NYPD Lieutenant Loses Nephew in Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting

By Jess Wisloski, DNAinfo Weekend Editor

MIDTOWN — The slaughter of 20 children and six adults at a Newtown, Conn. school hit close to home Friday for one member of the NYPD, according to reports.

The lieutenant raced up to Sandy Hook Elementary accompanied by a police escort, after hearing his nephew had been killed, the NY Post reported, when he was unable to reach his brother.

The lieutenant took off his regular midnight shift in the Midtown South precinct after the tragedy, the paper wrote.

The NYPD was not officially able to confirm the report, a spokesman said.

On Friday night, impromptu gatherings of candelight vigils appeared around the city, as New Yorkers reeled over the news of the massive killing just 60 miles north of the city.

Adam Lanza, 20, was identified as the primary suspect, police revealed Saturday, and was one of the 28 total left dead after the incident after he turned the gun on himself following the attack. His mother, Nancy Lanza, a teacher at the school, was also found dead, inside her home.

At 11 p.m. Friday night, a few dozen mourners gathered in Times Square to collectively grapple with the incident and try and make sense of the tragedy, mimicking the larger gatherings and vigils at churches in Newtown, Conn. and in front of the White House, where gun-control advocates touched down Friday afternoon.

Muneer Panjwani, 28, and his co-workers threw together the gathering as a way to express support for victims families, he told the Wall Street Journal. They were joined by many passersby, and together held signs and sang carols.

Earlier in Brooklyn, an community group with an anti-gun message gathered at Brooklyn Borough Hall for a 7 p.m. vigil.

"Our prayers are with the families and residents of Connecticut and we stand unified in calling for bans on all illegal handguns and assault weapons," said one-time state Assembly candidate Tony Herbert.