This story was originally published on Dec. 2. To mark the fourth anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting, it is being republished. 
 
 Sandy Hook Promise, an organization devoted to protecting children from gun violence that was launched in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, has issued a powerful public service announcement urging people to look for warning signs of potential shooters. 
 
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 In the Dec. 2 PSA, part of the organization’s “Know the Signs” campaign, viewers are introduced to Evan, a typical teenager, trying to find summer love as the school year winds down. We see Evan scratch “I am bored” into a desk in his school’s library, and he returns the next day to find a response from a female student. 
 
 Evan and the mystery girl scratch flirtatious messages back and forth, and Evan tries to find out who his secret pen pal is. On the final day of school, as yearbooks are being passed around for signatures, Evan’s chat partner recognizes his handwriting and reveals herself. But while she does, an ominous figure emerges through a door in the background, drops a large duffel bag, and cocks an assault rifle. 
 
 Viewers are then shown a shortened version of the same PSA: The message is that while viewers were distracted by Evan’s romance, they neglected the warning signs of a male student in the background who reads gun-enthusiast magazines, searches for gun videos on YouTube, and is bullied in the school’s halls. Towards the end of the PSA, viewers see the male student make a menacing gesture towards his teacher after receiving a poor test grade. 
 
 Text appears in the ad: “While you were watching Evan, another student was showing signs of planning a shooting. But no one noticed.” 
 
 The ad says, “Gun violence is preventable when you know the signs.” 
 
 “The PSA demonstrates how easy it is for one to overlook the signs of an at-risk individual demonstrating signs of violence, particularly gun violence, and that when one knows the signs, it can be prevented,” says a statement from Sandy Hook Promise. 
 
 The organization hopes the PSA will teach people how to recognize someone exhibiting at-risk behaviors and empower them to intervene. 
 
 Sandy Hook Promise states that 80 percent of school shooters and 70 percent of individuals who killed themselves told someone of their violent plans prior to taking action — yet nobody intervened. ||||| The onset of this PSA from Sandy Hook Promise, an organization created in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, begins innocently enough. The video follows a boy, Evan (the same name as the video), exchanging messages on a desk in the school library with an unknown classmate. 
 
 The flirtatious messages are sent back and forth until the end of the school year, leaving a dissuaded Evan without a chance to learn the identity of his secret crush. However, in a last-ditch effort to learn who the person is, he exchanges yearbook signatures with classmates — one of which recognizes his handwriting from the desk. 
 
 While the two begin talking, however, an ominous figure emerges from the entrance of the building, taking out an assault rifle and cocks the gun as the screen fades to black. 
 
 "While you were watching Evan, another student was showing signs of planning a shooting," the corresponding text reads. "But no one noticed." 
 
 The PSA then relays the scenes of Evan at school, and in the background are several alarming signs of another student looking at gun videos on YouTube, being bullied by classmates, sharing photos with a gun on Instagram and reading a gun enthusiast magazine. 
 
 Giphy The warning signs 
 
 "It's important to know that one warning sign on its own does not mean a person is planning an act of violence," the Sandy Hook Promise website reads under the "Know the Signs" program. "But when many connected or cumulative signs are observed over a period of time, it could mean that the person is heading down a pathway towards violence or self-harm. By knowing the signs, you have the power to intervene and get help for that person. Your actions can save lives." 
 
 The organization was founded by several family members whose children were killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in 2012. The nonprofit's goal is to protect children from gun violence. 
 
 Watch the powerful PSA from Sandy Hook Promise below: ||||| It has been four years since a gunman walked into an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut and opened fire, killing 20 first-graders and six educators before turning the gun on himself. 
 
 The Sandy Hook school massacre — its violence and wrenching loss, its heartbreak — still looms large for the survivors, whose lives were irreparably changed. 
 
 But their lives did not stop. In the years since the shooting, the survivors have continued on: raising children, giving back and thinking, sometimes, of the future. 
 
 On the yearly anniversary of the shooting, on Wednesday, PEOPLE spoke with three parents whose children were killed at Sandy Hook. We asked them about their lives now, about their families and about their hopes for the new year. 
 
 The Barden family in February 2013. Nigel Parry 
 
 Mark Barden 
 
 Mornings are still difficult for Jackie and Mark Barden, who lost their 7-year-old son, Daniel, in the 2012 shooting. 
 
