A medical examiner says all the victims of the Connecticut school shooting were killed up close by multiple rifle shots.

Dr. H. Wayne Carver said at a news conference Saturday the deaths are classified as homicides. He says he believes "everybody was hit more than once."

Connecticut state police also released the names of those victims.

Friday's massacre of 26 children and adults at the elementary school has elicited horror and soul-searching around the world.

Investigators are trying to learn more about 20-year-old gunman Adam Lanza. They've questioned his older brother, who's not believed to have been involved in the rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary in prosperous Newtown, 60 miles northeast of New York City.

Hundreds of people in the tight-knit community packed a church Friday in a vigil for the victims, including 20 children. Monsignor Robert Weiss says these were "just beautiful, beautiful children.''

Names of victims in Conn. school rampage released

Authorities have released the names of the 26 people gunned down in a rampage at a Connecticut elementary school.

All six adults killed at the school were women. Of the 20 children who were shot to death, eight were boys and 12 were girls. All the children were ages 6 or 7.

President Barack Obama will attend an interfaith memorial service Sunday in Newtown. His visit will be the fourth time he has traveled to a city after a mass shooting.

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Sandy Hook Tragedy

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Newton officials: Principal was killed while lunging at gunman

Town officials in Connecticut say the principal who died in the rampage at an elementary school was killed while lunging at the gunman as she tried to overtake him.

Dawn Hochsprung was gunned down in Friday's massacre in Newtown.

Board of Education Chairwoman Debbie Liedlien said administrators were coming out of a meeting when the gunman -- whom authorities have identified as 20-year-old Adam Lanza -- forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and ran toward him.

Jeff Capeci, chairman of the town's Legislative Council, was asked whether Hochsprung is a hero.

"From what we know, it's hard to classify her as anything else,'' Capeci said.

Hochsprung had worked at the school for two years. Both Liedlien and Capeci said she immediately became a beloved figure.

Liedlien said, "It's so sad to lose somebody like her'' and that residents are feeling ``a deep sense of loss'' over her death."

The gunman who massacred 26 children and adults at an elementary school before committing suicide forced his way into the building, Connecticut State Police said.

Lt. Paul Vance said at a long-delayed Saturday morning news conference that the suspect was not voluntarily let into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton. He also said law enforcement officers broke several windows while entering the school.

Authorities say Lanza shot his mother on Friday, drove her car to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, and shot 20 children, six adults and himself.

Vance said the crime scene remains open and the medical examiner is still working on identifying the victims. Detectives will remain at the scene through at least Sunday, examining "every crack and crevice" of the school.

No victim names were released Saturday morning.

"These 20 children were just beautiful, beautiful children," Monsignor Robert Weiss said. "These 20 children lit up this community better than all these Christmas lights we have. ... There are a lot brighter stars up there tonight because of these kids."

Lanza is believed to have suffered from a personality disorder and lived with his mother, said a law enforcement official who was briefed on the investigation.

Asked whether Lanza had left any emails or other writings that might explain the rampage, Vance said investigators had found "very good evidence" and hoped it would answer questions about the gunman's motives. However, he would not elaborate.

The tragedy plunged the picturesque New England town of 27,000 people into mourning.

"People in my neighborhood are feeling guilty about it being Christmas. They are taking down decorations," said Jeannie Pasacreta, a psychologist who volunteered her services and was advising parents struggling with how to talk to their children.

Lanza shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, drove to the school in her car with at least three of her guns, and opened fire in two classrooms around 9:30 a.m. Friday, law enforcement officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A custodian ran through the halls, warning of a gunman, and someone switched on the intercom, perhaps saving many lives by letting them hear the chaos in the school office, a teacher said. Teachers locked their doors and ordered children to huddle in a corner, duck under their desks or hide in closets as shots reverberated through the building.

Maryann Jacob, a clerk in the school library, was in there with 18 fourth-graders when they heard a commotion and gunfire outside the room. She had the youngsters crawl into a storage room, and they locked the door and barricaded it with a file cabinet. There happened to be materials for coloring, "so we set them up with paper and crayons."

After what she guessed was about an hour, officers came to the door and knocked, but those inside couldn't be sure it was the police.

"One of them slid his badge under the door, and they called and said, 'It's OK, it's the police,'" she said.

A law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity said investigators believe Lanza attended the school several years ago but appeared to have no recent connection to it. It was not clear whether he held a job.

At least one parent said Lanza's mother was a substitute teacher at the school. But her name did not appear on a staff list. And the official said investigators were unable to establish any connection so far between her and the school.

Lanza's older brother, 24-year-old Ryan Lanza, of Hoboken, N.J., was questioned, and investigators searched his computers and phone records, but he told law enforcement he had not been in touch with his brother since about 2010.

The gunman forced his way into the kindergarten-through-fourth-grade school, authorities said. He took three guns into the school — a Glock and a Sig Sauer, both semiautomatic pistols, and a .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle, according to an official who was not authorized to discuss information with reporters and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The weapons were registered to his slain mother.

Lanza and his mother lived in a well-to-do part of prosperous Newtown, about 60 miles northeast of New York City, where neighbors are doctors or hold white-collar positions at companies such as General Electric, Pepsi and IBM.

His parents filed for divorce in 2008, according to court records. His father, Peter Lanza, lives in Stamford, Conn., and works as a tax director for GE.

The gunman's aunt Marsha Lanza, of Crystal Lake, Ill., said her nephew was raised by kind, nurturing parents who would not have hesitated to seek mental help for him if he needed it.

"Nancy wasn't one to deny reality," Marsha Lanza said, adding her husband had seen Adam as recently as June and recalled nothing out of the ordinary.

The mass shooting is one of the deadliest in U.S. history, and among school attacks is second in victims only to the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, which left 33 people dead, including the gunman. Reaction was swift and emotional in Newtown and beyond.

President Barack Obama's comments on the tragedy amounted to one of the most outwardly emotional moments of his presidency.

"The majority of those who died were children — beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old," Obama said at a White House news briefing. He paused for several seconds to keep his composure as he teared up and wiped an eye. Nearby, two aides cried and held hands.

Robert Licata said his 6-year-old son was in class when the gunman burst in and shot the teacher.

"That's when my son grabbed a bunch of his friends and ran out the door," he said. "He was very brave. He waited for his friends."

He said the shooter didn't utter a word.

Vance also asked for the media to respect the privacy of the victims' families and said a crisis intervention team has been established for anyone in the community who needs to talk about the tragedy.

Additionally, Vance said, detectives are investigating the history of every weapon found at the scene.

Some evidence was found at the school and at a secondary crime scene. But Vance wouldn't say if there were notes left behind by the suspect.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.