Anonymous Donor Gifts 26 Christmas Trees to Honor Shooting Victims

The trees lead up to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where tragedy struck Friday

Photo: Mike Segar/Reuters/Landov

This year, 26 families – and an innumerable count of mourning loved ones and strangers alike – will spend the holidays in the shadow of a national tragedy.

An anonymous North Carolina donor contributed 26 Christmas trees – one for each of the 20 children and six adults killed by a gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday – for a special tribute.

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Volunteers helping out at the town’s fire station decorated the 5-ft. trees, which were lined up in the direction of the school on Saturday.

“We felt the need to come here with our children,” said one Newtown resident, “and this is a wonderful way to honor the young children who died.”

The gunman Adam Lanza shot his mother before the school massacre, and was dead on the scene, bringing the death toll to 28.

Here are the names of the victims:
Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Olivia Engel, 6
Josephine Gay, 7
Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
Dylan Hockley, 6
Madeleine Hsu, 6
Catherine Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7
Emilie Parker, 6
Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison N. Wyatt, 6
Rachel Davino, 29
Dawn Hochsprung, 47
Nancy Lanza, 52
Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Lauren Rousseau, 30
Mary Sherlach, 56
Victoria Soto, 27