 Each morning, after the couple’s two older children, James and Natalie, left for school each morning, Mark spent special one-on-one time with Daniel, snuggling on the couch or marveling at the snowflakes glistening on the tree branches outside the windows of their home before the first-grader boarded the bus. 
 
 Now, Mark tells PEOPLE, “Jackie and I still sit and have coffee after James and Natalie have left for school and just look at each other and say that we can’t believe our little Daniel is gone.” 
 
 In the weeks leading up to the shooting’s anniversary, “we have been recalling what we were doing on these same days in 2012, with no way to know what was looming around the corner,” he says. 
 
 “James and Natalie are probably doing better than Jackie and I are, but I think that has always been the case,” he says. “But that’s okay. That’s how it should be.” 
 
 Mark’s priority remains his wife and his kids, he says. James, now a high school junior, and Natalie, a high school freshman “are doing remarkably well.” 
 
 James, who plays soccer, “is thriving academically,” his dad says. “He is taking a bunch of AP [Advanced Placement] classes at school. He is cranking.” 
 
 Natalie, a school swimmer, “is doing well academically and has a nice, large social network.” She also seems to have inherited her father’s showbiz gene. 
 
 “Starting in February, she is going to host her own open mic night for kids,” says Mark, a musician who plays in his own band. “She has taken the initiative and is excited and busy with all of that.” 
 
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 Jackie “is managing,” Mark says. “Same as me. She gets a lot of strength from James and Natalie and our wonderful extended family that we are so fortunate to have, and from each other.” 
 
 The couple likes to keep “a close eye” on their children, Mark says. “We ride the balance between not dwelling on things [and] making the subject of Daniel’s untimely death something they feel comfortable speaking about,” he says. 
 
 But, Mark says, “It breaks my heart when little Natalie refers to Daniel in the present tense.” 
 
 Nicole Hockley testifies at the Illinois state capital in May 2013. Seth Perlman/AP 
 
 Nicole Hockley 
 
 For some, the future is difficult to consider. 
 
 “It’s a little hard to answer this, as I no longer do long-term planning in my personal life,” says Nicole Hockley, whose 6-year-old son, Dylan, died in the massacre. “I always used to have a plan, but I’m no longer that person.” 
 
 The few plans she has for the future, Hockley says, include focusing on her surviving son, Jake. 
 
 “I want him to be happy, balanced and continue to do well at school and in life,” she tells PEOPLE. “He’ll never truly know just how much I love him.” 
 
 She also wants to continue working with Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit organization she created with other Newtown parents in the wake of the shooting to protect children from gun violence. 
 
 Like Mark Barden, Hockley’s work with Sandy Hook Promise keeps her going. On Tuesday, they and other SHP members were in Washington, D.C., where President Obama signed into law the 21st Century Cures Act, which includes Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy’s Mental Health Reform Act of 2016. 
 
 The bipartisan legislation aims, among other goals, to help serve American adults and children with mental health problems that go untreated or overlooked. 
 
 Members of SHP worked closely with Sen. Murphy and others to pass the act, Barden says. “I have heard that this is the most significant piece of mental health legislation to pass through our federal government in decades,” he says. 
 
 “We are very excited to be a part of all of this.” 
 
 WATCH : Father Returns to Sandy Hook Elementary For The First Time Since Son Jesse Lewis Was Killed 
 
 Hockley, Barden and other members of SHP are also proud of the “Know the Signs” prevention programs the organization started to help spot potential shooters, which included a powerful public service announcement on Dec. 2. 
 
 “We have trained more than one million students with our programs,” Mark says. “We have anecdotal evidence that the programs have stopped suicides, a school shooting and have brought bullying down to near zero in some districts.” 
 
 Besides raising her son, Hockley says her other priority is to continue working with SHP and “keep saving lives.” 
 
 “It’s the only way I can prevent more families from grieving like mine,” she says. “It’s the way my family wants to honor Dylan.” 
 
 Scarlett Lewis in February 2013. Nigel Parry 
 
 Scarlett Lewis 
 
 Scarlett Lewis, who lost her 6-year-old son, Jesse, in the shooting, is focusing on raising her oldest son, J.T. Lewis — who, like his mother, is trying to help others. 
 
 In September, J.T. was given the “Courage Award” at the Teen Choice Awards for his work with Newtown Helps Rwanda, an organization he founded, which provides college and post-graduate education for orphaned genocide survivors. 
 
