Newtown to release 911 recordings from Sandy Hook shooting

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The 911 recordings from the shooting that killed 20 children last December at Sandy Hook Elementary School will be released to the public on Wednesday afternoon, lawyers representing the Connecticut town of Newtown said. Last December 14, a 20-year-old Newtown resident unleashed a rampage at the school, shooting dead the children and six adults before turning a gun on himself, in one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. The audio-enhanced recordings of seven calls placed from inside the elementary school after the shooter, Adam Lanza, shot his way into the school go on for a total of about 25 minutes. Newtown had at first fought the release of the recordings in defiance of Connecticut's Freedom of Information Commission. But after a Connecticut judge ruled against the town late last month, local officials relented. Newtown First Selectman Pat Llodra recently said the tapes should be released in full in order to prevent partial leaks of the recordings. Last week, State's Attorney Stephen Sedensky released a report on the Newtown massacre that concluded Lanza had acted alone, but that his motivation for the attack "may never be answered." (Reporting By Edith Honan; Editing by Chris Reese)