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Jesse Lewis always looked forward to the holidays, his dad says, no matter the occasion.

“Easter or Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, he just loved the holidays, one as much as the other” says Neil Heslin of his son. “But what makes this holiday season, Christmas, Thanksgiving to the New Year, harder is that’s when the tragedy occurred.”

It has been five years since Jesse, 6, was slaughtered with 25 others — including 19 other children — in a gunman’s rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012.

The time since the massacre has been an odd thing for Heslin, with at once...

Neil Heslin hadn't been back to Sandy Hook Elementary School since December 2012, when his 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, was killed along with 19 other first graders and six educators, in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. On Friday, Heslin, 55, returned to stand on "sacred ground" - the exact spot where the students and educators were killed. It's a grassy mound which now sits in the parking lot of the new Sandy Hook, rebuilt when the old school was demolished after the shooting. The $50 million, state-of-the-art facility in Newtown, Connecticut, sits further back on the property from where the original school was located.

Neil Heslin hadn't been back to Sandy Hook Elementary School since December 2012, when his 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, was killed along with 19 other first graders and six educators, in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. On Friday, Heslin, 55, returned to stand on "sacred ground" - the exact spot where the students and educators were killed. It's a grassy mound which now sits in the parking lot of the new Sandy Hook, rebuilt when the old school was demolished after the shooting. The $50 million, state-of-the-art facility in Newtown, Connecticut, sits further back on the property from where the original school was located.

Jessica Alba led an emotional tribute to victims of gun violence during the Teen Choice Awards Sunday evening in Los Angeles, taking the stage with Alton Sterling's son, victims from Orlando's Pulse nightclub massacre and teen family members from tragedies including Newtown, Aurora and Dallas. "Here with me tonight are a group of brave teenagers who share an unlikely bond that's hard to comprehend," said Alba, 35. "They are the brothers, sisters, daughters and family members of recent victims of gun violence: I'm talking about Aurora, Baton Rogue, Dallas, Minneapolis, Orlando, San Bernardino, Newtown." "It keeps happening, and it has to stop,...

On the chilly Friday morning of Dec. 14, 2012, Neil Heslin walked his 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, into Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut. Heslin watched as the first grader ambled down the hallway, carrying his trusty Disney Cars backpack - and hoping his class would make gingerbread houses that afternoon. "That was the last time I saw him," Heslin, 55, told People on Friday, looking back almost four years on the day his son died. Just after 9:30 a.m. local time, in what would become one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, authorities say 19-year-old gunman Adam Lanza stormed Sandy Hook,...

On the chilly Friday morning of Dec. 14, 2012, Neil Heslin walked his 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, into Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut. Heslin watched as the first grader ambled down the hallway, carrying his trusty Disney Cars backpack - and hoping his class would make gingerbread houses that afternoon. "That was the last time I saw him," Heslin, 55, told People on Friday, looking back almost four years on the day his son died. Just after 9:30 a.m. local time, in what would become one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, authorities say 19-year-old gunman Adam Lanza stormed Sandy Hook,...