Community Profile: Newtown, Connecticut

The location of today's horrific and unprecedented school shooting

The scene of today's tragic attack is Newtown, Connecticut, a locale of less than 2,000 people in the southwest corner of the state that has grown modestly in the last decade and is considered essentially rural despite its close proximity to New York City.

Outlets like The Washington Post and lesser known sources of information like City-Data.com provide us with some demographic details that help shed light on the community that just experienced a truly dark episode:

Population: 1,941

Median resident age: 43.5

Median household income: $109,767

White population: 91.8%

Black population: 0.9%

Common industries: Manufacturing, professional/technical services, and construction.

Common occupations :Sales representatives, services, wholesale and manufacturing.

Overview of Fairfield County, Connecticut:

Married, no children: 27.4%

Married, with children: 25.7%

Live alone: 24.9%

Single parent: 9.8%

"I drive past Newtown all the time," said The American Conservative's Michael Brendan Dougherty. "Fate could not have chosen a town more beautiful and seemingly immune to this."

Via The Washington Post and City-Data.com.

Posted 12:30pm PST.

[twinertia]

Moral of the story: anyone, anywhere, anytime.

[Politic-n]

Yep, best to be armed at all times in case of a psycho like this going beserk.

[Laradian]

True. But perhaps we need to look a little closer at what race and gender consistently commits these cowardly types of mass shooting crimes and ask,'Why?'

We've ask it when young black men commit these crimes on each other in their own neighborhoods. Exposing it over the years has helped improve public awareness of it so that it has seen some decline in recent years.

Let's face this and deal with it by punching it in the face.

[twinertia]

@Politic-n Yeah, if those seven-year-olds had all been packin', a few of 'em might've pushed through the fear long enough to take out Mr. Lanza. Sure, his protective gear might've deflected many of the shots, and the pistol recoil might've busted some noses and teeth, but think of the heroic aftermath and the lucrative book rights. This (for those of us regressively-challenged) has been your daily dose of *sarcasm*.

[Politic-n]

@twinertia - In order for sarcasm to work, it must be based in logic, which you fail at. Try again.

[NormalFlora]

It appears that the shooter drove to this community after fatally shooting his brother in Hoboken, so demographics are meaningless here.

[Pragmatist]

More recent reports the brother is still alive and there was no body in the Hoboken home (updated 4:54PM EST).

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/14/shooting...

[NormalFlora]

@Pragmatist Yeah, sorry about that. First reports obviously were wrong.

[Keyjo]

@NormalFlora
It's important to wait before jumping to conclusions or believing initial reports. This is unfolding with time and likely as not, accurate details will not be available until at least tomorrow.

[thejimbo]

@Keyjo Now if only the lamestream news media understood that....smh

[thejimbo]

Shame on every single news outlet in the planet covering this for turning this into a media circus especially with all the attention now on the killer. All in the name of those holy ratings! Please call your local news outlets and tell them we're sick and tired of this! R.I.P. to all the victims.#PrayForNewtown

[Denizen_Kate]

Demographics, statistics, the beauty of a location, none of that matters. This little town has been shattered and will never be the same. What happened to these children is unimaginable in any setting.

[Vance1]

Newtown, Connecticut, a great town ruined by a young indoctrinated man
Now wait...Marxist Anti-Gun Obama people go for more Gun Control.
Even though, Gun control isnt the problem.
Connecticut already has a virtual shytload of anti gun laws.
Guns arent the problem, idiot people are.
and mostly today its young people, They have been ruined by parents and teachers for their past twenty years.

[PoliticalSpice]

Idiot people, like those who can not even let the parents bury their dead children before using this tragedy as an excuse to mount their political soap box and bash Obama. Can't all people have enough decency to wait till the dead are buried before playing this like a game of political football?

[Vance1]

@PoliticalSpice

it already started tonight on MSNBC
why pick on me?

[PoliticalSpice]

@Vance1 because I think it's disgusting. It reminds me of a memorial I attended once where someone used the speaking person to plug for something I beleived in I told her it was disgusting to, and if you want to copy a bad example by a network that I know you despise, that makes you worse then them, because you know its wrong which is why you would condem them for it. I disagree strongly with u.s. policy, but had the decency out of respect for the dead not to use 9-11 ad an opportunty for a soap box in the immediate sftermath. Have some decency, please.

[Vance1]

@PoliticalSpice

Decency? Yes I lowered my flag today for the dead and injured..

Ed Schultz ended his show tonight criticizing gun advocates for hiding behind the Second Amendment every time shootings like this occur.
They the left always blame the weapon, and not the whackjob behind the weapon.
Have some decency? Oh believe me I do for the innocent

[Politicskid]

This is scary. I guess living in the safest place in the world can make it less safe.

I live in Beaverton Oregon (20 miles from the shooting the other day), and in the past we've received rewards for being one of the safest towns on the planet. Does this make us a target? I worry it might.

I'm hoping that the shooter at the mall the other day didn't have any other people he'd teamed up with...