26 Slaughtered at Elementary School in Connecticut: 18 Children Dead

The Hartford Courant, citing unnamed sources, said many of the victims were in a kindergarten classroom.

Children are led from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Friday after a reported shooting there. Shannon Hicks / The Newtown Bee.

(HARTFORD, CT.) - A young man clad in black and carrying two handguns shot up an elementary school in Connecticut this morning, leaving little kids and eight adults dead in one the nation’s worst 18 school massacres, law enforcement officials said.

The gunman, a 20-year-old, was later found dead. NBC News learned from a federal law enforcement official told NBC News that a second person was in custody who may be connected to the shooting.

According to NBC News:

Students – mostly under age 10 -- described the terror that gripped Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown when the rampage began around 9:30 a.m., sparking a massive police response that included SWAT officers going room to room to search for victims.

The Hartford Courant, citing unnamed sources, said many of the victims were in a kindergarten classroom.

"I was in the gym and I heard a loud, like seven loud booms, and the gym teachers told us to go in the corner, so we all huddled," one student told NBC Connecticut. "And I kept hearing these booming noises. And we all … started crying.

"All the gym teachers told us to go into the office where no one could find us," she added. "So then a police officer came in and told us to run outside. So we did and we came in the firehouse and waited for our parents."

Dozens of emergency vehicles from across Fairfield County raced to the 600-student school, along with panicked parents hoping to be reunited with their children.