On the morning of December 14, 2012, six-year-old Jesse McCord Lewis, a male, enjoyed a breakfast of a sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich with hot chocolate at a local deli before his mother dropped him off at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Not long after, a 20-year-old man named Adam Lanza forced his way into the school and began shooting.
Jesse was in his first-grade classroom when the attack commenced.
According to accounts of the event, when the shooter paused his assault, Jesse yelled for his classmates to run, an act of bravery that allowed several of them to escape the classroom. He was standing by his teacher, facing the gunman, when he was fatally shot. His actions were described by his family as consistent with his character—fearless and full of courage.
The perpetrator, Adam Lanza, had killed his mother at their home earlier that morning before driving to the school. After killing twenty children, including Jesse, and six adult staff members, Lanza took his own life as first responders began to arrive at the scene. Because the suspect died by suicide at the school, no arrests were made in connection with the mass shooting.
