Newtown, Conn., braces for first funerals after school shooting - | News for Yuma, Imperial Valley, El Centro, AZ & CA

Newtown, Conn., braces for first funerals after school shooting and debates school’s future

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Mourners grieve at one of the makeshift memorials for victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. (Photo by: Associated Press) Mourners grieve at one of the makeshift memorials for victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. (Photo by: Associated Press)
Adam Lanza is shown in middle school in Newtown, Conn. An advisor says Lanza enjoyed tech club in high school but was prone to episodes of withdrawal. (Photo courtesy Kate Foy, MCT) Adam Lanza is shown in middle school in Newtown, Conn. An advisor says Lanza enjoyed tech club in high school but was prone to episodes of withdrawal. (Photo courtesy Kate Foy, MCT)

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — A grieving Connecticut town braced itself Monday to bury the first two of the 20 small victims of an elementary school gunman and debated when classes could resume — and where, given the carnage in the building and the children's associations with it.

The people of Newtown weren't yet ready to address the question just three days after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and a day after President Barack Obama pledged to seek change in memory of the children and six adults ruthlessly slain by a gunman packing a high-powered rifle.

"We're just now getting ready to talk to our son about who was killed," said Robert Licata, the father of a student who escaped harm during the shooting. "He's not even there yet."

Newtown officials couldn't say whether Sandy Hook Elementary, where authorities said all the victims were shot at least twice, would ever reopen. Monday classes were canceled, and the district was considering eventually sending surviving Sandy Hook students to a former school building in a neighboring town.

The gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, was carrying an arsenal of hundreds of rounds of especially deadly ammunition, authorities said Sunday — enough to kill just about every student in the school if given enough time, raising the chilling possibility that the bloodbath could have been even worse.

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