"Evil visited this community today." ~ Dan Malloy, Connecticut Governor
The sign out front says "Visitors Welcome,"
a Boston area sports news producer alerted me to, in an email.
Christopher Loring Knowles asked: "Cui bono?"
Newtown's town symbol is a rooster weather vane.
The rooster is a dawn-symbol, Matt Bell has reminded me, as this unfolded.
Anniversary: December 14, 1993, five shot, four died at Chuck E. Cheese pizza parlor. Where? Unbelievably, Colorado's (red) Aurora (dawn). Now, Newtown, same date.
A killing field took place in what appears to be another red dawn scenario on Friday, December 14, 2012. The "why" may never be answered, but it certainly will be asked often. What other questions need to be investigated?Anniversary: December 14, 1993, five shot, four died at Chuck E. Cheese pizza parlor. Where? Unbelievably, Colorado's (red) Aurora (dawn). Now, Newtown, same date.
One of the first names of the victims released is that of the Sandy Hook elementary school principal, Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung.
Killed were 6 adults (including shooter's mother, principal, psychologist), 20 school children (mostly in one kindergarten class), 1 shooter, 1 other in a separate home, plus a rumor that the shooter's brother was arrested. The original Ryan Lanza information for the name of the shooter was wrong. The alleged shooter was Adam Lanza, Ryan's brother, who apparently was carrying Ryan's ids.
The 5 pm news is that Lanza's mother has been found dead at Adam's residence. Also,
A source identified the suspect in the Connecticut school shootings as Adam Lanza, and said he drove his mother's car to the school.
According to the Associated Press, a law enforcement official said 20-year-old Lanza is the son of a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where the shootings occurred. A second law enforcement official says the boy's mother, Nancy Lanza, is presumed dead.
The first official says Adam Lanza's older brother, 24-year-old Ryan, of Hoboken, N.J., is being questioned by police. An earlier report from a law enforcement official mistakenly transposed the brothers' first names leading to the mistaken identities, the AP said.
ABC News caption:
Adam Lanza, seen here in 2005, killed his mother at her Connecticut home before killing 20 elementary school students and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, authorities said.Gunman’s mother was teacher’s aide at school and not a teacher.
First some information, as it is coming in...
The dead alleged shooter was reportedly dressed all in black, and said to be 20 years old.
The numbers have all changed from the initial reports below:
CBS News, MSNBC and others confirmed that 26 (27?) people are dead in the Newtown shooting. CNN is saying "closer to 30" killed. The breakdown is said to be 18 children and 8 (or 9) adults dead. Principal was reported to have been a victim. Rumors are that the shooter was from NJ until recently, 20 years old, and dressed all in black. Another report says that it may have been a parent. Two active shooters seen running down halls.
CBS reports that their reporter Jon Miller says "there is preliminary information that the gunman was the father of one of the students. Miller additionally reports the gunman is 20 years old and is from New Jersey."
CBS reports that their reporter Jon Miller says "there is preliminary information that the gunman was the father of one of the students. Miller additionally reports the gunman is 20 years old and is from New Jersey."
CNN is saying the alleged shooter's name is Ryan Lanza.
Lanza means "land." As PPJ points out in a comment below, in Spanish, Lanza means "spear" or "lance."
MSNBC: Shooter: Ryan Lanza, 23. Apparently a body was found in Lanza's Hoboken New Jersey home; his mother was a Sandy Hook ES teacher, she's dead.
The Lanzas lived on Yogananda Street, apparently.
Others are reporting that the girlfriend and a friend of suspect Ryan Lanza are missing in New Jersey.
Lanza means "land." As PPJ points out in a comment below, in Spanish, Lanza means "spear" or "lance."
MSNBC: Shooter: Ryan Lanza, 23. Apparently a body was found in Lanza's Hoboken New Jersey home; his mother was a Sandy Hook ES teacher, she's dead.
