In Newtown, Sunday services honor victims of tragedy

Yamiche Alcindor and Martha T. Moore, USA TODAY10:44a.m. EST

December 16, 2012


A Connecticut town grapples with deaths and anguish after senseless shooting spree.

(Photo: Mario Tama, Getty Images)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Early services draw hundreds of worshipers
Police officers stationed in church parking lot
Sign in the sanctuary says of victims: 'You will never be forgotten'

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- Sunday dawned here with many grieving residents joining religious services paying homage to the victims of Friday's explosion of violence and death at a local elementary school.

At one site, Saint Rose Catholic Church, a 7:30 a.m. mass drew hundreds of worshipers. Outside the church, which has kept its doors open since the tragedy, signs of the grief gripping Newtown lined the front lawn. A table with dozens of dimly lit candles bearing images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary overlooked mountains of flowers and stuffed animals.

Directly across from the front door more lighted candles have been placed at the feet of a large statue of the Virgin Mary. Small white plastic angels hung in a bush bordering Churchill Road -- which has been filled with traffic for days. A nearby flag remained at half staff.

Msgr. Robert Weiss, the church's leader, has been counseling people since the Friday morning, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza's shooting spree at Sandy Hook Elementary School took the lives of 20 young students and six adults before he turned a gun on himself. On Sunday, several wary police officers were stationed in the parking lot of the church observing those entering the church.

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