Conn. School Named After Teacher Killed in Sandy Hook Shooting

Cite her "extraordinary commitment"

A new school building has been named after Victoria Soto, one of six staff members killed last month during the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. Soto, 27, was raised in the town of Stratford, about 20 miles from Newtown, so the Stratford Academy's Honeyspot House building will be named after her. Construction for the new school building will begin over the summer and is expected to open in 2014. The Stratford Town Council said, "Soto’'s courage, dedication and self-sacrifice demonstrate a strength of character and extraordinary commitment to her students of the absolute highest magnitude." She died while trying to protect her first-grade students from gunman Adam Lanza. (NBC)

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Conn. Town Writes Its Own Gun Laws, Bans Assault Weapons

The small town outside of Newtown, Conn. also bans automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Just 20 miles away from Sandy Hook Elementary School, Weston, Connecticut officials have decided to restrict assault weapons. The small town does not have a lot of gun violence but the Newtown massacre that left 26 people dead was too close to home for the residents.

The plan has three main points. "First, is it bans assault weapons and automatic weapons, as well as high-capacity magazines, which are not appropriate in our town for sporting purposes," says Selectman Dennis Tracey, one of Weston's three elected officials. "Second, it requires safe and secure storage of weapons when they're not being used. And third, it requires the registration of all firearms in town." Violating one of the points would result in a $500 fine.

The current law bans the use of military-style weapons but not their possession, like the proposed ordinance would. While many support the proposed law, others still feel it threatens their constitutional rights. "I have a constitutional right to possess whatever guns I want, and you have in here that you're trying to ban the possession of those firearms,” said Mark Harper, city employee and gun owner. “That will be challenged," (NPR)

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Woman Arrested for Sandy Hook Fake "Funeral Fund" Scam

Pretended to be relative of victim

A woman was arrested Thursday after wrongfully soliciting donations by pretending to be the relative of a Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting victim. Police say Nouel Alba, 37, of the Bronx, claimed to be the aunt of a 6-year-old boy and used her Facebook account, telephone calls and text messages to solicit money for a “funeral fund." When contacted by federal agents investigating fraud schemes related to the shooting, police say Alba denied she had posted any messages or had taken funds from anybody. She was charged with lying to federal agents. “It is unconscionable to think that the families of the victims in Newtown, and a sympathetic community looking to provide them some sort of financial support and comfort, have become the targets of criminals,” said Kimberly K. Mertz, the special agent in charge of the New Haven division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. If convicted, Alba faces a maximum of five years in prison and $250,000 fine. (NY Times)

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Nearly $3M Raised for Sandy Hook School Fund After Shooting

Here's where you can donate

Nearly $3 million has been raised for the Sandy Hook School Support Fund since December 15, the day after Adam Lanza opened gunfire at the elementary school killing 20 kids, six adults and then himself. The team of Newtown Savings Bank and the United Way of Western Connecticut has collected $2.8 million, and one hundred percent of funds will go directly to the community. However, neither organization will have a say in where funds end up — instead, money will be distributed by an independent advisory board made up of Newtown residents, which could include school officials, parents and religious leaders. Though many opportunities for contributing have sprung up since the tragic shooting, the fund is the primary donation source listed on websites for Newtown Public Schools and the town of Newtown. To donate, click here.

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Lanza Destroyed Harddrive, Cut Ties with Dad Before Shooting

Killer covered tracks prior to massacre

Before Adam Lanza, 20, opened gunfire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. killing 20 first-grade kids, six adult school officials and then himself, he destroyed his computer hard drive. The FBI’s computer-analysis response team is still trying to put its pieces back together. According to the Hartford Courant, Lanza had used the computer to play a violent videogame in which life-like characters participate in bloody battle scenes, but there is currently no other evidence of what else he did with it. Still, a law-enforcement said, "The kid knew what he was doing. This was a planned event. There is no question about it.”

Adam also killed his mother Nancy at their home, shooting her four times in the head while she was likely sleeping, but the relationship with his father hasn't been as widely reported on. Peter Lanza, a successful finance executive at GE, separated from Nancy in 2001, but still saw Adam every week. In 2009, the Lanzas officially divorced and, by 2010, Peter was dating a new woman, whom he later married. Adam cut his dad off then, and Peter hadn't seen or heard from him since, despite fully supporting them with monthly payments of more than $289,000 in alimony and also volunteering to pay for Adam's college, car and medical insurance. When a local reporter showed up at his Peter's doorstep to break the news, "his expression twisted from patient, to surprise, to horror. It was the first time that he considered a loved one could be involved," said Maggie Hogan of the Stamford Advocate. (Daily Beast, Today)

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Pro-Gun Democrats Shift Stance After Sandy Hook Shooting

Are more open to regulations now

In light of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., Democratic gun-rights advocates are warming up to the idea of regulating, limiting, and possibly even banning, gun use. Both Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, who are members of and have earned top marks from the National Rifle Association, said they would now be open to the regulation of military-style rifles, like the one used by Adam Lanza to kill 20 young children and six adults on Friday. Manchin said, "This awful massacre of our youngest children has changed us, and everything should be on the table." John Yarmuth, a Democratic U.S. representative from Kentucky, also shifted position. "I have been largely silent on the issue of gun violence over the past six years, and I am now as sorry for that as I am for what happened to the families who lost so much." U.S. lawmakers have not approved a major new federal gun law since 1994, and a ban on certain semi-automatic rifles known as assault weapons expired in 2004. President Obama has promised to initiate efforts to prevent more tragedies such as this from happening. Representatives for the NRA have kept silent since the massacre. (Reuters)

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10 Things You Need To Know For Monday

Nancy Lanza liked guns. The mother of the young man who killed her and 26 other people in the Connecticut school shooting collected guns and took her two sons target shooting, according to people who knew her. Authorities say that the guns used in the Newtown, Conn., massacre were registered to Nancy Lanza. She “prepared for the worst,” former sister-in-law Marsha Lanza told the "Chicago Sun-Times." “I didn’t know that [the guns] would be used on her.”

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News in Photos: The 10 topics you should be ready to talk about today.