The Lanzas lived on Yogananda Street, apparently.
Others are reporting that the girlfriend and a friend of suspect Ryan Lanza are missing in New Jersey.
The body count increased as the day moved along.
Earlier, other news developed,
Even earlier....
Several people, including children, may have been killed in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Many of the shootings took place in a kindergarten classroom, sources said.
One report said as many as 20 students may have been shot. One report says, "More that two dozen have been shot [killed?] and 14 children are dead."
However, the number of victims is unclear.
Recent accounts tell of only one shooter, who is deceased, at the Newtown school shooting. The suspect is said to have had two guns. Initially, there were unconfirmed reports of two shooters — one dead, one still at large. (For breaking news of an attack on school children in China, refer to details at the bottom.)
Connecticut State Police say they are assisting local police in Newtown amid reports of a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, 12 Dickinson Drive, a kindergarten through fourth grade school, in Newtown, in western Connecticut.
The school superintendent's office says the district has locked down schools to ensure the safety of students and staff. (In an earlier dispatch, the superintendent's secretary, Kathy June, says reports of a shooting are not confirmed. I think we can overlook that report, now.)
State police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance says they have a number of personnel on the scene to assist.
In Connecticut (Federal Writers' Project, page 376, 1938), the rooster weathervane, which became part of the town's seal, is also called a weathercock.
The (Red) Dawn Symbol: Matt Bell pointed out this link to me, and this related info:
CS writes that all of this certainly makes him "think of phallic symbolism. Guns are a
Other early history: One section of Newtown today is Dodgingtown. It was named thusly as it was "a crossroads hamlet named for the many drovers, horse-traders, and peddlers 'on the dodge,' who congregated at the crossroad taverns," Connecticut, Federal Writers' Project, page 375, 1938.
"Purchased from the Indians in 1705, named 'New Town,' incorporated in 1711, the area soon attracted settlers from near-by towns. Although notorious for its Tory leanings during the Revolution, Newtown entertained both Rochambeau and Lafayette," Connecticut, Federal Writers' Project, page 376, 1938.
Film location: Newtown is home to the "Fairfield Hills" Hospital, erected in the 1930s. It was closed in 1995. Fairfield Hills was used as the set of the juvenile facility in the film Sleepers in 1995.
Earlier, other news developed,
A law enforcement official in Washington said the attacker was a 20-year-old man with ties to the school and that one of the guns was a .223-caliber rifle. The official also said that New Jersey State Police were searching a location in that state in connection with the shootings. That official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the source was not authorized to speak on the record about the developing criminal investigation. It is not known whether the shooter took his own life or was killed.The first law enforcement news conference held gave no information out on numbers or who, other other than a shooter was found dead inside the building. Indeed, the incorrect reportage and chase to dig out more and more informants and internet information could have been derailed with a little bit more "rumor control" in Newtown with more factual, detailed data.
“The shooter is deceased inside the building,” State Police Lt. Paul Vance said during a press conference, adding that the scene is secure.
CBS News reports that a potential second shooter is in custody and that SWAT is now investigating the home of the suspect.
A witness tells WFSB-TV that a second man was taken out of the woods in handcuffs wearing a black jacket and camouflage pants and telling parents on the scene, “I did not do it.”
Even earlier....
Several people, including children, may have been killed in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Many of the shootings took place in a kindergarten classroom, sources said.
One report said as many as 20 students may have been shot. One report says, "More that two dozen have been shot [killed?] and 14 children are dead."
However, the number of victims is unclear.
Recent accounts tell of only one shooter, who is deceased, at the Newtown school shooting. The suspect is said to have had two guns. Initially, there were unconfirmed reports of two shooters — one dead, one still at large. (For breaking news of an attack on school children in China, refer to details at the bottom.)
Several people are reported injured in a reported school shooting in Connecticut. Eyewitnesses say that a teacher and a student were seen being carried out of the school. One report says a teacher was hit in the foot. A local hospital is reporting three injured have been admitted to that facility.
