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No ceremonies in Newtown for shooting anniversary

FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2013 file photo, a makeshift memorial with crosses for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre stands outside a home in Newtown, Conn., on the one-year anniversary of the shootings. Newtown is taking its time to decide what a permanent memorial should look like. A commission has been hearing proposals for concepts including murals, groves and memorial parks, while looking for lessons from paths chosen by other tragedy-stricken communities. Public forums are planned for 2015, the next step in a process that is expected to last several more years. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File) FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2013 file photo, a makeshift memorial with crosses for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre stands outside a home in Newtown, Conn., on the one-year anniversary of the shootings. Newtown is taking its time to decide what a permanent memorial should look like. A commission has been hearing proposals for concepts including murals, groves and memorial parks, while looking for lessons from paths chosen by other tragedy-stricken communities. Public forums are planned for 2015, the next step in a process that is expected to last several more years. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

By Associated Press December 14, 2014 1 min read

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) – No public memorial events are planned in Newtown as the community marks the second anniversary of the shooting rampage that left 20 children and six educators dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Town officials say it will be a day of private reflection and remembrance.

First Selectman Pat Llodra and school Superintendent Joseph Erardi said in a public letter that the community’s recovery has been a “challenging journey, filled with days of joyful hope and occasional dips of despair.”

A troubled 20-year-old gunman shot his way into the school on the morning of Dec. 14, 2012. He shot and killed his mother before driving to the school and committed suicide as police arrived on the scene.