Flags in the United States will be flown at half-mast until Tuesday in honour of the victims of a mass shooting in a Connecticut primary school.

Twenty school children and six adults were killed when a gunman opened fire at the Newtown Sandy Hook school shortly after 9:30am Friday (local time).Crowds of grieving residents of the town have held candlelight vigils and attended church services to remember the victims of the one of the worst mass shootings in American history.Police investigators and medical experts are continuing their investigations and formally identify the victims - most of them aged between five and 10 years old.Police have not confirmed media reports the 20-year-old suspect is Adam Lanza and that he killed his mother at their home before attacking the school, and then killing himself.Pastor at the St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown, Monsignor Robert Weiss, says young members of his congregation died in the shooting.