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| A makeshift memorial with crosses for the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre stands outside a home in Newtown, Conn., Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013, the one-year anniversary of the shootings. |
NEWTOWN, Conn.
(AP) -- Bells tolled 26 times to honor the children and educators
killed one year ago in a shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary
School as local churches held memorial services and the country marked
the anniversary with events including a White House moment of silence.
With
snow falling and homes decorated with Christmas lights, Newtown looked
every bit the classic New England town, with a coffee shop and general
store doing steady business. But reminders of the private grief were
everywhere. "God bless the families," read a sign posted at one house in
the green and white colors of the Sandy Hook school, and a church
posted that it was "open for prayer."
Ryan
Knaggs, a chef who lives in Newtown, said that as the bells tolled he
thought of two young victims who played soccer with his 7-year-old
daughter.
"The echo of the bells, knowing some
of the children personally, you feel the exactitude with each bell ...
the exactitude of the loss and the grief," Knaggs said.
The
bells rang 26 times at St. Rose of Lima church in Newtown beginning at
9:30 a.m. - the moment the gunman shot his way into the school on Dec.
14, 2012 - and names of the victims were read over a loudspeaker.
Connecticut's governor had asked for bells to ring across Connecticut
and directed that flags be lowered to half-staff.
In
Washington, the president and first lady Michelle Obama lit 26 votive
candles set up on a table in the White House Map Room - one each for the
20 children and six educators.
In his weekly
radio address released hours earlier, Obama said the nation hasn't done
enough to make its communities safer by keeping dangerous people from
getting guns and healing troubled minds. Gun restrictions backed by the
president in response to the shooting faced stiff opposition and
ultimately stalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
"We
have to do more to keep dangerous people from getting their hands on a
gun so easily. We have to do more to heal troubled minds. We have to do
everything we can to protect our children from harm and make them feel
loved, and valued, and cared for," Obama said.
Anniversary
observances were held around the country, including in Tucson, Ariz.,
where former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband were
planting a yellow rose bush in a memorial garden created after the 2011
shooting that nearly killed her. Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, said it
is important to pause and support families of the Newtown victims.
In
Denver, a day after a student critically wounded a classmate and killed
himself at Colorado's Arapahoe High School, more than 200 people
gathered to sing and offer prayers for Newtown.
Newtown asked for quiet and privacy on the anniversary.
Satellite
television trucks filled Newtown's streets in the days after the
shooting, and media have often returned since to the community of 28,000
people for stories related to the attack.
In
an effort to keep the anniversary focused on quiet reflection, First
Selectman E. Patricia Llodra announced in October that Newtown would not
host any formal remembrance events. The news media were asked to keep
their distance, and "No Media" signs went up around town as they did in
the weeks after the tragedy.
Some news
organizations stayed away Saturday from Newtown. A reporter and
photographer for The Associated Press, whose reports are available to
media worldwide, were present in the community, and some townspeople
were willing to share their thoughts.
Andrew Snow, a mechanic who was drinking coffee at the general store with a friend, said it was an especially difficult day.
"You
kind of hope the town can put it behind without actually forgetting
about the victims," said Snow, who grew up in Newtown and is moving back
from nearby Southbury to support the community. "But it's not easy to
do. I think about it every day."
The gunman,
Adam Lanza, shot and killed his mother inside their Newtown home before
driving to the school and took his own life as police arrived.
