Connecticut town's schools locked down following shooting report

(Reuters) - All public schools in Newtown, Connecticut, were placed in lockdown on Friday following a shooting at one of the district's elementary schools, the superintendent's office said.

ABC News, citing authorities, said a gunman involved in the shooting was dead.

The town's weekly newspaper said on its website that one child was carried from Sandy Hook Elementary School by a police officer, and the child appeared to have been wounded.

Television images showed police and ambulances at the scene, and parents rushing toward the school.

Danbury Hospital, located about 11 miles west of the school, had been put on alert for possible casualties, a hospital spokesman told Reuters.

A hospital spokeswoman told NBC Connecticut that the hospital had received three patients from the scene.

Connecticut State Police said its officers were at the scene with local police but provided no additional details. The emergency call to police occurred at 9:41 a.m., state police said.

An individual answering the phone at the Newtown Police Department declined to comment.

Newtown, with a population about 27,000, is in northern Fairfield County, about 45 miles southwest of Hartford and 80 miles northeast of New York City.

Sandy Hook serves children in kindergarten through fourth grade, roughly ages 5 to 10. It is one of four elementary schools in the district. The town also has a grade 5-6 school, a middle school and a high school.

(Reporting By Dan Burns and Paul Thomasch; Editing by Xavier Briand)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/connecticut-towns-schools-locked-down-following-shooting-report-153953370.html

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