website. She graduated from Eastern Connecticut State University with degrees in elementary education and history. Before her death, she was studying for her master’s degree in special education at Southern Connecticut State University.
Soto lived in Stratford, Conn., with her black lab Roxie. She loved books, flamingos and the New York Yankees.
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Benjamin Wheeler loved his older brother Nate. His family described Ben as a “devoted fan.”
Together, Ben, 6, and Nate, 9, “filled the house with the noise of four children,” the Wheeler family said in a statement.
The Tiger Scout, piano player and soccer player had a desire to learn and eagerly awaited the school day where he had a growing group of friends, his family said.
On Friday — the day a gunman stormed his elementary school—Ben let his mother Francine in on his career plans: “I still want to be an architect, but I also want to be a paleontologist, because that’s what Nate is going to be and I want to do everything Nate does,” he said, according to the family’s statement.
Credits: Los Angeles Times staff and wire reports.