A makeshift memorial of in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Yahoo News/Dylan Stableford)
NEWTOWN, Conn. — I arrived here late, 10 years ago, in the afternoon on Dec. 14, 2012, and spent that day and the next month or so reporting from a community shell-shocked from the massacre of 20 children and six adults at the elementary school behind the firehouse.
The images here are just some of the hundreds I took with my phone while I was reporting on the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, shuffling from press briefing to press briefing, makeshift memorial to makeshift memorial, funeral to funeral.
When schools reopened, children arriving on buses waved to the hundreds of reporters, television trucks and camera crews that had descended on Newtown. After the first week following the killings, the crush of media mostly faded. But the healing process, often grueling, continued on.
“Newtown was a private, quiet place before the shooting,” Sen. Chris Murphy, one of the first lawmakers to arrive at the firehouse that day, once told me. “And it still is. Newtown is not a place you move to if you want to be showy, if you want to lead a big public life. And so Newtown’s recovery has been private and quiet as well.”
A few years after the shootings, a woman who came across a photo gallery I had posted online sent me an email asking if she could use some of the images for a PowerPoint presentation she was doing for a school safety program she had created. It was the mother of Josephine Gay, one the children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
“Hard to say what it meant to stumble upon your photos,” Michelle Gay wrote. “There were so many that were taken of us in horrible moments — but yours capture the dignity and beauty of our community and the initial outpouring of love and support.”
A girl lights candles displayed in the shape of a heart near the entrance to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
Children and parents gather at a makeshift memorial in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
A woman hugs a child at a makeshift memorial in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
A message in front of a home near Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
A decorated Christmas tree at a makeshift memorial near the entrance to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
Golden retrievers sent from Illinois to comfort families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
A comfort dog rests outside the funeral for a Sandy Hook school shooting victim as mourners leave the service. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
Twenty-six flags, one for each victim of the massacre at Sandy Hook, are displayed on a lawn in the town of Easton, Conn., south of Newtown, Conn., Dec. 16, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
The firehouse of the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue, adjacent to the elementary school, in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 16, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
A police officer directs traffic outside a funeral for Sandy Hook shooting victims in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 16, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
A police officer directs traffic outside a funeral for Sandy Hook shooting victims in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 16, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
A line of police officers stand outside a funeral service for victims of the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 17, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
Dutchess, a blind therapy dog, comforts Sandy Hook residents at a roadside memorial in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 17, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
A sign pointing to Chalk Hill School, which served as a temporary school for Sandy Hook students, is seen in Monroe, Conn., Jan. 3, 2013. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
A pair of golden retrievers, both trained therapy dogs, are seen in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 17, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
A roadside sign is seen at dusk in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
Cover of the Newtown Bee, Dec. 21, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
CNN's Anderson Cooper checks his phone in between live shots in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
A cable news production staff breaks down their set for the night behind a tent in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
A motorcade leaves the funeral of 6-year-old Newtown shooting victim Noah Pozner in Fairfield, Conn., Dec. 17, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
The hearse carrying 6-year-old Newtown shooting victim Noah Pozner leaves a funeral home in Fairfield, Conn., Dec. 17, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
A giant American flag is displayed above a tent in an overflow parking lot in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 16, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
CNN's Wolf Blitzer reports from Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
CNN's Wolf Blitzer reports from Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
Reporters await a press briefing in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
State police brief reporters in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
The medical examiner addresses the media in Newtown, Conn., before the names of the victims are released, Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
The sunset seen through the trees in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
A message outside a restaurant in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
A flag at half-staff on Main Street in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
Road signs near the entrance to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
Firefighters observe a moment of silence near the entrance to Sandy Hook Elementary School, a week after the massacre, Dec. 21, 2012. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
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