Grandma Of Girl Killed In Newtown School Shooting Speaks Out

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- On Friday morning, Irene Hagen got a call to her Nisswa home from her daughter in Newtown, Connecticut. Joann Hagen Bacon told Irene that 6-year-old Charlotte's school was in lockdown and she was headed that way. It wouldn't be for another few hours they would learn their granddaughter was one of the 20 first-graders killed.

"This is tough, this is surreal, you can't believe this could happen," Irene Hagen said on Sunday morning. "This is so big, it is so unimaginable and the whole family is just devastated and we're all trying to come to terms with it."

Hagen said her granddaughter was a sweet, outgoing, energetic little girl with beautiful red, curly hair. She loved dresses and school.

"This is hard to comprehend for any of us in the family. These are things that don't happen to you and this is so big and is so unimaginable. Everyone in the family is just devastated," said Hagen.

On Monday morning, 17 members of the Hagen family will leave from Minnesota for Connecticut to attend Charlotte's funeral later this week.

"It's horrible. It's really horrible," Hagen said. "It's hard to believe that someone would kill children, innocent children."

To listen to the entire interview, watch below.