DISTRAUGHT: A tearful woman tries to get answers from a cop yesterday at Sandy Hook Elementary in normally quiet Newtown. (Daniel Shapiro)
Newtown, Conn., is a quiet bedroom community that “we always thought was the safest place in America,” one parent said yesterday.
It’s a town of modest affluence. Median family incomes are above $108,000, and only 2 percent of households are below the poverty level.
At a vigil in St. Rose of Lima church last night, about 600 mourners filled the pews to capacity, with 500 more people standing quietly outside.
Many mourners held candles, and a large circle gathered and sang “Amazing Grace.”
“It’s heartbreaking to see children that age taken for no point,” said Michael Vagnini, 46, at the vigil. “I have three children, my youngest 8, not much older than the kids killed.”
SHOOTING SENDS SHOCK WAVES ACROSS COUNTRY
KIN FIND KIDS – OR LEARN HORRIFIC TRUTH
A FATHER’S ANGUISH AFTER LOSING HIS SON
Some Newtown residents said the shooting smashed their once-idealized view of their bucolic town.
“We thought it was safe here,” said Mike Hajzer, 21, who had attended Sandy Hook Elementary. “But it’s not so true. It’s as if nowhere is safe.”
Newtown’s most famous residents have included the writer James Thurber, whose 212-year-old Georgian-style farmhouse home is in the National Register of Historic Places; Olympic decathlon star Bruce Jenner, who attended Newtown HS; and director Elia Kazan.
Current residents include “The Hunger Games” author Suzanne Collins and actor Anthony Edwards.
PHOTOS: SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOOTING
A FATHER’S ANGUISH AFTER LOSING HIS SON
TRAGEDY TOUCHES NYPD AND PUERTO RICO
OBAMA LEADS AMERICA IN MOURNING
It’s a town of families. Nearly 45 percent of Newtown’s households include children under age 18, census figures show.
Two-thirds of residents are under the age of 44 and one-third are of school age.
The town of 60 square miles has four public schools — including the one turned into a killing zone yesterday — and several private and parochial schools.