The bells of Newtown, Connecticut toll, marking one week since the second-deadliest school shooting in US history.The bell rang 26 times to remember each child and staff member killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Nationwide, other churches and communities did the same and observed a moment of silence. The observances ignored the first victim of 20-year-old gunman Adam Lanza: his mother. But a private funeral was held Thursday in New Hampshire for his mother Nancy Lanza, who was shot in the head four times while she lay in bed.

Authorities said Adam Lanza used the guns his mother kept at their home to carry out the rampage. Vice President Joe Biden, who is overseeing the administration's response to the shooting, said he and Obama are "absolutely committed" to curbing gun violence in the United States.