The unhinged gunman who slaughtered 26 children and adults yesterday in a elementary school arrived with guns blazing — blasting his way into the building, according to Connecticut State police.
“He was not voluntarily let into the school at all,” Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance said at a Saturday morning press conference outside Sandy Hook Elementary School, where Adam Lanza unleashed one of the worst massacres in US history before committing suicide.
“He forced his way into the school.”
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Vance said investigators at the school, as well as a secondary crime scene — the home of Lanza’s mother, Nancy, who was also found dead — have uncovered “very good evidence,” that will be able to “paint the how, and more importantly, the why.”
But the investigation won’t be completed for up to two days or longer, Vance cautioned.
“We have done everything we need to do to peel back the onion,” Vance said at the press conference, which was delayed over two hours.
Lanza — a string bean-thin goth kid described by friends as a “genius” — first shot his mother then drove to the school in her car with at least three of her guns: a Glock and a SIG Sauer, and a .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle. And the gunman had access to even more guns than the trio found at the school — cops recovered a .45-caliber Henry repeating rifle, a .22-caliber Marlin rifle, and a .30-caliber Enfield rifle, a law enforcement source told CNN.
After shooting his way into the building, Lanza, dressed in black and wearing a bullet-proof vest — opened fire in two classrooms at around 9:30 am.
A hero custodian ran through the hallways sounding the alarm, and teachers quickly scrambled to protect their young charges, locking classroom doors as they waited for sick sound of gunfire to stop.
The school’s beloved principal, Dawn Hochsprung — who started the morning with cheery messages on Twitter — was among the dead.
On Thursday, Lanza was involved with an “altercation” with four school staffers, according to NBC.
Only one of those staffers — a teacher shot in the foot — survived yesterday's carnage.
Vance described that teacher as “instrumental” to the investigation.
As soon as investigators are done combing through every “crack and crevice” inside and outside the building, officials would release a list of all the names of the victims — 20 of whom are children, Vance said. He did say that all of the victims had been identified.
Vance added that a trooper or an officer has been assigned to parents to help “maintain their solitude.”
Vance refused to name Lanza, 20, and said the shooter’s name would be released at the same time as the victims.
The senseless killings touched families across the region and the globe.
“The members of the NYC Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association join the nation and the world in sending our thoughts and prayers to all of those who lost a loved one in the senseless shooting at the Sandy Hook school, especially to our colleague Lt. James Giblin, whose nephew was lost to this tragedy,” said PBA president Patrick J. Lynch said.
“We will also keep the first responders, the police, EMS and everyone whose difficult job causes them to deal with the aftermath of this tragedy in our thoughts and we stand ready to offer any assistance we can give to help them get through this horrific event. We pray that we will never see another tragedy like this again.”
A crisis intervention team from Yale University is being set up to help stunned residents of bucolic Newtown — a close-knit community of about 27,000 that’s 60 miles northeast of New York City — cope with the tragedy.
With Post Wire Services
gbuiso@nypost.com