 “He is doing amazing,” Lewis tells PEOPLE. “He just raised enough money to pay for one of the survivors to go to grad school. He paid for one year.” 
 
 Lewis, who wrote 2014’s Nurturing, Healing Love: A Mother’s Journey of Hope and Forgiveness, is also working to bring her Choose Love Enrichment Program to as many schools and communities as she can. 
 
 “Since Sandy Hook, there have been more than 200 school-related shootings,” Lewis says. “All of them could have been prevented with social and emotional learning. I think social and emotional learning could also have prevented the tragedy at Sandy Hook. 
 
 “It’s a different way of thinking, but it seems so obvious: Kids who are able to give and receive love won’t want to harm one another.” 
 
 Helping others doesn’t take away the pain and suffering of losing her son, Lewis says. But Jesse’s death has given her perspective. 
 
 “The greatest life lesson I received in all of this is that we are all just here to help one another,” she says. “I didn’t know that four years ago, but I feel incredibly blessed to know it now.” ||||| Nicole Hockley lost her youngest son, first-grader Dylan, in the December 2012 attack on the Sandy Hook Elementary School. Dylan was killed at age 6. 
 
 She wrote this open letter to Renae Hall, whose 6-year-old son Jacob was mortally wounded last week when a gun-toting teen opened fire at a school playground in Townville, S.C. 
 
 The text of her two-page missive: 
 
 I'm ashamed of myself. 
 
 Student who died after S.C. shooting to have superhero funeral 
 
 When I heard the news of the Townville Elementary school shooting, I was horrified. Too many similarities to the shooting at Sandy Hook School that took the life of my son, 19 of his classmates and six of his educators almost four years ago. A troubled young man (a child himself) with access to guns, killing one of his parents and then going to an elementary school and shooting first-graders and educators. 
 
 My first question was, “Are they OK?” Hearing that there were no deaths at the school eased my pain a little and I was able to return to my work. I knew the community would be traumatized. I knew families would be left wondering how this could have happened and what they could do to prevent it from happening elsewhere. I knew eventually we would hear about the signs and signals that the shooter gave off long before the violence occurred, but that were missed, not recognized, or not acted upon. I knew it was yet another preventable tragedy, but my immediate pain and fear was lessened because none of the children had been killed. 
 
 Until Saturday, when I learned of Jacob Hall's death. Seeing the picture his family released before he succumbed to his wounds killed me inside. Seeing his mother's face as she held her beautiful baby boy for the last time ... there are no words for the anguish I felt then and still feel today. 
 
 Nicole Hockley penned an open letter to Jacob Hill's mother. (Bryan Pace/for New York Daily News) 
 
 I also felt deeply ashamed. Ashamed that I had allowed a part of myself to accept the Townville Elementary shooting as another day in America, just because no one had died. For me to be complacent about gun violence, even for a moment, is unforgivable. I know the price of complacency and inaction. I know that until enough people are actively engaged in preventing firearm deaths and injuries, that change will not come. I don't just mean policy change — I mean change we can make in our own homes, schools and communities right now to identify and recognize at-risk behaviors and take action to intervene before a tragic culmination. The price of inaction is too high. The price is that people continue to die every day across our country, and communities continue to be traumatized. The price is the life of my six-year old son, Dylan. The price is the life of Renae's six-year old son, Jacob. 
 
 South Carolina first-grader dies days after school shooting 
 
 Renae — I am so sorry that I looked away, even for just a moment. Your son deserves so much more than that, as do you. 
 
 Although grief is very personal and unique, I have a sense of the journey you are on, the pain, and eventually hope, that walks alongside you. As I listened to you speak, I saw myself in you. The early shock and inability to understand what is happening, the feeling that the world is completely out of control and the ground you stand on is unstable. I heard you speak about Jacob and thought of the similarities with my Dylan. Both boys were born six weeks early. You had the joy of Jacob in your life for six years and four months, while I had my happiness with Dylan for six years and nine months. Jacob was your superhero; Dylan was my Superman. Jacob did not die alone; he died in your loving embrace. Dylan died in the arms of his special education assistant, who also died while trying to protect him. Both boys were exactly where they should have been when they were shot — at their school. I heard you say you believed Jacob was going to make a difference in the world. That is true, and I know Dylan's legacy is making a difference as well. 
 
