A press conference is underway in Newtown, Connecticut, where medical examiner Dr. Wayne Carver is speaking about up to the minute findings in the tragedy at Sandy Hook.
Dr. Wayne Carver is taking questions on the shootings, visibly bothered by the carnage and confirming all victims are classified as gunshot homicides.
One of the first statements Carver made was that the situation was the most troubling he’d seen, and that he had seen “thousands” of gunshot deaths. He said:
“I’ve been at this for a third of a century, but this is probably the worst I have seen.”
Laughing nervously, the medical examiner has declined some questions, saying press must wait for the official victims list and shutting down one question about what child victims were wearing, saying “kid stuff,” or stuff one would send a child to school wearing.
Carver confirmed that victim identifications of children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary were done by photo, which he says is easier on the parents. He also says that above all else, the department’s goal was “to get the kids out and available to the funeral directors first.”
Another question asked was regarding the ages of the child victims, to which Carver replied:
“I believe there were all first graders … I believe everybody was hit more than once.”
Following Carver’s remarks, a Connecticut State Police spokesman confirmed that each family has been assigned an officer to, among other things, enforce the family’s privacy rights.
The spokesman also says that gunman Adam Lanza has not yet been officially identified as the shooter, and policy dictates no public confirmation will follow until he is positively ID’d.
