Obama recalls moment he heard about Sandy Hook: 'I felt not just sorrow but anger'

NEWTOWN, Conn. — Former President Barack Obama marked the 10th anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Wednesday in a statement on what he has repeatedly called the “darkest day” of his presidency.

“The news from Sandy Hook Elementary was devastating, a visceral blow,” Obama recalled in his statement. “And like so many others, I felt not just sorrow but anger at a world that could allow such things to happen.”

Twenty-six people — including 20 children, all of them 6 or 7 years old — were killed in the massacre in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, 2012. It remains one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

“Even then we understood that mere words could only do so much to ease the burden of the families who were suffering,” the former president continued. “But in the years since, each of them has borne that weight with strength and with grace. And they’ve drawn purpose from tragedy.”

Many of the parents of children killed in Newtown have founded charitable organizations in their honor. One of the most well-known is Sandy Hook Promise, an organization whose mission is to prevent gun violence before it happens.

Obama spoke last week at its 10-year remembrance benefit in New York City.

“The journey hasn’t always been easy — and in a year when there hasn’t been a single week without a mass shooting somewhere in America, it’s clear our work is far from over,” Obama said in the statement, which mirrored his remarks at the gala. “But of late, I’ve sensed that slowly, steadily, the tide is turning; that real change is possible. And I feel that way in no small part because of the families of Sandy Hook Elementary.

“Ten years ago, we all would have understood if those families had simply asked for privacy and closed themselves off from the world,” Obama said. “But instead, they took unimaginable sorrow and channeled it into a righteous cause — setting an example of strength and resolve.

“They’ve made us proud,” he added. “And if they were here today, I know the children and educators we lost a decade ago would be proud, too.”