A gunman killed 27 people, including 18 young children, at a US school, an official said, in one of the worst school shootings in the country's history.
State police in Connecticut, in their first hurried briefing, said only students and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School were killed.
They said the gunman was dead inside the school, and the scene was secure. Children, some of them crying, had been rushed from the building.
A law enforcement official said later that the suspect in the school shooting is 24-year-old Ryan Lanza and that his younger brother is being held for questioning as a possible second gunman.
The official said the men's mother, Nancy Lanza, works at the school as a teacher. He also said Ryan Lanza's girlfriend and another friend are missing in New Jersey. He said the suspect is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The White House said President Barack Obama had been notified and that he had "enormous sympathy for families that are affected".
The attack was the latest of several mass shootings in the US this year, and approached the deadly scale of the Virginia Tech university massacre in 2007 in which 32 people were killed.
The victims of today's attack were young children. Photos from the scene showed frightened pupils being escorted by adults through a car park in a line, hands on each other's shoulders.
Children told their parents they had heard bangs and, at one point, a scream over the intercom. Anguished parents came running when they heard the news.
The shooting shocked the small, tranquil community in one of the wealthiest counties in the US, about 60 miles north-east of New York City.
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Thoughts and heartfelt condolences to all the families who have lost their loved ones in this terrible and horrifying incident. xx
