The alleged gunman at an elementary school in Connecticut is dead, an official told NBC News, and at least three people were hospitalized in the shooting that sent crying children spilling into the parking lot.

Two handguns were recovered from the scene, the official told WNBC's Jonathan Dienst. The official had no information whether any children were hurt at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

Three people were taken to nearby Danbury Hospital, a spokeswoman told NBC Connecticut. She would not elaborate on the ages of the victims or their conditions.

One of those taken to the hospital was a teacher who had been shot in the foot, the Associated Press reported, citing a dispatcher at the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

The Newtown Bee reported that one child, apparently wounded, was carried from the scene by a police officer.

Shannon Hicks / The Newtown Bee.

Children are led from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Friday after a reported shooting there.

In a photo taken by the Bee, crying students could be seen being escorted from the school by police. They were taken to a nearby fire station where their parents were picking them up.

A third-grader, Alexis Wasik, told the Hartford Courant that police checked students and staffers before they were escorted to the fire station.

"We had to walk with a partner," she said.

An elementary school student recalls the terrifying moments following sounds of shots fired at her Connecticut elementary school, saying "teachers told us to go in the corner so we all huddled."

NBC Connecticut reported that the entire school district was in lockdown.

Students told NBC Connecticut on its live broadcast that they heard multiple gunshots and were quickly ushered into classroom corners as teachers locked the doors.

BreakingNews.com's coverage of the incident

Newtown is about 45 miles southwest of Hartford and 60 miles northeast of New York City.

The K-4 school has about 600 students.

This report will be updated as information becomes available.

Updated at 2:37 p.m. ET: A teacher's son clad in black and carrying two handguns rampaged through a Connecticut elementary school Friday, killing 18 small children and seven adults, including his mother, in the nation’s second-worst school shooting, law enforcement officials said.

The gunman, identified as Ryan Lanza, 24, of Hoboken, N.J., also was found dead at the scene, a federal law enforcement official said. Lanza's mother is a kindergarten teacher at the Newtown, Conn., school, and it's inside her classroom where most of the casualties took place, according to WNBC's Jonathan Dienst.

Another member of Lanza's family was found shot to death at home in Newtown, and a second person is in custody for a possible connection to Friday's slaughter.

Some young survivors -- all under age 10 -- described the terror of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and a massive police response that included SWAT officers going room to room to search for victims.

"I was in the gym and I heard a loud, like seven loud booms, and the gym teachers told us to go in the corner, so we all huddled," a student told NBC Connecticut. "And I kept hearing these booming noises. And we all … started crying.

"All the gym teachers told us to go into the office where no one could find us," she added. "So then a police officer came in and told us to run outside. So we did and we came in the firehouse.”

Authorities in the small bedroom community 60 miles from New York City were alerted to the unfolding carnage by a 911 call around 9:30 a.m. and then reached out to state police and neighboring police departments for help.

Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance said troopers who responded fanned out across the school and searched “every door, every crack, every crevice” of the building.

He said only that they found “several fatalities,” including the shooter, at the scene.

The 600-student school goes up to the fourth grade. The Hartford Courant, citing unnamed sources, said many of the victims were in a kindergarten classroom.

After the search was over, children and staff were escorted to a staging area outside where they were reunited with panicked loved ones over the next few hours.

Shannon Hicks / The Newtown Bee.

Children are led from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Friday after a reported shooting there.

Brenda Lebinski, mother of a third-grader, called the scene “horrendous.”

“Everyone was in hysterics - parents, students. There were kids coming out of the school bloodied. I don't know if they were shot, but they were bloodied,'' she said, according to Reuters.

One parent picking up his 7-year-old son said the shooting was “the most terrifying moment a parent can imagine” and described the anguish of waiting to find out if his son was a victim and then running to his child.

“It was the greatest relief in my existence,” the father said. “I’m just happy that my kid’s OK.”

Bracing for a large influx of wounded, Danbury Hospital went on lockdown and cleared four trauma rooms. It received only three patients, including a teacher shot in the foot, the Associated Press reported.

The motive for the shooting was unknown, and the gunman’s name was not released.

Two 9mm handguns were recovered from the scene, an official told WNBC's Dienst. The Associated Press said one of the guns was a.223-caliber rifle.

The FBI was on the scene, assisting with the investigation. “There is a great deal of search warrant activity…in and out of the state,” Vance said, without giving specifics.

