Newtown students return to class after school massacre

(Reuters) - Students returned to school in the shattered Connecticut town of Newtown on Tuesday, accompanied by police and counselors to help them cope with grief and fear after a gunman's rampage killed 26 people in an elementary school and altered attitudes about gun control in Washington.

Sandy Hook Elementary, where 20-year-old Adam Lanza gunned down a score of 6- and 7-year-olds and six adults on Friday, will remain closed. It is an active crime scene, with police coming and going past a line of 26 Christmas trees put up by visitors and decorated with ornaments, stuffed animals and balloons in the school colors of green and white as a memorial.

The rest of Newtown's schools were set to reopen.

"We are ready to open our doors and give them everything they need to feel safe," said Julie Shull, a social studies teacher at Reed Intermediate School. "I could not be prouder to be a part of this amazing group of individuals that devote their lives to children."

Sandy Hook pupils will later resume class at an unused school in another town.

The massacre of young children shocked Americans who had grown accustomed to mass shootings, prompting some U.S. lawmakers to call for tighter gun restrictions and pressuring one private equity firm to sell its investment in a gunmaker.

President Barack Obama, who called for action at a Sunday night prayer vigil in Newtown, held talks with Vice President Joe Biden and three Cabinet members on Monday in what a White House official said was an effort to "begin looking at ways the country can respond to the tragedy in Newtown."

Several Democratic lawmakers have called for a new push for U.S. gun restrictions, including a ban on assault weapons such as the Bushmaster AR-15 used by Lanza, who carried hundreds of rounds of ammunition in extra clips and shot all of his victims repeatedly, one of them 11 times. Lanza also shot dead his mother before driving to the school, and then killed himself to end the massacre with a death toll of 28.

The nation's powerful gun industry lobby, the National Rifle Association, has remained silent on the Newtown shooting.

U.S. private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management announced it was selling its investment in gunmaker Freedom Group following pressure from a major investor, the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) said on Monday it was reviewing its investment with Cerberus.

CalSTRS, the second largest pension fund in the United States, had invested $751.4 million with Cerberus by the end of March 2012, according to its website. Cerberus bought firearms maker Bushmaster in 2006 and later merged it with other gun companies to create Freedom Group.

NEWTOWN BURIES ITS CHILDREN

While politicians and investors grappled with the future of the U.S. gun industry, police and educators in Newtown tried to ease their bucolic town back to normal. At least two more funerals were set for Tuesday after the first two children were buried on Monday.

Newtown police plan to have officers at the six schools scheduled to reopen on Tuesday, and police Lieutenant George Sinko acknowledged it may be difficult to ease the worries of the roughly 4,700 returning students and their families.

"Obviously, there's going to be a lot of apprehension. We just had a horrific tragedy. We had babies sent to school that should be safe and they weren't," Sinko said. "You can't help but think ... if this could happen again."

Older students were volunteering at a support center for those stricken with grief.

"It all seemed so unreal, and then today it hit me. This is reality and something we're going to have to deal with," said Jamie Calandro, 14, a freshman at Newtown High School. "Right now, with Christmas coming up, it's most important to make the homey feel of Newtown come back."

When Sandy Hook students return, it will be at the unused Chalk Hill School in the nearby Monroe, where a sign across the street from the school read, "Welcome Sandy Hook Elementary!"

Police have warned it could take months for them to finish their investigation.

The first two victims, Noah Pozner and Jack Pinto, both 6, were buried on Monday, with the boys' bodies laid out in white coffins. Jack was dressed in a New York Giants jersey with his favorite player's number, while mourners left a teddy bear outside Noah's service.

Funerals were expected on Tuesday for victims including James Mattioli and Jessica Rekos. Each was 6 years old.

(Additional reporting by Sakthi Prasa, Greg Roumeliotis, Edith Honan and Dan Burns; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Doina Chiacu)