Rebecca Baker and Abbott Koloff

NorthJersey.com

President Obama promised to use the power of the presidency to end gun violence during a prayer vigil Sunday night in Newtown, Conn., making his most powerful and emotional statement to date on the subject.



“We have to change,” Obama said during a prayer vigil. “No single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil in the world. But that can’t be an excuse for inaction.”



The president wiped away tears as he talked about the 20 children and six adults who died in Friday’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. He did not mention gun control specifically, falling short of making a policy speech, but said the U.S. has failed as a society to protect its children.



“We can’t tolerate this anymore,” he said. “These tragedies must end.”



Obama met with families of victims in a town that was choked with traffic, mourning residents, curiosity-seekers and media. In the aftermath of the second deadliest mass shooting in the nation’s history, churches were packed but one closed for the day after an unspecified phone threat.



The gunman killed 27 people, including his mother at the home they shared earlier in the day, then committed suicide.



The president began his speech by telling Newtown residents that they are not alone in their grief, and that the nation mourns with them. He then said the United States is “left with some hard questions.”



“Can we truly say as a nation that we are meeting our obligations?” he said. “I have been reflecting on this the last few days and the answer is, no, we’re not doing enough, and we will have to change.”



It was the fourth time he had visited a community in the aftermath of a mass shooting, and the first time that he talked about using the power of his office to do something about gun violence. Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy said Obama told him that Friday, the day of the shooting, had been his most difficult day as president.

People who saw Obama speak at Newtown High School said afterward that they were comforted by Obama’s words and impressed by his emotion.



“He spoke as a parent,” said Yovany Cruz of Southbury, Conn., who attended the prayer vigil with her 5-year-old son, Isaiah. “We can do more, much more, to raise our children with humanity. It’s not easy, but it’s something as a parent you have to do.”



The shooting spurred more talk Sunday about gun control by some Democrat lawmakers and retiring U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, who called for a ban on military-style weapons and the establishment of a national commission to examine what to do about an epidemic of mass shootings.



As shock waves from the shooting continued to ripple across the nation, police said Sunday that the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, planned an even deadlier attack than the one he carried out. He had hundreds of unused bullets, enough to kill just about every child in the 607-student school, officials said. They said the bullets were designed to break up inside a victim’s body, tearing apart bone and tissue, and were in high-capacity clips that hold as many as 30 rounds each.



Lanza committed suicide shortly after police entered the building.

“There was a lot of ammo, a lot of clips,” said a spokesman for the Connecticut State Police, Lt. Paul Vance, adding that police showing up when they did prevented more deaths. “Certainly a lot of lives were potentially saved.”



Two days after the shooting, the streets of Newtown were clogged with traffic and people crowded into a public space at the center of the town, called The Glen, which had become a memorial for the victims. People lined up to get inside Newtown High School for the vigil about 5 p.m., two hours before it was scheduled to begin.

A Connecticut woman, Cindy Carter, who said her son was fatally shot in 1999, said she believed Obama was going to do something to end gun violence after hearing him speak.



“I felt peace tonight,” she said. “I really believe in my heart he’s going to take care of this.”



Carter’s daughter-in-law, Amber Carter, who has a 3-year-old son, said people in the overflowing auditorium held hands during the vigil.



“It was pure solace,” she said of Obama’s talk. “Our president knows our pain. When he spoke, you felt it.”

One Newtown resident, Greg Williams, said he expected the president’s visit to help the community heal. He said he has three children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and each had friends who were killed there Friday. His children, he said, are receiving counseling.

“We’re looking for ways to heal,” said Williams. “The president’s visit is part of that process.”



After the vigil, Williams’ wife, Olga, said the president’s words provided comfort. “He said what needed to be said,” she said. “We’re tired of this; I think everyone’s tired of this.”

Motive unknown

Adam Lanza shot his mother, Nancy, four times in the head, killing her while she was in bed in her pajamas before driving her car to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he used a high-powered, semiautomatic rifle to kill 20 children and six adults before committing suicide, officials have said.



Police said on Sunday that they did not find a note and were still trying to determine why Lanza targeted children. Initial reports had his mother working at the school. Officials now say that was not the case.



The mass shooting was the second-deadliest in the nation’s history, exceeded only by the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting that left 33 people, including the gunman, dead. This year, there have been seven mass shootings in which four or more people were killed, claiming 65 lives.

Lanza used a .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle, said an official with knowledge of the investigation. That’s the same type of gun used in the 2002 sniper killings in the Washington, D.C., area. Two handguns, a Glock 10mm and a Sig Sauer 9mm, also were found at the scene, officials said. The guns used in the shooting were registered to Lanza’s mother, and had been legally purchased, officials said.



Lanza shot students and adults in one classroom and had moved to another as first responders entered the building, Malloy said.



