Catherine Violet Hubbard, a six-year-old Caucasian female, was a student at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on the morning of December 14, 2012. It was on this tragic day that her life, along with the lives of 19 other first-graders and six educators, was cut short in a mass shooting that shook the nation. Catherine was known for her love of animals and her constant smile.
She had even created her own business cards for "Catherine's Animal Shelter," listing herself as the "Care Taker."
The perpetrator of the massacre was 20-year-old Adam Lanza. Earlier that morning, before driving to the school, Lanza fatally shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their home with a. 22-caliber rifle. He then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary, a school he had once attended, armed with a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle and two pistols. He shot his way through a glass window next to the locked front entrance of the school to begin his assault.
In a period of less than six minutes, Lanza fired upon students and staff in two first-grade classrooms and the school's hallway. After killing 26 people at the school, Lanza took his own life with a gunshot to the head as first responders began to arrive. An investigation by the Connecticut State Attorney's office concluded that Lanza acted alone in planning and carrying out the attack.
Due to the perpetrator's suicide, no arrests were made in connection with the shooting. The official report on the investigation stated that while Lanza had significant mental health issues, a clear motive for his actions could not be determined and may never be known. The investigation into the tragic events at Sandy Hook Elementary School is now closed.