 Renae Hall (l.), mother of Jacob Hall, talks to Starr Henderson during a wake service for her son. (POOL/REUTERS) 
 
 I am happy that you can find peace and forgiveness through your faith. I'm sad to say I have not found that yet — I am still mad at God. 
 
 I am also still angry with the politicians I've met over the last few years who were more interested in their careers than in making the smallest of policy changes that could save lives. I'm upset with the everyday citizens, just like you or me before we lost our boys, that remain uninformed or woefully misinformed on the issue of gun violence prevention, perhaps believing it will never touch them. And I am furious with the organizations and people that perpetuate the lies and profit from creating fear. 
 
 Bassam F. Gergi: Gun control fail? Shame on us, the voters 
 
 But — as you said — there are good people in the world. I believe that, too. And I know that their numbers and hearts are stronger. Common sense and love will prevail, but sadly it will take time before we see significant violence prevention measures and firearm access improvements. Until that time, I am so sorry that more people will be injured or die, more communities will grieve, and more parents will feel the anguish over losing their child in a preventable tragedy. 
 
 Jacob Hall's superhero-themed funeral. (POOL/REUTERS) 
 
 My path in life since losing Dylan is to address any parent that feels helpless or hopeless on the issue of gun violence, and give them the tools to prevent these acts from occurring. Whenever I hear of another life saved or another tragedy averted, I am momentarily uplifted, but it will never be enough to fill Dylan's absence in my life. In time, I know you will find your own path and moments of happiness again, eventually even joy, but the absence of Jacob in your life leaves a hole no moments can ever fill. 
 
 As a mother and grieving parent, I am here for you now and always, in any way I am able. My heart is with you. My actions are dedicated to preventing more deaths and from more parents experiencing the loss of a child. I promise you, and all the other parents and grandparents receiving this message, I will never allow myself to be complacent for a moment again. ||||| Police said Saturday they had found "very good evidence" they hoped would answer questions about the motives of the 20-year-old gunman, described as brilliant but remote, who forced his way into a U.S. school and killed 26 children and adults in one of the world's worst mass shootings. 
 
 Mourners embrace outside Saint Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and... (Associated Press) 
 
 A man weeps while praying in front of a memorial for shooting victims outside Saint Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults... (Associated Press) 
 
 A basketball, soccer ball, doll, flowers and a child's drawing sit at a memorial for shooting victims outside Saint Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. The massacre... (Associated Press) 
 
 A line of 20 white paper bags containing small candles sit in a field, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror... (Associated Press) 
 
 Lt. J. Paul Vance of the Connecticut State Police conducts a news briefing, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror... (Associated Press) 
 
 Gary Seri, general manager at the Stone River Grille, hangs a message written on a table cloth in honor of the teachers who died along with students a day earlier when a gunman open fire at Sandy Hook... (Associated Press) 
 
 Volunteer firefighters place flowers at a makeshift memorial at a sign for the Sandy Hook Elementary school Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012 in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children... (Associated Press) 
 
 A U.S. flag is covered with numbers representing the people that died when a gunman opened fired at Sandy Hook Elementary School during a shooting rampage a day earlier, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Sandy... (Associated Press) 
 
 A car drives past the town line as the sun breaks the horizon, a day after a school shooting tragedy, in Newtown, Conn., Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo provided by the Newtown Bee, a police officer leads two women and a child from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo provided by the Newtown Bee, Connecticut State Police lead a line of children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. on Friday, Dec. 14, 2012 after a shooting at the school.... (Associated Press) 
 
 A woman waits to hear about her sister, a teacher, following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. where authorities say a gunman opened fire, leaving 27 people dead, including... (Associated Press) 
 
 President Barack Obama wipes his eye as he speaks about the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles... (Associated Press) 
 
 Lt. J. Paul Vance of the Connecticut State Police conducts a news briefing, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror... (Associated Press) 
 
 A sign in support of the victim's families is posted outside a house near Sandy Hook Elementary school, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012 in Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and... (Associated Press) 
 
 Gary Seri, general manager at the Stone River Grille, prepares to hang a message written on a table cloth in honor of the teachers who died along with students a day earlier when a gunman open fire at... (Associated Press) 
 
 A sign on a post shows support for the victims of a gunman who opened fire inside Sandy Hook Elementary School a day earlier as police officers stand at a road block, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Sandy... (Associated Press) 
 
