A school bus drives past a lamppost decorated for the holidays, and a sign reading Welcome to Sandy Hook, in Newtown, Connecticut
Hundreds gathered solemnly in the US capital's National Cathedral Thursday to mark the first anniversary of the Newtown school shooting and demand tougher laws to combat gun violence.
Pop icon Carole King was due to perform her 1977 song "In the Name of Love" at the vigil, which organizers hoped would pull the media spotlight away from the New England town where 20 first-graders and six educators were slaughtered.
Several Newtown residents, including relatives of the victims, were expected at the event spearheaded by the Newtown Foundation, a non-profit group that wants tougher gun laws.
"As Christians, we follow one who died at the hands of human violence," said the Episcopal cathedral's dean Gary Hall, who noted that 32,000 have died in firearm-related incidents in the United States this year.
"We call our elected leaders to find the moral courage and the political will to lead us all into a new, safer era in American history," Hall said in remarks released ahead of the vigil.
"Make us instruments of your peace, and strengthen our hearts and hands and minds -- not only to care for the victims and survivors of gun violence, but also to bring about the change that will end the violence caused by guns in the hands of the criminal, the sick, and the cruel."
Twenty-year-old Adam Lanza used a military-style semi-automatic rifle during his shooting spree in the classrooms and hallways of Sandy Hook Elementary School, then shot himself in the head on the morning of December 14, 2012.
He had earlier shot and killed his mother, who owned the guns he used, as she lay in her bed in a prelude to the second deadliest mass shooting by a single person in the United States after the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 in which 33 died, including the lone gunman.
Newtown's civic leaders have urged reporters to stay away from their picturesque and affluent community a two hours' drive from New York to enable it to mourn in peace.
Many news organizations say they will respect the request, while the Newtown Bee newspaper, on its website Thursday, carried a photo of a sign outside a local church that read: "No media -- police take notice."
The school, shuttered after the bloodbath, underwent demolition in October, with plans afoot to erect a new school in its place.
In a report last month, Connecticut State's Attorney Stephen Sedensky said Lanza had "significant mental health issues" and an obsession with the 1999 Columbine high school shooting in Colorado that claimed 15 lives, including the two young gunmen.
But he said Lanza's motive was a mystery.
"The evidence clearly shows that the shooter planned his actions, including the taking of his own life, but there is no clear indication why he did so," the report said.
The majority of gun-related deaths in the United States involve suicide, but one group, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, says an "escalating epidemic of gun violence" is claiming a child's life every three hours and 15 minutes.
The shocking scale of Newtown triggered calls for tougher gun laws in a nation where the right "to keep and bear arms" is enshrined in the Constitution and where by some estimates, there are as many guns as people.
But a high profile attempt by President Barack Obama to outlaw semi-automatic rifles and expand background checks for gun-buyers failed amid stiff opposition from the National Rifle Association and other gun groups.
The White House said earlier this week that Obama, the father of two young daughters, would honor the Newtown anniversary with a moment of silence on Saturday.
Moms Demand Action has meanwhile announced Saturday rallies in more than 35 states, each featuring a communal ringing of bells "to remember the victims and show that the time for silence is over."