NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — An official with knowledge of a shooting at a Connecticut elementary school says 27 people are dead, including 20 children.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still under way.

State police Lt. Paul Vance says only that staff and students at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown are among the victims. He says the shooter was dead in the school.

Vance says Newtown police called state police around 9:40 a.m. A SWAT team was among the throngs of police to respond to the school, about 60 miles northeast of New York City.

Photos from the scene showed young students — some crying, others looking visibly frightened — being escorted by adults through a parking lot in a line, hands on each other’s shoulders.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

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