Connecticut School Shooting: President Obama Will Meet With Victims' Families on Sunday

Dec. 15, 2012 — -- President Obama will travel to Newtown, Conn., on Sunday to meet with the families of the the 26 people who were slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the White House said today.

The president, who will also meet with first responders, is scheduled to speak at an interfaith service in Newtown at 7 p.m., according to a statement from the Office of the Press Secretary.

One day after Obama addressed the nation, mourning the children who "had their entire lives ahead of them -- birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own," the world learned just how grim the scene inside Sandy Hook was.

The gunman massacred 20 first graders, shooting some of them as many as 11 times, the medical examiner said today.

"I've been at this for a third of a century so my sensibilities may not be the that of the average man, but it's probably the worst I've ever seen," said Chief Medical Examiner H. Wayne Carver II, who has been a medical examiner for 36 years.

A team of 14 medical technicians worked through the night to complete the grisly job of identifying the children killed by Adam Lanza, 20, in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre so their names could be released today.

Several weapons were found in the school, including a semi-automatic rifle.

"All the wounds that I know of at this point were caused by the long weapon," Carver said, and many were shot at close range.

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"I believe many of them were hit more than once," and he said the wounds were "all over" the children's bodies.

"I only did seven of the autopsies. The victims I had ranged from three to 11 wounds a piece," Carver said.

The names of the children slain Friday in the school were released today.

To carry out the identifications, Carver said they "did not bring the families and the bodies into contact." He said the identifications were made through photographs of the children's faces.

"It's easier on the families," he said.

Additional work is needed to complete the autopsies and identifications of the seven adults slain in Lanza's killing spree.

Fresh details of the massacre emerged, including the fact that all of the young victims were first graders in two rooms.

Based on the Sandy Hook school directory, all the kids killed were in the first grade and were in two classrooms.

In one class, 15 of the 16 students listed were killed. In the other class, five of the 16 students died along with their teacher, Victoria Soto. Also, nine of the deceased students have siblings in the school.

At a nearby firehouse that has become a center for the town, a makeshift memorial and vigil has emerged under a sign that reads "Sandy Hook School." People have left flowers, candles, signs that read "Rest in Peace" and "God Bless Sandy Hook Elementary," as well as a cross made of blue flowers and a wreath of teddy bears

With the tally of Lanza's carnage complete, authorities and the grieving people of Newtown are left to wonder why he turned the elementary school in this quaint New England town into a slaughter house.

Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance said the investigation "did produce some very good evidence" about motive, but he would not go into further detail.

He indicated the evidence came from the shooting scene at the school as well as at the home where Lanza's mother, Nancy, was slain.

Also key will be the lone person shot by Lanza who wasn't killed. The female teacher has not been publicly identified.