Shortly after 9:40 a.m., on Friday, December 14, 2012, police reported that a shooter was in the main office of the school. A person in one room had “numerous gunshot wounds,” police said. Other reports tell of two shooters. One shooter, as noted, was reported dead.
Connecticut State Police say they are assisting local police in Newtown amid reports of a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, 12 Dickinson Drive, a kindergarten through fourth grade school, in Newtown, in western Connecticut.
The school superintendent's office says the district has locked down schools to ensure the safety of students and staff. (In an earlier dispatch, the superintendent's secretary, Kathy June, says reports of a shooting are not confirmed. I think we can overlook that report, now.)
State police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance says they have a number of personnel on the scene to assist.
+++
Newtown's rooster weathervane in 1915.
Some info on Newtown: The town's symbol, the town's seal, is a rooster weathervane. The rooster weathervane located atop the meeting house is said to have been used as a target by French soldiers encamped there in 1781 during the Revolutionary War. Symbolically, the rooster is significant. The oldest rooster vane in existence is the cock of Brescia, Italy from 820 A. D. It is believed that around this time, the pope decreed each catholic church would bear a cock as a reminder of Peter on the Cavalry: "In this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times" (The Bible, Matthew 26: 34).
In Connecticut (Federal Writers' Project, page 376, 1938), the rooster weathervane, which became part of the town's seal, is also called a weathercock.
The (Red) Dawn Symbol: Matt Bell pointed out this link to me, and this related info:
I noticed your mention of the rooster/cock.Also, Bell emailed later,
The rooster/cock is straightforwardly a twilight-symbol. The cock presides over the the liminal period between night and day.
"Gallum nutrias quidem, non tamen sacrifices. Lune enim ac soli dedicatus est." (Nourish the cock, but do not sacrifice him, since he is sacred to [both] the sun and the moon.) ~ Pythagoras (Quoted in: Christopher S. Celenza, "Pythagoras in the Renaissance: The Case of Marsilio Ficino," Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 3 (Autumn, 1999), p. 695.)
The cock is a herald of the dawn (Eos/Aurora): "As a symbol of the dawning light, the cock is nonetheless the especial attribute of Apollo, the hero of the dawning day" (Jean Chevalier & Alain Gheerbrant, Dictionary of Symbols [London: Penguin, 1996], p. 209). The cock has this function in many religious systems including, without limitation, ancient Greco-Roman mythologies, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Islam, and numerous forms of animism (Ibid., pp. 209-212). It functions, like Hermes-Mercury as a psychopompos (a "guide, conductor" of souls).
"[T]he cock on top of the weathervane on a church...may be regarded as the guard and protector of life" (Chevalier & Gheerbrant, supra., p. 210). The cock, along with the Ibis of Thoth (another Herme-Mercury associated deity), has "...the gift of foreknowledge...the cock announces that darkness has vanished and light has come. Thus the bird is set on church spires and cathedral towers and this positioning on the highest points of holy buildings...may suggest the heavenly origins of the inner light which brings salvation [in the Gnostic-Hermetic sense - MJB] and the watchfulness of the soul to catch the first gleams of the spirit dawning in the closing shades of night" (Ibid., p. 211).
As if that were not enough, "[t]o alchemists the cock symbolizes the three stages through which the 'work' must pass, through his black claws, to his white feathers and his red comb", (Ibid.). Finally, the cock is a symbol, in Freemasonry, "of vigilance and of the enlightenment which comes through initiation" (Ibid., p. 212). "[O]n the wall [of many Masonic Lodges] hangs the image of a cock, hourglass and scythe. The cock was sacred to the god Mercury (Hermes)..." Masonic Papers by R.W.Bro. Leon Zeldis, "The Initiation in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite."
