The Newtown school massacre victims were all shot multiple times with a rifle and suffered “devastating” wounds, Connecticut’s chief medical examiner said Saturday.
Dr. Wayne Carver said autopsies on the 20 slain children had been completed and post-mortems on the six murdered staff members would be done by day’s end. The names of the victims were handed to reporters live at the news conference.
“Everybody’s death was caused by gunshot wounds and obviously the manner of death on all these cases have been classified as homicide,” Carver said.
He said that he personally performed seven autopsies and those children had between three and 11 wounds each. Two of them were shot at close range, the others at a distance.
“This is a very devastating set of injuries,” Carver said. “I believe everyone was hit more than once.”
Asked whether the victims suffered, he replied, “Not for very long.”
He said he will perform an autopsy on the gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, who is believed to have shot himself with one of two handguns he carried. He will also perform the autopsy on the shooter’s mother, Nancy Lanza, who was found dead in her Newtown home.
Four doctors and 10 technicians, plus a college student working her first day with the medical examiner’s office, worked into Friday night to identify the victims.
They took photos of their faces and then showed the pictures to families. “It’s easier on the families when you do this,” Carver said.
He said that he
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