“We surmise that it was during the second classroom episode that he heard responders coming and apparently at that decided to take his own life,” Malloy said on ABC’s “This Week.”



All the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School were shot with the rifle, some at close range, and apparently all were shot more than once, said Chief Medical Examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver. Some were shot as many as 11 times, he said. Adam Lanza died of a gunshot wound to the head from a 10mm gun, and the bullet was recovered in a classroom wall, said another official, who asked to remain anonymous.



Carver said the children did not suffer for long, if at all. Parents identified dead children through photos, to spare them the trauma of identifying the bodies, Carver said. He said he did not know how many bullets had been fired.



“I’m lucky if I can tell you how many I found,” he said.



Some politicians called the shooting a “tipping point” in the gun-control debate. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she will propose legislation next year to ban large-capacity clips of more than 10 rounds of ammunition. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Obama could use executive powers to enforce existing gun laws and support legislation such as Feinstein’s.



“It’s time for the president, I think, to stand up and lead and tell this country what we should do,” Bloomberg said.

Gun-rights supporters

Gun rights advocates were scarce on news talk shows Sunday. David Gregory, host of “Meet the Press,” said NBC invited all 31 “pro-gun” senators to appear on Sunday’s show, and they all declined. However, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, defended the sale of assault weapons on Fox News Sunday and said Sandy Hook Elementary School’s principal, who died trying to overtake the shooter, should have been armed.



In Newtown, thousands of stuffed animals began pouring in for children. One Connecticut man, Jason Miclette, brought 1,500 stuffed animals collected at a Manchester, Conn., gas station in a minivan. Teddy bears were scattered among hundreds of bouquets of flowers at the memorial at The Glen.



The first two funerals for shooting victims — Noah Pozner and Jack Pinto, both 6-year-olds — were scheduled for Monday.



One church, St. Rose of Lima, closed for the day after someone phoned in an unspecified threat. Hundreds poured out of the building during the noon Mass after worshipers said they were told to leave for their safety.



One woman in the church, Anna Woods, said she choked up when she overheard a little boy ask his mother why they had to go. “I looked up and said, if anything has to happen, please protect the kids,” she said.



A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Brian Wallace, said a threat had been phoned in during the noon mass. He declined to describe the nature of the threat but said it was “credible enough” for police to be concerned. He said the church campus would remain closed for the rest of the day as priests prepared funerals for eight victims.



“I don’t think anybody can be surprised by anything after what’s occurred,” Wallace said of the phone threat. “Obviously, it’s an enormously trying time.”



Newtown school officials could not say when, if ever, Sandy Hook Elementary School would reopen. Students were expected to attend classes this week at schools in nearby Monroe, officials said. But it wasn’t clear whether parents were ready to send their children to school this week.



“We’re just now getting ready to talk to our son about who was killed,” said Robert Licata, the father of a boy who was at the school during the shooting but was unharmed. “He’s not even there yet.”

School assemblies

The shooting had repercussions across the nation, including in North Jersey, as educators struggled with what to tell students when schools reopen Monday.



Officials at Paterson’s School 4 planned to hold assemblies today to talk to students about the shootings. Bergenfield guidance counselors and administrators planned to meet early today to talk about ways to make children feel safe. At Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County, in New Milford, middle school students will wear the colors of the Sandy Hook Elementary School, green and white.



Bernard Josefsberg, a former Leonia superintendent who now is in charge of three school districts bordering Newtown, said he was struggling to write a letter to parents. The focus, he said, would be on returning to comforting routines.



“Some parents are telling me their kids are concerned about going back to school,” he said. “It’s worse to keep your children home. You want your kids to be with their friends and teachers.”



A service to remember the victims will be held Monday night at The Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, where the minister, the Rev. Kathleen Green, is a former Newtown resident. Her daughter, Brook, now 25, attended Sandy Hook.



“This has hit us quite hard,” she said. “We need a space to grieve, even though we may not have a direct connection to those who lost their lives.” Green said she hopes clergy from other faiths attend the vigil, which is open to the public.



A Newtown school bus driver, Nancy LaLaberte, said the size of the public memorial seemed to have tripled from Saturday to Sunday, and that the tragedy had brought the community together. She said she doesn’t know what she will say to the students on her route, which does not include Sandy Hook, when classes resume.



“The kids, they’re so traumatized,” she said. “What can you tell them? All you can do is love them.”



Before Sunday’s vigil, residents recalled those who were killed, some as they risked their lives to help children at the school. Victoria Soto, a 27-year-old teacher, apparently died while trying to hide her pupils. Dawn Hochsprung, 47, the principal, and Mary Sherlach, 56, the school psychologist, both were killed as they lunged toward the gunman in an attempt to stop him, officials said.



Leslie Brody and Deena Yellin contributed to this report, which includes material from The Associated Press. Email: koloff@northjersey.com