Additionally, since a poster mentioned the word "spear," and since the cock is linked with the dawn-god, Apollo, it is noteworthy that Apollo is also linked with spears (along with Athena). The (phallic) spear is another sun-symbol. Also, although it's both obvious and delicate, the word "cock" has taken on a dual sense as both rooster and phallus (or spear). Hence, the symbol complex includes both solar and sexual emblems.Phallic Symbolism: The underlying coded phallic messages of the rooster weathervane or weathercock is reinforced greatly in this sphere.
CS writes that all of this certainly makes him "think of phallic symbolism. Guns are a
phallic analogue, the modern day wand. Back when I was exploring chaos magick, some chaotes were using a gun instead of a wand/sword. In tarot symbolism, a wand is always in the shape of a thrysus bringing us back to the original symbolism. Swords ought to be obvious without delving into crudity."
Let us remember that "Adam Lanza" literally translates as Man-Spear, as M. Bell reminded me.
Let us remember that "Adam Lanza" literally translates as Man-Spear, as M. Bell reminded me.
One of the highest points of land (lanza/land/spear) in the area is called Snake Hill, another strongly phallic connotation underlying that name.
Other early history: One section of Newtown today is Dodgingtown. It was named thusly as it was "a crossroads hamlet named for the many drovers, horse-traders, and peddlers 'on the dodge,' who congregated at the crossroad taverns," Connecticut, Federal Writers' Project, page 375, 1938.
"Purchased from the Indians in 1705, named 'New Town,' incorporated in 1711, the area soon attracted settlers from near-by towns. Although notorious for its Tory leanings during the Revolution, Newtown entertained both Rochambeau and Lafayette," Connecticut, Federal Writers' Project, page 376, 1938.
Film location: Newtown is home to the "Fairfield Hills" Hospital, erected in the 1930s. It was closed in 1995. Fairfield Hills was used as the set of the juvenile facility in the film Sleepers in 1995.
According to legend, Scrabble's big break came in 1952 when Jack Straus, president of Macy's, played the game on vacation. Upon returning from vacation, he was surprised to find that his store did not carry the game. He placed a large order and within a year, "everyone had to have one."
The killer of two in this week's Clackamas shooting first ran through the Macy's store in the mall (on December 11, 2012).
Other lexilink factoids:
Sandy Hook [New Jersey] is a former Nike missile base that was turned into a Federal park on the Jersey Shore. It also has the state's only nudist beach (from Christopher Loring Knowles).
Superstorm Sandy hooked left and came ashore right near Sandy Hook, New Jersey (from Matty B Goode).
This school attack took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Not New Jersey, of course. The lexilink to that New Jersey site and hurricane is found in the name of the school and to Sandy Hook, Connecticut, which is the next town over from Newtown.
Flashback: Loren "Coleman says [shooters],
intent on shocking the public, 'compete for
the highest body count.'"
Meanwhile,
Zee News is noting:
The dreaded attacks on school children returned to haunt China on Thursday after 22 of them were injured besides an 85-year-old woman after a "mentally deranged" man, armed with a knife, went on a slashing spree at a primary school.Thanks for heads up from many people, especially to Anonymous, Robert Schneck, SMiles, Brizdazz (Darren) for the China news, posted above.
Armed with a knife Min Yingjun, 36, attacked group of children at the gate of a primary school in central China's Henan Province setting off panic in the village. The woman and most of the injured students suffered head wounds.
Some of them were in shock, according to the People's Hospital of the county, which received most of the people injured in the attack.
All the injured people have been sent to three local hospitals and at least two of them, one student and an 85-year-old woman, are in serious condition, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The attack took place this morning at the entrance of Chenpeng Village Primary School in Wenshu Township of Guangshan County in the city of Xinyang....
++++
My deepest condolences to all the parents, relatives, and loved ones who has lost anyone to the senseless shootings in Oregon, Connecticut, Colorado, and anywhere else this week and in the days and years before today.
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