U.S. authorities on Saturday released names of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, and a medical examiner said the victims were all shot up close more than once by a rifle.

Family members of students of the Sandy Hook Elementary School get updated information from the police after the fatal school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, the United States, Dec. 14, 2012. [Xinhua]

The list showed all six adults killed at the school were women. Of the 20 children who were shot to death, eight were boys and 12 were girls. All the children were ages 6 or 7.

"I believe they're all first graders," Connecticut Chief Medical Examiner Wayne Carver told reporters about the victims in a nationally televised press conference.

"All of wounds that I know of were caused by the long weapon," Carver said, referring to a rifle found at the scene. Police found at least three weapons at the scene, one rifle and two pistols.

Carver said the deaths are classified as homicides, and " everybody was hit more than once." He said the scene was the worst he has seen in his career.

Carver also confirmed the shooter, Adam Lanza, killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, who was first reported to have been a teacher at the school, but later proved to have no such connection to Sandy Hook Elementary.

Adam Lanza was believed to have forced his way into the school on Friday morning, and started a shooting rampage, killing 20 children and six adults. He later killed himself. His mother was found dead at her home not far from the school. The motives behind the killings remain unclear at the moment.

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