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GUY RAZ, HOST:

Law enforcement authorities are trying to paint a picture of the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, and what may have led him on that deadly rampage. NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson is here to talk about the investigation. Carrie, what more do we know about Adam Lanza at this point?

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If you're just joining us, this is WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz.

There are moments that Lori Haas would rather not relive. But the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary brought back a flood of emotions and grief. Five years ago, her daughter, Emily, was shot and nearly killed during a shooting rampage at Virginia Tech. That massacre was the worst of its kind in U.S. history. Her mother, Lori, now works with parents who go through similar trauma.

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And as police begin to piece together a picture of the gunman, Adam Lanza, they will also be looking at possible motives. Here in the studio with me is NPR science correspondent Shankar Vedantam.

And, Shankar, you have reported in the past about building profiles of these kinds of assailants. I mean, usually, we're talking about men. We're talking about often about white men. Does what we know about Lanza fit that profile of a mass shooter?

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It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz. Fred Rogers, better known as Mr. Rogers, was often asked by parents how to explain death to children. And so on his program one day, he decided to try and deal with that challenge. And here's how he started:

FRED ROGERS: When I was very young, I had a dog that I loved very much. Her name was Mitzi. And she got to be old, and she died. I was very sad when she died, because she and I were good pals. And when she died, I cried.

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Today and tomorrow, many people around the country will turn to their spiritual leaders for answers or at least for comfort. For nearly 30 years, Eugene Peterson served as the pastor for Christ our King Presbyterian Church near Baltimore. In the early 1990s, he began to translate the Bible into modern-day English. It became the best-selling book called "The Message." It's a book millions of Christians and non-Christians have come to rely on.

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It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz.

The nation is reeling from yesterday's deadly shooting, nowhere more than in the community of Newtown, Connecticut. What happened at Sandy Hook Elementary is now considered the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. We now know the gunman forced his way into the school. We also know that three weapons were recovered at the scene. And we now know that all of the children killed were between the ages of 6 and 7.

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This evening in Newtown, Connecticut, Robbie Parker, the father of 6-year-old Emilie Parker who was killed in yesterday's shooting spoke publicly about the tragedy.

ROBBIE PARKER: It's a horrific tragedy. And we want everybody to know that our hearts and our prayers go out to them. This includes the family of the shooter. I can imagine how hard this experience must be for you, and I want you to know that our family and our love and our support goes out to you as well.

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GUY RAZ, HOST:

It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz.

In front of the White House today, the flag flies at half-staff. And across the country, Americans are expressing their grief and their sense of despair. This morning, in his weekly address, the president spoke out about the tragedy.

At a news conference Saturday afternoon, Connecticut's Chief Medical Examiner H. Wayne Carver II released a list of the victims in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who earlier this week canceled a trip to Morocco and the Middle East because she was ill with a stomach virus, is at home recovering from a concussion she suffered in a fall, her spokesman says.

According to an email that State has sent to reporters, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Philippe Reines says that: