Darien honors victims of Newtown school shooting, flags ordered at half staff

A wreath placed at the town’s firefighters’ memorial symbolizing the 20 children and 6 adults killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday, Dec. 14. (Laureen Vellante photo)

Darien honored the victims of the school shooting in Newtown on Saturday afternoon by

A flag at Darien Fire Department at half staff on Saturday afternoon. (Laureen Vellante photo)

placing a wreath at the town’s firefighter’s memorial on the Post Road.

The wreath featured white roses for every child and a red rose for every adult killed when a gunman forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday morning. The wreath-placing followed the town’s noon Wreaths Across America ceremony.

“As we remember the brave soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom with the laying of wreaths at the Spring Grove Cemetery today, we must also remember the 26 innocent people including 20 precious children who died at the hands of one troubled soul at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown  yesterday,” First Selectman Jayme Stevenson told The Darien Times.

“Today we honor our hard-fought freedom but we must hope and pray that this freedom will only be used for good not the evil we all watched unfold in Sandy Hook,” she said.

Stevenson said the the firefighter’s memorial was “the right place pay tribute.”

“Our volunteer firefighters and first responders are often called on to serve and protect us but what the brave volunteers were asked to do yesterday goes far beyond their call,” she said.

“They stood ready to help save lives but instead could simply shelter the families waiting to see their children not knowing if they were safe — 20 of whom received the worst possible news,” Stevenson said.

She said “there are no words, only prayers, to comfort us as we try to make sense of this unspeakable tragedy.”

Darien Police advised town officials that Governor Dan Malloy has ordered the flags of the United States of America and the State of Connecticut to be flown at half-staff effective immediately beginning Friday, Dec. 14 until further notice.

The flags have been lowered at the Darien Police Department and the Veteran’s Cemetery in honor of the victims of the tragic shooting incident which occurred this date at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.