On December 14 , 2012 , a 20-year-old man , Adam Lanza , killed 26 people at a local elementary school in a tragedy which gained international attention . The dead included twenty children and six members of the school staff . Additionally , the shooter 's own mother was found shot to death in her home elsewhere in the town . Initial reports indicated that Lanza might have attended middle school there
killed 26 people
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
St. Rose of Lima Church (Newtown, Connecticut)