Newtown, Conn., the suddenly infamous site of one of the nation's deadliest shooting incidents, has a reputation as a relatively safe, suburban community, with a crime rate before Friday significantly lower than the national average.
The quiet, middle-class suburban community has a population of a little more than 1,800 residents living over a 2.5-mile area. Located in Fairfield County, Newtown is relatively close to the New York state line and approximately 78 miles north of New York City.
A mostly white community, the town of Newtown has a median household income of $86,553, according to IDcide.com, and had a crime index rating of 79 percent, making it safer than 79 percent of other U.S. communities.
The Sandy Hook Elementary School, in which the tragic shooting occurred, had a 2009 enrollment of 625 students ages five through 10 years, and is one of seven schools in the Newtown Public School District, which includes four elementary, one intermediate, one middle, and one high school. In total, the district has a 2009 student enrollment of 5,463.
On Friday, at least 27 people, 20 of them children, were killed at the school. The perpetrator, identified by authorities as 20-year-old Adam Lanza, originally from Newtown, apparently killed his father in Hoboken, N.J. before driving to the Connecticut township and killing his school teacher mother, her entire kindergarten class, other teacher's at the school.
It is the second deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in the nation's history. In the April 2007 Virginia Tech shooting by former student Cho Seung-Hui, 32 people were killed.
More Coverage of Newtown, Conn. Shooting:
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