State Police: All 26 Newtown victims shot with assault rifle

State Police Lt. J Paul Vance speaks at a press conference in Newtown, Conn., following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School Dec. 14, 2012. State Police Lt. J Paul Vance speaks at a press conference in Newtown, Conn., following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School Dec. 14, 2012. Photo: Ned Gerard Photo: Ned Gerard Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close State Police: All 26 Newtown victims shot with assault rifle 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Lt. J. Paul Vance, the face of an ongoing Connecticut State Police investigation into worst grade-school shooting in U.S. history, Thursday debunked media and Internet reports that Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza killed his victims with handguns and not the Bushmaster XM-15 E2S rifle that is now the focus of a proposed federal assault-weapons ban.

All 26 of Lanza's victims were shot with the .223-caliber semi-automatic rifle, said Vance, who bristled at claims to the contrary during an interview with Hearst Connecticut Newspapers.

"It's all these conspiracy theorists that are trying to mucky up the waters," said Vance, the longtime state police spokesman.

Multiple Second Amendment and gun owner websites have attempted to cast doubts on whether the Bushmaster XM-15, a type of AR-15 rifle that is currently legal, was used in the Dec. 14 carnage done by Lanza.

Some have cited a Dec. 15 "Today" show video clip from the day after the shooting, in which NBC News Justice Department correspondent Pete Williams said that four handguns were recovered inside Sandy Hook Elementary School and that the Bushmaster rifle was found in the trunk of a car owned by Lanza's slain mother, Nancy Lanza.

"There's no doubt that the rifle was used solely to kill 26 people in that school," Vance said.

Twenty children ages 7 and under and six female educators were killed when Lanza forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and sprayed the occupants with bullets before turning a gun on himself.

Vance said he made it abundantly clear during his media briefings since the tragedy that Lanza carried out the shooting with the Bushmaster.

"I personally articulated that probably a dozen times in Newtown," Vance said.

The only time Lanza used a handgun at the school was to commit suicide, according to Vance.

The state police went so far as a to issue a news release on Jan. 18 listing the weapons recovered from inside the school, which included the Bushmaster, a Glock 10mm handgun and a Sig-Sauer P226 9mm handgun. An Izhmash Canta-12 12-gauge shotgun was taken from the trunk of the suspect's car.

Sales of AR-15 assault rifles would be banned under the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013, which was introduced Thursday on Capitol Hill and is being sponsored by Connecticut Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, as well as Newtown's new U.S. representative, Elizabeth Esty. Democratic Rep. Jim Himes, whose district immediately borders Newtown, is also a co-sponsor.

"There's no question that the AR-15 was used, the Bushmaster shot those children with multiple rounds and was instrumental in the massacre," Blumenthal told Hearst Newspapers on Thursday after a Capitol Hill news conference. "Those children and educators might well be alive today if not for the assault weapon and high-capacity magazines."

A message thread titled "AR-15 was NOT used in Newtown CT Shooting!" appeared Wednesday on the website AR15.com, which accused media outlets such as CNN and host Piers Morgan of running with the story to promote its liberal anti-gun agenda.

"I remember in the initial hours of this shooting, the police said they found the rifle in the car," the anonymous poster wrote. "But the administration-controlled (mainstream media) had a pre-planned attack already waiting, to ban so-called assault weapons and jumped on that line of reporting, knowing it was a lie, which included people like Piers Morgan who said the shooter used an AR-15 that shoots hundreds of rounds per minute, as if it were a machine gun."

Blumenthal had not heard of the chatter.

"The shotgun was in the trunk of the car," Blumenthal said. "The Bushmaster and two pistols were brought into the schoolhouse."

In a statement, Himes questioned whether gun owners need the firepower of weapons like the Bushmaster.

"It does not take a military-style gun to kill a deer, have fun at the shooting range or protect your family," Himes said. "This bill strikes an ideal balance between keeping our communities safe and preserving the freedoms of American gun owners. I look forward to working with my colleagues to send this bill to the president's desk."

A message seeking comment from Bushmaster Firearms International was left Thursday at its Madison, N.C., headquarters.

neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy