'Massacre of the angels': How the Express & Star reported on the horror of the Dunblane tragedy
It is 30 years to the day since a lone gunman targeted a primary school in Dunblane, massacring 16 children and a teacher, before turning the gun on himself.
The gunman, 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton, had opened fire at the Scottish primary school on March 13, 1996, sending shockwaves around the nation.
The deadly attack claimed the lives of 16 children and their teacher, and injured others.
We have taken a look back at how the Express & Star reported on the horrific event as it unfolded.
This was the front page article from the devastating day, which carried the headline: 'Massacre of the angels'
The children who died were five or six years old, with several other pupils having to undergo emergency surgery.
The gunman was reported to have taken his own life, although other reports said he was merely wounded. His name at that point had yet to be revealed.
The nightmare shooting happened at the 700-pupil primary school in Dunblane, central Scotland, shortly after classes began.
The slaughter took place in the school gymnasium and unconfirmed reports said the gunman was brandishing several weapons, including an automatic pistol.
The Express & Star reported that the drama was thought to have begun as a hostage-taking incident.
Pupils elsewhere in the school said they heard seven or eight loud cracks in quick succession as the incident began.
Fifteen children died at school and one in hospital, said a spokesman for Stirling Royal Infirmary.
The scale of the outrage stunned the small town 30 miles north of Glasgow.
Two of the injured children were flown by air ambulance to Glasgow where a crash team at the city's Royal Hospital for Sick Children was standing by in case more were to arrive.
One of the children arrived with a gunshot wound to the chest. Hospital officials said his condition was "critical''.
The teacher who died was named by the Educational Institute of Scotland as Gwen Mayor.
A local woman, Wilma Brown, claimed the gunman was in his late 40s and was not married.
