11 years after Sandy Hook shooting, a first responder and a grieving parent reflect

NEWTOWN, Conn. - (WFSB/Gray News) - Thursday marks 11 years since 26 students and staff were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

A few memorial services were scheduled; however, the expectation was that they would remain quiet and private.

Multiple members of law enforcement from multiple agencies responded to the school on Dec. 14, 2012. Lt. Paul Vance, now retired from the Connecticut State Police, was among them.

Since there had never been a tragedy of that specific nature and magnitude in the state before, Vance recalled the early hours of that morning when he headed to the school with limited information, ready to take action. Then he learned the horrific details.

“The examination of the scene, the observation of the tragedy, the broken-hearted parents, it was absolutely one of the worst scenes in my 43 years I ever responded to,” Vance said.

He also recalled having to navigate the release of information to families and the public.

“Our utmost priority was to the families of all the victims, the children and educators, that lost their lives that day, to make sure that we didn’t hurt them, No. 1, and as always in case it turned into an expanded criminal case, you wanted to be careful about releasing information,” Vance said.

Over the last 11 years, Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit organization that was born out of the aftermath of the shooting, has worked for gun violence prevention programs and policy making.

More than 9.8 million people have made The Sandy Hook Promise, a pledge that symbolizes a person’s commitment to protecting children from gun violence and preventing more families from suffering because of school shootings.

“Our nation continues to see families torn apart by gun violence,” said Mark Barden, co-founder and CEO of Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund.

Mark Barden is also the father of Daniel Barden, who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Barden said. “Gun violence is preventable – which is why we continue to have tough, solution-oriented conversations with elected officials on both sides of the aisle. We must demand action [to not] pass this public health epidemic down to the next generation.”

Recent efforts to again have a ban on assault-style weapons nationwide similar to the one in the 1990s have been unsuccessful.

But proposed gun violence legislation from Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent, would essentially regulate assault-style guns to have permanently fixed magazines, limited to 10 rounds for rifles and 15 rounds for some heavy-format pistols, the Associated Press reported.

The idea is to reduce a shooter’s ability to fire off dozens of rounds in seconds and prevent them from being able to attach a new magazine to keep shooting.

The National Rifle Association opposes the legislation as “the most sweeping gun prohibition bill of the 21st century.”

More on how to remember and honor the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting is available at MySandyHookFamily.org.

Copyright 2023 WFSB via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.