Mourners in Newtown, Connecticut, headed for the first two of 20 funerals of schoolchildren massacred in their classroom today.
Tiny caskets marked the first wave of funerals for the 20 children and six adults killed in the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday. Noah Pozner and Jack Pinto, both six years old, are being laid to rest today.
Jessica Rekos, also six, will be laid to rest tomorrow.
Meanwhile, schools in the town of Ridgefield, about 30km from Newtown, were locked down today following reports of a possible "suspicious person" near Branchville Elementary School. In nearby Redding, schools were locked down as a precaution, police said. The alert has now been lifted.
President Barack Obama, who said in Newtown last night that the 20-year-old gunman acted out of "unconscionable evil," was praised by the family of teacher Victoria Soto (27), who was killed as she tried to protect her first-grade students. "He really made us feel like she really was a hero and that everyone should know it," her brother, Carlos Soto, said on CBS today.
Mr Obama, addressing an interfaith vigil in the small Connecticut town last night, spoke forcefully on the country's failings in protecting its children and demanded changes in response to the mass shootings of the last few months. "We can't tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change," he said, adding that he would bring together law enforcement, teachers, mental health professionals and others to study how to stop the violence. But before those changes, the families of the victims will grieve.
A prominent pro-gun senator today on Congress and the gun industry to come together on a "sensible, reasonable approach" to curbing high-powered, assault weapons like those used by Lanza. Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who has earned top marks from the gun industry, said all ideas should be open for discussion.
Mr Manchin, a hunter and member of the National Rifle Association, said the availability of such high-powered weapons does not make sense and called on the gun lobby group to cooperate with a reform of gun laws. The NRA has been an influential force against limiting gun sales and has succeeded in loosening restrictions on some high-powered combat weapons originally intended for military use. "We've got to sit down. I ask all my friends at NRA - and I'm a proud NRA member and always have been - we need to sit down and move this dialogue to a sensible, reasonable approach to fixing it," he told MSNBC's Morning Joe programme.
Addressing the nation's gun laws are just part of a larger cultural problem in the United States, Mr Manchin acknowledged. "But everything needs to be on the table, and I think it will be," he said.
Noah, whose sixth birthday was last month, was the youngest victim. Reports describe him as "inquisitive" and as particularly mature for his age. The family's rabbi has said he encouraged Noah's mother to focus on her other four children amid the grief.
Jack, also six, was a wrestler who loved sports. The New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz played yesterday's football game with the boy's name written all over his cleats and gloves.
All the dead children were all aged six or seven. The school principal of Sandy Hook Elementary, the school psychologist and four teachers were also killed by gunman Adam Lanza (20).
At last night's memorial, Mr Obama offered words of hope and promises of action to stop any further tragedies. "We bear responsibility for every child ... This is our first task, caring for our children. It's our first job. If we don't get that right, we don't get anything right," he said.
The president kept his emotions in tighter check than he did on Friday, when he cried openly while addressing the shooting. But his tears were matched by the packed crowd in the high school auditorium, who wailed when he read the names of the adults and children who were killed.
While the two boys are laid to rest and the other families prepare their own memorials, schools across the country will attempt to return to business as usual, though there will be signs everywhere of how unusual the situation has become.
Some schools will put on extra security guards. Others will begin their day with a moment of silence.
In Newtown, schools will not reopen today. The district has said teachers need time to prepare for the students' return. Instead, the town's youth sports groups have set up a field day of sorts to keep children occupied with athletics, board games and arts and crafts.
Schools superintendent Janet Robinson described it as an effort "to help provide some small level of comfort and support to the children in our community." The community will also have to make a decision about what to do with the bullet-ridden Sandy Hook Elementary, whose students will for now attend classes in an empty school in a neighbouring town.
"I think we have to go back into that building at some point. That's how you heal. It doesn't have to be immediately but I sure wouldn't want to give up on it," said local resident Tim Northrop.
A more detailed picture of Lanza's stunning attack emerged yesterday. After killing his mother, Nancy Lanza, at home, Lanza shot his way into the school. He had attended Sandy Hook as a child, according to former classmates.
Police said Lanza was armed with hundreds of bullets in high-capacity magazines of about 30 rounds each for the Bushmaster AR 15 rifle and two handguns he carried into the school, and had a fourth weapon, a shotgun, in his car outside. He killed himself in the school.
Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy said Lanza shot his way through a school door "using several rounds" before beginning to kill adults and children inside, then killed himself as police closed in. "He discharged to make an opening and then went through it, went to the first classroom ... went to the second classroom. We surmise that it was during the second classroom episode that he heard responders coming and apparently at that, decided to take his own life," Mr Malloy said on the ABC show This Week. "This sick fellow, you know, clearly mentally ill, killed his mother, proceeded to go on and kill a great number of people."
Investigators are examining forensic evidence and scouring the crime scene in a process likely to extend for weeks.
Townspeople and visitors took solace in church yesterday. Mass at Saint Rose Catholic church was packed. The priest's announcements included news that the Christmas pageant rehearsal would go on as planned, but without six-year-old Olivia Engel, killed on Friday before she could play the role of an angel.
Makeshift memorials appeared in the affluent town of 27,000 people about 130km from New York City. The largest, festooned with flowers and teddy bears, sat at the end of Dickenson Drive where Sandy Hook Elementary stands.
As children walked down the street in the rain, carrying their toys and signs, a man sat on the back of his parked car playing a mournful tune on a violin to accompany them.
"This is a time to come together," said Carina Bandhaver (43), who lives in nearby Southbury.
Several Democratic lawmakers called for a new push for US gun restrictions yesterday, including a ban on military-style assault weapons. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the author of an assault-weapons ban that lapsed in 2004, said she would introduce new legislation this week. Gun rights advocates have countered that Connecticut already has among the strictest gun laws in the US.
Agencies