Dayton calls Conn. shooting 'dastardly' act

4:23 PM, Dec 14, 2012   |    comments
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ST. PAUL, Minn. - Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is reacting to a mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school with a strong expression of outrage and assurances that school safety here is a "paramount concern."

Dayton issued a statement Friday afternoon on a day when a gunman killed more than two dozen people, most of them children. Dayton says school children, parents and teachers should feel certain that their safety is a top priority.

The Democratic governor calls the shooting a "dastardly, cold-blooded murder" at the hands of a "deranged individual." He offered condolences on behalf of the state.

In 2005, a Minnesota student killed five schoolmates, a teacher and an unarmed guard at a high school on the Red Lake Indian Reservation before taking his own life.

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