A heavily armed gunman opened fire on school children and staff at a Connecticut elementary school on Friday, killing at least 26 people, including 18 children, in the latest in a series of shooting rampages that have tormented the United States this year. The gunman was dead inside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, state police Lieutenant Paul Vance told a news conference.

Vance declined to report casualty figures but CBS News said 18 children and nine adults were dead, without clarifying whether the shooter was among those killed. The Hartford Courant reported one entire classroom was unaccounted for.

Copyright Reuters, 2012