'You're safe now, your parents love you': Newtown policeman reveals heartbreaking last words to dying Sandy Hook victim as officers recount horrific scene for first time

Seven Newtown police officers, who were first to arrive at Sandy Hook Elementary school after the shooting, have spoken of the traumatic day
One officer said he found a little girl barely alive and cradled her in his arms as he rushed her to an ambulance but she didn't survive
Another described how he scooped up a girl he found standing in shock covered in blood surrounded by her dead classmates
Many officers are suffering post traumatic stress disorder since the event

PUBLISHED: 11:58 EST, 29 January 2013 | UPDATED: 18:15 EST, 29 January 2013

The first police officers to arrive on the scene of the Newtown school massacre have spoken of the unimaginable horror that greeted them, with one describing how he cradled a dying girl in his arms and told her 'You're safe now, your parents love you.'

Another brave policeman said he found a little girl standing in shock and covered in blood in the middle of her classroom with the dead bodies of her school friends scattered around her.

Speaking for the first time about the shooting, the officers said they could hear gunshots still ringing out as they entered the Sandy Hook Elementary school, where a gunman killed 20 children and six teachers a week before Christmas in one of the worst school shootings in US history.

Brave: (L-R) Lt. Chris Vanghele, school resource officer Jason Flynn, school resource officer Leonard Penna, detective Jason Frank and officer William Chapman of the Newtown Police Department have spoken out about the horror they witnessed as first responders to the Sandy Hook shooting

'One look, and your life was absolutely changed,' Michael McGowan, one seven Newtown officers to share their stories, told The New York Times of the grisly scene inside the school.

Officers who had raced from the Newtown Police station first saw the lifeless bodies of the school's head teacher Dawn Hochsprung and Mary Sherlach, the school psychologist, slumped on the floor in the lobby.

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Officer Leonard Penna, who entered the building with two other officers through a side door that takes you to the boiler room, said: 'You saw them lifeless, laying down.'

'For a split second, your mind says could this be a mock crime scene, could this be fake, but in the next split second, you're saying, there is no way. This is real.'

Police: Connecticut State Police lead a line of children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, after the shooting at the school

Shock: First-grader Henry Terifay and his sister, fourth-grader Kelly Terifay, wait outside Sandy Hook Elementary School after a shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, December 14, 2012

Officer William Chapman said he and McGowan traveled the two miles from the station to the school at break-neck speed after the first reports of gunshots and breaking glass came in.

'We drove as fast as we've ever driven,' McGowan told The Times.They got there in under three minutes as shots were still being fired.

Gunman: Adam Lanza, pictured, killed 20 children and six teachers a week before Christmas in one of the worst school shootings in US history

Chapman said the gunfire stopped for a short time.

'But then we heard more popping,' he said, adding that the officers could tell the gunman was using a rifle. 'It was up so close, it sounded like it was coming from outside. So we were all looking around for someone to shoot back at.'

After following the sound inside the school, Chapman walked into a classroom where he saw Adam Lanza dead on the floor. The officers didn't describe the state of the 20-year-old's body or how they felt when they first saw him slumped in the room.

With another officer, Chapman searched for signs of life among the children and found a girl with a faint pulse.

He said he cradled her in his arms and carried her outside to an ambulance telling her 'You're safe now, your parents love you.' Chapman said he later heard the girl had died.

Penna was the first to enter another classroom where Lanza had shot dead most of the victims with a .223 Bushmaster semiautomatic rifle.

Amid the carnage, he said he found a girl standing alone surrounded by dead bodies. She was covered in blood and in shock but otherwise unharmed.

Not aware the gunman had been found he told her to stay where she was, but after seeing Lanza dead he ran back and grabbed the girl to take her out of the scene of horror.

Detective Jason Frank told The Times the teacher had her young students 'huddled up like a mother hen' in a corner.

Devastating: The tragic last school picture of first graders who were gunned down by Sandy Hook shooter with their substitute teacher

McGowan said the frightened staff refused to open the doors to police at first, seeking to protect the little ones in case there was another shooter still on the loose.

'We're kicking the doors, yelling "Police! Police!"' McGowan said.

He said he and his colleagues were holding their badges up to the window to try to convince the teachers that they were there to help. Detective Frank recalled how he pulled the handle off one of the doors to get to them.

As the children were ushered out of the building, the officers used fatherly voices to comfort them, though they were still concerned that Lanza had an accomplice.

'Everything is fine now,' they said and instructed the children to hold hands and close their eyes.

