People mourn victims

Firefighters pray in front of a memorial along the road to Sandy Hook Elementary School, a day after a shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec 15, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

About 50 people gathered for a service at St. John's Episcopal Church in the neighboring town of Sandy Hook to remember the victims, ending the service by singing the hymn "Amazing Grace."

"Evil is a choice. It does not come from God," the Reverend Mark Moore said in his sermon. "Even though evil can overcome us, it cannot overcome God."

"In the end, all will be well," he said, and the people responded with a loud "Amen."

Afterward, Mary Fellows, 49, a life-long resident of Sandy Hook, said she went to the service to try to find peace while waiting to discover if she knew any of the victims. "Even if you didn't know their names, you know their faces," Fellows said.

Nine-year-old Madeline Slota (L) and her parents Kevin Slota and Danielle Slota of Seattle hold candles while attending a vigil for victims of a Connecticut school shooting at Green Lake Park in Seattle, Dec 15, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

The National Shooting Sports Foundation headquarters sits just up the street from the grief center. White holiday candles had been placed in its back windows. A security guard shooed away any visitors.

Vance, the police spokesman, declined to describe the evidence gathered about the shooter's motives but did say the gunman forced his way into the school.

Crime-scene investigators worked through the night and moved the bodies to the state medical examiner's office for autopsies, police said in a statement. Victims' names had yet to be released.

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Background:

Major school shootings in US since 1999