Connecticut Gov. Dannell Malloy was meeting with families near Sandy Hook.

“As you can imagine, the governor is horrified by what’s happened,” said aide Roy Occhiogrosso.

President Obama was told of the shooting at 10:30 a.m.

"I can just tell you that as a father, incidents like these weigh heavily on him, and I think everyone who has children and can imagine the enormous suffering that accompanies an event like this,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

The death toll is the highest from a school shooting in U.S. history since a gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007. At Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, two teens killed 13 people and wounded 24 in 1999.

Parent Stephen Delgiadice, whose 8-year-old daughter was not hurt, said he never could have imagined such bloodshed in the quiet town, where the police force has only three detectives.

"It's alarming, especially in Newtown, Connecticut, which we always thought was the safest place in America," he told The Associated Press.

 reds8n wrote:
BBC are currently saying up to 27 dead, many of them children, with other wounded.
Press conference to follow.

Sad, sad news indeed.

 Frazzled wrote:
Thgis is crazy -especially two people? How are all the wack jobs not being caught, and then getting guns?

 Frazzled wrote:

 reds8n wrote:
BBC are currently saying up to 27 dead, many of them children, with other wounded.
Press conference to follow.

Sad, sad news indeed.

Thgis is crazy -especially two people? How are all the wack jobs not being caught, and then getting guns?

 CDK wrote:
Even more reasons for my family to home school.

While part of me wants to blame guns, I actually blame the lack of mental health care in our country. Not only is there the stigma of getting help but then you have have to pay a lot of money to get it.

 Alfndrate wrote:

 CDK wrote:
Even more reasons for my family to home school.

While part of me wants to blame guns, I actually blame the lack of mental health care in our country. Not only is there the stigma of getting help but then you have have to pay a lot of money to get it.

Twitter is going on about gun regulation... I've only seen one post involving mental health care...

Let's be honest, it's not gun enthusiasts with mental health issues, it's those with mental health issues with guns... The deep south has plenty of the first, and they're shooting moon shine jars, not kids...

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:

 CDK wrote:
Even more reasons for my family to home school.

While part of me wants to blame guns, I actually blame the lack of mental health care in our country. Not only is there the stigma of getting help but then you have have to pay a lot of money to get it.

Twitter is going on about gun regulation... I've only seen one post involving mental health care...

Let's be honest, it's not gun enthusiasts with mental health issues, it's those with mental health issues with guns... The deep south has plenty of the first, and they're shooting moon shine jars, not kids...

Usually after they finish the shine of course.

Guns are the symptom, not the problem. The problem is nutcases.

 d3m01iti0n wrote:
Yes but if you bring innocent people into the mix you become a pathetic little coward who is simply acting out for attention and ruining people's lives who have nothing to do with your problems whatsoever. Go in the garage and blow your head off. The world will be a better place.

 CDK wrote:
Canada has far more guns per capita than the US but they don't have NEAR the gun violence we do.

 Frazzled wrote:

 d3m01iti0n wrote:
Yes but if you bring innocent people into the mix you become a pathetic little coward who is simply acting out for attention and ruining people's lives who have nothing to do with your problems whatsoever. Go in the garage and blow your head off. The world will be a better place.

Same day some asswipe stabbed 22 school children in China. This is crazy gak.
http://www.courant.com/sns-rt-us-china-stabbingsbre8bd065-20121213,0,5592318.story

 Da Boss wrote:
Germany, finland and the uk have all had some school shootings, and have stricter fun control than the US. But the US has many more shootings than other d
eveloped countries.

 CDK wrote:
Here's a little.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/timeline-a-history-of-gun-violence-in-canada-and-the-us/article4424298/

Canada has a smaller population though and I think, not positive, they have more hunting/hunters that goes on here.

 sarpedons-right-hand wrote:
Reports at the moment here in the UK are saying that an entire class of kids is unaccounted for and the police have found a body at the shooters home. No reports as to who the dead person at the house is/was.

The gunman was just 20 years old according to BBC news ATM, and he was a young parent who had an altercation with the headmaster.... How very very sad...

 Alfndrate wrote:

 CDK wrote:
Canada has far more guns per capita than the US but they don't have NEAR the gun violence we do.

I'm calling shenanigans on that... Do you have a link? Cause I think Frazz has more guns than Canada...