(CNN) -- Robbie Parker has a message for the family of the gunman who killed his 6-year-old daughter and 19 of her school mates.
"I can't imagine how hard this experience must be for you, and I want you to know that our family and our love and our support goes out to you as well," Parker said, as he remembered his oldest girl, Emilie Alice.
Emilie died Friday at the hands of a gunman who opened fire at her elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
The attack killed 20 children, between the ages of 6 and 7, and six faculty members at Sandy Hook Elementary School, before the suspect apparently committed suicide. Earlier, the man allegedly killed his mother, bringing to 27 the number of lives he took.
Fighting back tears with his voice cracking, Parker asked Saturday night that the tragedy "not turn into something that defines us, but something that inspires us to be better, to be more compassionate and more humble people."
Connecticut State Police officers search outside St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown, Connecticut, on Sunday, December 16, after a threat prompted authorities to evacuate the building. Investigators found nothing to substantiate the reported threat, a police official said, declining to provide additional details. The church held Sunday services following last week's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.
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Parker's comments came amid a public mourning in this southern New England town of 27,000, where residents have been trying to make sense of the shooting.
Many of the victims' parents asked for privacy as they grieve. But Parker, 30, stepped forward to talk about Emilie.
He moved his family from Utah to Connecticut eight months ago after accepting a job as a physician's assistant in the newborn unit at Danbury Hospital.
That's where he was when he got word of the shooting -- in a telephone call from his wife.
Parker, though, was unable to leave the hospital, which went into lockdown as a precaution over the school shooting.
"It went from ... 'I can't imagine this is happening. This has to be some sort of a mistake,'" Parker said.
"I didn't think it was that big of a deal at first. I thought with the first reports that were coming in it didn't sound like it was going to be as tragic as it was."
When the lockdown was lifted, Parker raced to a firehouse near the school where parents were gathering to wait for news of their children.
There, a photographer captured a photo of an agonized Parker and his sobbing wife, Alissa, as they left the firehouse, presumably after discovering their daughter was among the casualties.
On Saturday, Parker vacillated between present and past tense as he talked about his daughter, struggling to come to terms with Emilie's killing.
"My daugher Emilie would be one of the first ones to be standing up and giving her love and support to all of those victims, because that is the type of person she is," he said.
She was "an exceptional artist and she always carried around her markers and pencils so she never missed an opportunity to draw a picture or make a card for someone."
He recounted how his daughter slipped one of her cards in the casket at the funeral of her grandfather, who died in October in an accident.
She was the oldest of three girls, and helped one sister learn to read and helped the youngest to do crafts. "She was their best friend," he said.
Emilie's "laughter was infectious," he said. "This world is a better place because she has been in it."
The outpouring of grief from people around the world has overwhelmed the family.
Thousands who never met the girl are mourning her on Facebook after friends of the Parker family established the Emilie Parker Fund page.
What started out as an effort to help the family raise money to take Emilie's body back to Utah for burial has become an online spot for thousands to mourn.
On the Facebook page, the 6-year-old smiles back with a wide smile and twinkling blue eyes.
"Dear Parker family, thank you for the love and forgiveness you have shown. Our hearts were all broken yesterday as we learned of this tragedy," wrote one person.
Many posting on the page offered prayers of support and condolences to the family.
Parker told reporters on Saturday that he and his wife were still trying to come to terms with the enormity of the loss.
"I don't know how to get through something like this, how to process something like this and get our lives going," he said.
On Emilie's last day, she and her father spoke Portuguese, a language he was teaching her.
"She told me good morning. She asked me how I was doing. I told her I was doing well," he said. "I gave her a kiss and told her I loved her, and I was out the door."
He left for work. And then she for school.
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Connecticut State Police officers walk out of St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church after the Newtown church received a threat December 16.
Firefighters attach black bunting to a fire truck as a memorial at the fire station down the street from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Saturday, December 15.
Connecticut Chief Medical Examiner H. Wayne Carver II talks to the media about the elementary school shooting during a press conference at Treadwell Memorial Park on December 15.
Zulma Sein is hugged by a family member outside of the entrance to the Sandy Hook School on Saturday.
Police officers keep guard at the entrance to the street leading to the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Saturday, December 15.
Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance addresses the press on December 15.
Police officers stand at the entrance to the street leading to the Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 15.
Corinne McLaughlin, a student at the University of Hartford, bows her head during a candlelight vigil at Hartford, Connecticut's Bushnell Park on Friday, December 14, honoring the students and teachers who died at Sandy Hook Elementary School in nearby Newtown earlier in the day.
Distraught people leave the fire station after hearing news of their loved ones from officials on Friday.
Emergency workers stand in front of the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.
A child and her mother leave a staging area outside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14.
Members of the media converge on December 14 in front of an apartment at 1313 Grand Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. The apartment is believed to be connected to the Connecticut elementary school shooting.
Faisal Ali, right, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, joins other people outside the White House on December 14 to participate in a candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Connecticut State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance, center, briefs the media on the elementary school shootings during a press conference at Treadwell Memorial Park on December 14 in Newtown.
People weep and embrace near Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, December 14.
A woman leans on a man as she weeps near Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
President Barack Obama wipes a tear as he speaks about the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School during a press briefing at the White House on December 14.
A woman weeps near the site of a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
A woman weeps near Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
People comfort each other near Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
A man takes in the scene near Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
A young girl is given a blanket after being evacuated from Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
State police personnel lead children from the school.
Children wait outside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, after the shooting.
A boy weeps at Reed Intermediate School after getting news of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
FBI SWAT team members walk along Dickinson Drive near Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
An aerial view of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14.
Connecticut State Troopers arrive on the scene outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
A Connecticut State Police officer runs with a shotgun at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown on December 14.
Police patrol the streets around Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
People try to deal with the shock of the attack outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
Connecticut State Police secure the scene of the shooting on December 14.
People embrace outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
A man escorts his son away from Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
People take in the news outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
People line up to enter Newtown Methodist Church near the the scene of the shooting on December 14.
A woman speaks with a Connecticut state trooper outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
The streets around Sandy Hook Elementary are packed with first responders and other vehicles.
A view of the scene at Sandy Hook Elementary School after the shooting.
A young boy is comforted outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
People embrace each other on December 14.
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