 White balloons decorate a sign for the Sandy Hook Elementary School, early Saturday morning Dec. 15, 2012 in Sandy Hook, Conn. A gunman killed his mother at their home and later walked into the Sandy... (Associated Press) 
 
 Mourners gather for a vigil service for victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, at the St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown, Conn. Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. A man killed his mother... (Associated Press) 
 
 This July 2010 photo provided by the Newtown Bee shows Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn. (AP Photo/Eliza Hallabeck) MANDATORY CREDIT: NEWTOWN BEE, (Associated Press) 
 
 Parents leave a staging area after being reunited with their children following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. where authorities say a gunman opened fire, leaving 27... (Associated Press) 
 
 A condolence sign sits in downtown Sandy Hook, Conn., on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the... (Associated Press) 
 
 A spotlight shines on a U.S. flag sitting on the side of Highway 84 near the Newtown, Conn., town line as the sun rises the morning after a gunman opened fire inside a nearby elementary school, Saturday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 A message is seen on a candle outside the St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A man killed his mother at their home and then opened fire Friday inside the... (Associated Press) 
 
 Victims family leave a firehouse staging area following a shooting at the Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Conn. where authorities say a gunman opened fire, leaving 27 people dead, including 20 children,... (Associated Press) 
 
 A couple of volunteer firefighters carry flowers past their fire truck they will place at a makeshift memorial at a sign for the Sandy Hook Elementary school, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012 in Sandy Hook village... (Associated Press) 
 
 Witnesses said the gunman, Adam Lanza, didn't say a word as he shot children as young as 5 years old and later killed himself. The bodies of victims were still inside the school for some time Saturday morning, and authorities prepared to release their names later in the day. 
 
 Reaction was swift and emotional around the world, any many immediately thought of Dunblane _ a 1996 shooting in that small Scottish town which killed 16 small children and prompted a campaign that ultimately led to tighter gun controls. 
 
 Pressure to take similar action built on President Barack Obama, whose comments on the tragedy were one of the most outwardly emotional moments of his presidency. 
 
 "The majority of those who died were children _ beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old," Obama told a White House news briefing, struggling to keep his composure. He promised "meaningful action" on the issue of mass shootings, "regardless of the politics." 
 
 Stunned residents and exhausted officials continued Saturday to fill in the details of the attack. 
 
 The school's well-liked principal, Dawn Hochsprung, was killed while lunging at the gunman as she tried to overtake him, town officials said. Board of Education chairwoman Debbie Liedlien said administrators were coming out of a meeting when the gunman forced his way into the school, and they ran toward them. 
 
 Asked whether Hochsprung is a hero, the chairman of the town's Legislative Council, Jeff Capeci, said, "From what we know, it's hard to classify her as anything else." 
 
 In Newtown, a small and picturesque New England community about 60 miles (95 kilometers) northeast of New York City, hundreds of people packed St. Rose of Lima church Friday night and stood outside in a vigil for the 28 dead _ 20 children and six adults at the school, the gunman's mother at home, and the gunman himself. 
 
 Just 10 days before Christmas Eve, people held hands, lit candles and sang "Silent Night." 
 
 "People in my neighborhood are feeling guilty about it being Christmas. They are taking down decorations," said Jeannie Pasacreta, a psychologist who was advising parents on how to talk to their children. 
 
 Connecticut state police Lt. Paul Vance told reporters Saturday that investigators had found "very good evidence" and hoped it would answer questions about the gunman's motives. Vance would not elaborate. 
 
 However, another law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that investigators had found no note or manifesto of the sort they have come to expect after murderous rampages. 
 
 Just one person, a woman who worked at the school, was shot and survived _ an unusually small number in a mass shooting _ and Vance said her comments would be "instrumental." 
 
 Investigators had not found evidence after talking with state gun dealers and gun ranges that the gunman trained for the attack or was an active member of the recreational gun community, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms spokeswoman Ginger Colbrun said. 
 
 Lanza is believed to have suffered from a personality disorder and lived with his mother, said a law enforcement official who was briefed on the investigation. 
 
 Lanza shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, drove to the school in her car and shot up two classrooms Friday morning, law enforcement officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. 
 
 A custodian ran through the halls, warning of a gunman, and someone switched on the intercom, perhaps saving many lives by letting them hear the chaos in the school office, a teacher said. Teachers locked their doors and ordered children to huddle in a corner or hide in closets as shots echoed through the building. 
 
