US gunman visited shooting range

Dec 17 2012

US school gunman Adam Lanza visited an shooting range before the attack in Connecticut but have not concluded whether he practised shooting there.

Ginger Colburn, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, would not identify the range in question or say how recently he was there.She said investigators have concluded that Lanza's mother Nancy visited shooting ranges several times.

Ms Colburn said it is still not clear whether she took her son to the range or whether he ever fired a weapon there.

President Barack Obama has arrived in Newtown to console families and speak at a vigil in memory of the 26 teachers and schoolchildren killed during the shooting spree.This is the fourth trip of Mr Obama's presidency to a grieving city in the aftermath of a mass shooting.

In his remarks, Mr Obama will be addressing not only the residents of Newtown, but also a stunned nation.

A White House official said he was the primary author of his speech and edited his remarks on the flight to Connecticut with White House speechwriter Cody Keenan.

Mr Keenan helped the president write his speech last year after the shootings in Tucson, Arizona, that killed six and wounded 13, including Representative Gabby Giffords.

Authorities say Lanza shot his mother in the head four times, then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School with enough ammunition to kill every student. He killed 26 people, then shot himself as police arrived.

Lanza blasted his way into the school building in Newtown and used a high-powered rifle to kill 20 children and six adults, including the principal and school psychologist who tried to stop him.

Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy said Lanza shot himself after about 10 minutes of shooting as first responders entered the building.

A law enforcement official said Lanza had "lots of ammo" on him when he died, enough to carry out significant additional carnage.

"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," Mr Malloy said in a TV interview.