For little Jesse Lewis, a day that was supposed to be spent making gingerbread houses became the last day of his short life.
Grieving father Neil Heslin told The Post that before yesterday’s nightmare attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School he had been planning to go to his 6-year-old son’s first-grade class to watch the happy holiday tradition.
But now his son is gone.
“I dropped him off at school at 9 a.m. He went happily,” Heslin said.
“That was the last I saw of him.”
Jesse, who loved math and riding horses, was among the 20 schoolchildren whose lives ended in yesterday’s horrific attack, his dad told The Post.
SHOOTING SENDS SHOCK WAVES ACROSS COUNTRY
KIN FIND KIDS – OR LEARN HORRIFIC TRUTH
PEYSER: ANOTHER BUCOLIC TOWN IS LIVING OUR WORST FEARS
“My son, he was 6 years old. He was in Ms. [Victoria] Soto’s class.” the dad said, his voice numb with grief. “We were supposed to make gingerbread houses today at 2:30 in his class.”
Heslin, 50, first knew something was wrong when he received a call from the school system, after which he raced to the school. He was told that all surviving children had been evacuated. His son was not among them.
“These were helpless little children,” said a shocked Heslin.
“The question is why — and I guess it’s something we’ll never know.”
The state medical examiner is setting up a morgue inside the school where the children will be identified, Heslin said.
His son’s body was still inside the school last night, along with the bodies of many of the other kids.
PHOTOS: SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOOTING
TRAGEDY TOUCHES NYPD AND PUERTO RICO
OBAMA LEADS AMERICA IN MOURNING
EDITORIAL: THE SANDY HOOK HORROR
Little Jesse’s death was confirmed early this morning, Heslin said. Heslin said he just couldn’t return home after getting the news, and he planned to spend last night alone in a local firehouse where some kids had escaped to earlier in the day.
“He was just a happy boy,” Heslin said. “Everybody knew Jesse.”
“He was going to go places in life. He did well in school.”
Heslin said loved to play at his mom’s farm.
“He was terrific with animals . . . He’s been on horses since he was a year-and-a-half old.”
Heslin had harsh words for Adam Lanza, the disturbed young man who killed his son.
“I feel that it was a cowardly thing he did to the victims and a cowardly thing he did to himself,” Heslin fumed.
“The way he died — by killing himself like that — was too good. It was just a cowardly way. For what he did to his victims and the way he went into the school, he picked victims that couldn’t defend themselves against him.”
Additional reporting by Dana Sauchelli