NEWINGTON -- It looked like a movie set.

The town hall parking lot was filled with trucks from TV and radio stations from across the country.

Cell phones appeared glued to reporters calling in the latest information, planning live shots.

News helicopters hovered overhead while shocked residents watched it all as if it were happening on a movie screen.

"This is just completely unbelievable," Ann Giangrave said as she helped her three children into her minivan. "It's craziness much more suited to a big city."

Before Friday, the big news in the small town was a possible tax increase.

That was before a gunman killed four people and himself at lottery headquarters, prompting the world to descend upon a town that most could barely point out on a map.

"This is completely wild," said Jack Morris, who has lived in town for 13 years. "I've never seen anything like it."

Librarians fielded calls from the media, who wanted to know what kind of town Newington was, the size of its population. Mostly, they needed directions. When the media arrived, the librarians handed out an information packet, filled with anything anyone would ever want to know about the town.

"People have been calling with questions like that all day," said research librarian Mary Metheny. "ABC called asking where they could get lunch for their crew."

She gave them a few numbers.

"That's our job -- to be helpful," she said.

Just 7 miles south of Hartford, Newington is home to about 28,000 residents. It is a growing, but still close-knit, picture-postcard town.

"People know people's names around here," said Adam Frye, a student at St. Mary's School, who had a half-day of school Friday and was hanging around town following the events.

In the town manager's office, clerks answered calls from residents wondering if there was anything they could do, but mostly from news organizations looking for information, any information, about the shootings.

Across the way, a room was packed with reporters and camera crews waiting for the governor to arrive for a press conference.

Outside, Pat Kilray and Mike Parker took it all in. They had learned about it on the Internet and on CNBC.

"I turned on the TV and they were talking about Newington, Connecticut," Kilray said. "It was so weird ... we were top news."

The two were on their way to work out at a nearby gym when the crowd at town hall and at lottery headquarters caught their attention.

"It's sad, really... . It takes a bunch of people getting killed in some state building for the world to take notice of this town," Kilray said.

Minutes later, they watched the governor, surrounded by escorts, walk by.

"It's not every day that the governor shows up in this town," Kilray said.

Neighbors talked over their fences -- and over the din of whirring news helicopters .

"We were just talking about what makes someone do something like this," Richard Kammel said as he and neighbor Margaret Roa stood outside his home.

As the day wore on, residents talked about what Newington would be known for when the news died down, when TV cameras and reporters were called away to another, more timely story. When possible budget increases were once again big news in town.

"It's a sleepy town and always will be," said Joe Martinez. "In two weeks people won't remember where Newington, Connecticut, is ... that's just the way it is."

But just minutes after Martinez predicted the town's notoriety would soon fade, another frightening scene was playing out. Police, who believed a man had barricaded himself in his house with a gun, were quickly evacuating nearby houses and businesses shortly after 12:30 p.m.

During the standoff, snipers were posted in trees and rifle-toting SWAT team members laid under bushes around the modest multifamily home on East Cedar Street.

Wayne Nimmons, 51, quietly surrendered unarmed to police after the standoff that closed most of downtown along the Cedar Street corridor. Nimmons was alone. There were no injuries.

He was later transferred to Veterans Hospital in West Haven for psychiatric evaluation, police said.

"The town's just gone crazy today," said resident John Fitzpatrick.

Still another incident hit Newington at 3:20 p.m. Friday, when someone called the Department of Transportation's headquarters, on the Berlin Turnpike, and said that a bomb would explode in the building. The hundreds of employees were evacuated and state police were called in. No bomb was found. When Rowland was notified, he decided to let all the employees go home for the weekend.