 Maryann Jacob, a clerk in the school library, was with 18 students when they heard gunfire outside the room. She had the children crawl into a storage room, and they locked the door and barricaded it with a file cabinet. There happened to be materials for coloring, "so we set them up with paper and crayons." 
 
 After what she guessed was about an hour, officers came to the door and knocked. 
 
 "One of them slid his badge under the door, and they called and said, `It's OK, it's the police,'" Jacob said. 
 
 A law enforcement official said a Glock and a Sig Sauer, both pistols, and a .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle were found in the school and a fourth weapon was found outside the school, and that investigators were going to shooting ranges and gun stores to see if Lanza had frequented them. The official was not authorized to discuss information with reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity. 
 
 Adam Lanza attended Newtown High School, and several news clippings from recent years mention his name among the honor roll students. 
 
 At least one parent said Lanza's mother was a substitute teacher there. But her name did not appear on a staff list. And the official said investigators were unable to establish any connection so far between her and the school. 
 
 Lanza's older brother, 24-year-old Ryan Lanza, of Hoboken, New Jersey, was questioned, but a law enforcement official said he was not believed to have had a role in the rampage. He told law enforcement he had not been in touch with his brother since about 2010. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the unfolding investigation. 
 
 The gunman's aunt Marsha Lanza said her nephew was raised by kind, nurturing parents who would not have hesitated to seek mental help for him if he needed it. 
 
 "Nancy wasn't one to deny reality," Marsha Lanza said, adding her husband had seen Adam as recently as June and recalled nothing out of the ordinary. 
 
 Catherine Urso, of Newtown, said her college-age son knew the gunman. "He just said he was very thin, very remote," she said. 
 
 Joshua Milas, who graduated from Newtown High in 2009 and belonged to the school technology club with him, said Adam Lanza was generally a happy person but that he hadn't seen him in a few years. 
 
 "We would hang out, and he was a good kid. He was smart," Joshua Milas said. "He was probably one of the smartest kids I know. He was probably a genius." 
 
 The community also turned its focus Saturday to the young children who had witnessed the attack. Police had students to close their eyes as they were led from the building so they wouldn't see the blood and broken glass. In a photo by the local Newtown Bee newspaper that quickly became the defining image of the attack, children _ some crying, many looking frightened _ were escorted through a parking lot in a line, hands on one another's shoulders. 
 
 Robert Licata said his 6-year-old son was in class when the gunman burst in and shot the teacher. "That's when my son grabbed a bunch of his friends and ran out the door," he said. "He was very brave. He waited for his friends." 
 
 He said the shooter didn't utter a word. 
 
 Kaitlin Roig, a teacher at the school, said she implored her students to be quiet. 
 
 "If they started crying, I would take their face and say it's going to be OK. Show me your smile," she said. "They said, `We want to go home for Christmas. Yes, yeah.' `I just want to hug my mom,' things like that, that were just heartbreaking." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Pat Eaton-Robb and Matt Apuzzo and videographer Robert Ray in Newtown; Bridget Murphy in Boston; Samantha Henry in Newark, New Jersey; Pete Yost in Washington; Michael Melia in Hartford; and the AP News Research Center in New York.
– Meet Evan. He's a bored high school kid who starts defacing school property, er, doodling on a table in the library one day. Someone writes back. Messages are swapped as days pass, mystery and romance bloom. Evan wanders the halls, eyeing his classmates, wondering who his mystery penpal is, and as AdWeek puts it, "there ensues a back-and-forth that's pretty captivating. Perhaps too captivating." (To avoid spoilers, stop reading and watch the video.) The end result has been described as "jarring" (Kansas City Star), "chilling" (Mic), and "powerful" (People). While you and Evan are busy being captivated—especially as Evan meets his mystery penpal—one of Evan's classmates is lurking in the background providing warning signs that he's planning a shooting, which in fact interrupts that very meeting we've been waiting for. The ad comes courtesy of Sandy Hook Promise, run by family of the victims of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. "When you don't know what to look for, or can't recognize what you are seeing, it can be easy to miss warning signs or dismiss them as unimportant," says Nicole Hockley, whose 6-year-old son, Dylan, died in the massacre. The organization, which says 80% of shooters tell someone what they're planning, aims to shine a light on the need to watch for those signs. (In Utah, a teen's own parents disarmed him inside a school.)