THE INNOCENCE IS OVER IN MOMENTS IN A CONQUEST BY A GUNMAN'S RAGE.(MAIN)

Byline: ROBERT SEELY Associated Press

DUNBLANE, Scotland -- The slaughter of the innocents was over in moments.

The final toll was 16 dead children, 12 wounded children, two dead adults -- one of them the gunman, who took his own life -- and two wounded teachers. The dead children included 11 girls and five boys.

Dunblane is the sort of place people almost never leave, a place whose 9,000 residents clearly care about each other. Just 35 miles northwest of Edinburgh, it straddles the River Allan in the spectacular Perthshire countryside leading into the highlands.

An ecclesiastical center since the seventh century, it has a cathedral, which, …