A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.

On Dec. 14, 2012, a gunman with a semiautomatic rifle killed 20 first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, then took his own life as police arrived; the 20-year-old had also fatally shot his mother at their home before carrying out the attack on the school.

And the fact it wasn’t the first such tragedy, or, even more poignantly, was far from the last, just adds to the somber reflection.

Has it been a dozen years since tiny Newtown, Connecticut, was the center of our attention?

Every time a child loses a life through violence, at school or anywhere, we mourn. Prior to December 2012, large-scale school shootings had occurred at colleges — like the University of Texas mass shootings in 1966 and the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007, or at a high school, such as Columbine, Colorado, in 1999.

Then came the devastation at Sandy Hook, an idyllic elementary school. A place where innocence is celebrated and the best and brightest of the future are gathered to grow together.

Rather than repeat the well-known facts about the mass shooting, we share some well-written stories from Deseret News archives about those who were there, how families try to heal, what we are still struggling to learn and hope for the future:

How survivors of mass shootings are helping a new generation heal

Artist helps Sandy Hook victims’ families, others cope with tragedy through drawings of Christ

Father of Sandy Hook victim writes book detailing case against conspiracy theories

Helen Thompson leaves a message on a sign for 6-year-old Emilie Parker, who was one of 20 children killed Friday in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., near the Rock Cliff Stake Center in Ogden on Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Former Utahns who lost daughter in Sandy Hook shooting reflect on past 5 years

A mother’s voice: Remembering Emilie a year after Sandy Hook

Sandy Hook survivor, 17, shares her story ahead of the massacre’s 10th anniversary

Robbie and Alissa Parker on 10 years since Sandy Hook

Forgiveness, positive focus the key at Sandy Hook

Documents highlight heroics, horror in Newtown

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Gunmaker asks U.S. Supreme Court to hear Sandy Hook appeal

Alex Jones lied about Sandy Hook. He now has to pay $965 million for it

Cokeville recollects ‘miracle’ of 1986

10 years later, Cokeville just says: Let us be

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