Safety: Officers raced from the Newtown Police station when they began getting reports of broken glass and gunfire at the school

Brave: Police patrolled the streets outside Sandy Hook Elementary School after the shooting on December 14 and many of them have spoken out about the horrific scene

According to The Times, the officers stood in front of the teachers' bodies so the children would be protected from the ghastly sight as they made their way out. Other officers blocked the doors to the two classrooms where the victims' bodies were slumped on the floor.

As police and state troopers flooded into the school those with young children were warned not to go into the classrooms because the sight of the massacred children was so grisly.

'Words can't describe how horrible it was,' said 27-year Newtown Police veteran Detective Joe Joudy.

Most of the officers have said they are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after the tragedy and one hasn't been able to go back to work since.

Horrors of Newtown Shooting Scene Are Slow to Fade

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Why were there no wounded? I cannot think of any other incident like this which did not leave wooded.

- Jeff , Indy, 29/1/2013 23:46

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I WISH this was a hoax! these poor families, my heart goes out for their unimaginable loss. I still tear up every time I think about these children, and their last moments on earth. R.I.P.

- amanda , phoenix , USA, 29/1/2013 23:36

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Who are you idiots that actually think this is a hoax? My sister lives in Newtown - and hey guess what it was real. Maybe the reporting was shoddy at times but believe me it was real. The reason the response time was so quick is because it is a small town and the police department is located near the school as is the firehouse.

- momofthreepixies , newyorkcity, 29/1/2013 23:31

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"Photo showing a Police Officer, two women and a child running....Has anyone ever seen a young hysterical girl run?....It is impossible The "Fight or Flight" reflex is not develpoed. The freeze in fear1" Patrick, have you ever considered that in the infinite possibilities of this universe that one of the three adults in that picture told her to run?

- Candy , San Francisco, 29/1/2013 23:26

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People keep saying the Sandy Hook video is a fake. The numbers of red arrows confirm that. I have yet to see one link or bit of evidence being offered to prove it is in fact, a fake....Red arrows prove nothing....green arrows prove nothing....Evidence is the proof!

- Patrick , Belfast, 29/1/2013 23:05

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Let's see now.I've read that Lanza shot some cars in the parking lot, then defeated a brand new security system so good that it was keeping the cops out until they were let in, went in the office and killed the principal and her subordinate while it was broadcast over the school PA, and then shot the kids and their teachers and the cops were there in two minutes..I don't think you have to be a conspiracy nut to see that something's amiss with this scenario.For one thing,I suspect the cops are lying about their response time and trying to cover their behinds.If shots were still being fired when they got there why didn't they knock the doors in instead of begging the faculity to let them in? " Oh what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive"- Sir Walter Raleigh

- snakemeister , Birmingham-America, 29/1/2013 22:58

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People who say this is a hoax are disgusting! Not even any point in explaining anything to someone so ignorant. This was a tragedy, I pray for the families every day. I'm thankful for the insight i developed afterward though. Life is so short and precious, in an instant you can lose everything. Every day before dropping my kids of at school I make sure they know just how important they are to me! Even if it annoys the cr*ap out of them, I'm constantly reminding them that they are my everything. Since they were born, every night before I fall asleep I thank God for all my blessings, and thank him repeatedly for allowing me to be their mother. I thank the Lord for my kids until I fall out every night. People who call this tragedy a hoax, think for just a moment about those who lost their children, and how you are trivializing it over something as silly at a political stance on fire arms!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Scarlett , Texas, United States, 29/1/2013 22:45

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" lies...lies..and more lies! this "tragedy" never happened! wake up sheep! - Raven, Boston, 29/01/2013 10:03 PM" ======= you need a psychiatrist

- John Frum , The South Pacific, 29/1/2013 22:42

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just watched "Sandy hook exposed" on you tube. It certainly does throw up many anomalies. - Flash, Brentwood, Essex, UK, 29/1/2013 12:42 --------------------------And there are even more. It was an elaborate psyop. MSM is not to be believed. Red arrows won`t change that. - Ellery, USA, 29/1/2013 10:28 Wow people really are this stupid, shouldn't let people like you have a spoon let alone a gun

- brigreen , london, 29/1/2013 22:39

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LauraJP , Groveland Florida, United States, 29/1/2013 22:21*******True or False, make up your own mind. You owe it to yourself to go to you tube and watch the Sandy Hook videos, Then decide

- Patrick , Belfast, 29/1/2013 22:39

Click to rate Rating 16

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