![U.S. Senator Chris Murphy at End Gun Violence news conference](https://media.nbcconnecticut.com/2022/12/End-gun-violence-news-conference-in-Washington-on-December-8-2022.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&resize=320%2C180)
Connecticut’s United States senators and representatives held a news conference in Washington, D.C. this morning to mark 10 years since the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School and people who have lost loved ones spoke, sharing their stories and calling for an end to gun violence.
Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro were among the speakers, along with survivors, advocates and families of gun violence victims.
On Wednesday night, the annual Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence was held in Washington, D.C., at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, to honor the more than one million American victims and survivors of gun violence since 20 first-graders and six educators were killed in the school shooting in Newtown on Dec. 14, 2012. The Newtown Action Alliance Foundation organized the vigil.
“I spent several days up at Sandy Hook and then went back. At the time, it was astounding to see even then the courage that was represented,” President Joe Biden said during the vigil.
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Jackie Hegarty, a Sandy Hook shooting survivor, took part in the vigil Wednesday night.
“I heard and saw things no child, no person should ever have to see,” Hegarty said.
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“The last 10 years have not been easy, but living my life honoring the victims has helped -- being kind like Principal Dawn Hochsprung and choosing love like Jesse Lewis and so many others,” Hegarty said.