The Newtown school massacre victims were all shot multiple times and suffered "devastating" wounds, Connecticut's chief medical examiner said Saturday.
Dr. Wayne Carver said autopsies on the 20 slain children, all either six or seven years old, had been completed and post-mortems on the six murdered staff members would be done by day's end.
"Everybody's death was caused by gunshot wounds and obviously the manner of death on all these cases have been classified as homicide," Carver said.
He said the primary weapon was a rifle.
He said that he personally performed seven autopsies and those children had between three and 11 wounds each. Two of them were shot at close range, the others at a distance.
"This is a very devastating set of injuries," Carver said. "I believe everyone was hit more than once."
Asked whether the victims suffered, he replied, "Not for very long."
He said he will perform an autopsy on the gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, who is believed to have shot himself with one of two handguns he carried. He will also perform the autopsy on the shooter's mother, Nancy Lanza, who was found dead in her Newtown home.
They took photos of their faces and then showed the pictures to families. "It's easier on the families when you do this," Carver said.
He said that he managed to maintain professional composure during the grim work, but it was a challenge.
"I've been at this for a third of a century and my sensibility may not be the average man's, but this is probably the worst I've seen."
Below is the list of the names as it was released by the chief medical examiner's office. Among the dead are 18 females and 8 males.
Children:
•Charlotte Bacon, 6
•Daniel Barden, 7
•Olivia Engel, 6
•Josephine Gay, 7
•Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 6
•Dylan Hockley, 6
•Madeleine F. Hsu, 6
•Catherine V. 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
•Aveille Richman, 6
•Benjamin Wheeler, 6
•Allison N. Wyatt, 6
Adults:
•Dawn Hocksprung, 47
•Rachel Davino, 29
•Anne Marie Murphy, 52
•Lauren Russeau, 30
•Mary Sherlach, 56
•VIctoria Soto, 27
(NBC News contributed to this report.)
