By Evann Gastaldo The New York Daily News calls it an “exclusive” and the Huffington Post calls it a “possible motive”: As a child, Adam Lanza was bullied and even beaten by his fellow students at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a relative of Nancy Lanza tells the Daily News . Nancy Lanza was so…
From: http://www.newser.com/story/166368/lanza-beaten-by-sandy-hook-classmates-source.html
The mother of Newtown school gunman Adam Lanza reportedly told friends about a genetic disorder that killer her grandfather, nearly took her own like and had already manifested itself in her son.
In emails and private chats, Nancy Lanza said her son had been diagnosed with a form of Asperger’s syndrome a sensory perception disorder that prevented him from recognizing pain and led him to recoil from physical touch, the New York Daily News reports.
“Nancy indicated that Adam’s issues were genetic like hers,” friend Marvin LaFontaine told the newspaper.
Lanza, in hundreds of emails obtained by the newspaper, indicated that doctors had no explanation for the autoimmune disorder that killed her grandfather in just six weeks. Doctors found lesions on her brain in 1999 and Nancy Lanza characterized her illness as “like living on top of a time bomb.”
“I am carrying the gene for this type of self-destruct,” she emailed LaFontaine at the time. “My diagnosis was not good. I was going under the premise that I had a limited time left . . . about enough to get the boys settled in. . . . At one point I was trying to deal with the time frame of about 12 months.”
The disease had gone into remission, but Lanza told a friend in January 2012 it had “flared up.” By November, she realized her son’s troubles were deeper than just genetics. Just two weeks before the Newtown shooting, Nancy discovered pictures in her son’s room featuring dead bodies, but she did not confront him.
“One (drawing) had a woman clutching a religious item, like rosary beads, and holding a child, and she was getting all shot up in the back with blood flying everywhere,” LaFontaine said. “Nancy was disturbed, really disturbed, but didn’t confront him … She wanted to think it over.”
Adam Lanza, 20, fatally shot his mother before killing 26 more people during a rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14.
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By Rob Quinn Family members of some of the 26 children and educators killed in the Sandy Hook school massacre voiced their support for gun control and spoke of how they had been affected by the tragedy on CBS ‘ 60 Minutes last night. Some parents said they felt compassion for Nancy Lanza,… …read more
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A Connecticut shop that sold a gun to the Newtown school shooter’s mother has lost its federal firearms license.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives revoked the license of Riverview Gun Sales in East Windsor, about 15 miles north of Hartford, in December. The agency didn’t disclose why. It was first reported Thursday by The Journal News of White Plains, N.Y.
Authorities raided the store for undisclosed reasons shortly after the December school shootings. Around the same time, a man was arrested for stealing a rifle from the shop.
Shop owner David LaGuercia has said Nancy Lanza bought a gun from him years ago, but couldn’t remember what kind.
Adam Lanza killed 20 first-graders and six adults with his mother’s rifle. He also killed his mother and himself.
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When Alissa and Robbie Parker met face-to-face recently with the father of the young man who killed their daughter and 19 other first-graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School, they weren’t angry with him and didn’t blame him for the massacre.
Instead, the Parkers said they and Peter Lanza shared their condolences for one another and talked about his son, Adam Lanza, during the emotional meeting, which lasted more than an hour.
“I don’t feel like he should be held responsible for what happened that day,” Allisa Parker told “CBS This Morning,” during the second part of an interview that aired Friday. “That was not ultimately his decision to do that, so how can I hold him responsible? Were there missteps in the raising of his son? Possibly.”
Adam Lanza, 20, fatally shot 20 children and six educators with a military-style rifle on Dec. 14, then killed himself as police arrived. Authorities say he also killed his mother at their Newtown home before he went to the school. The Parkers lost their 6-year-old daughter, Emilie, in the rampage.
Allissa Parker said she told Peter Lanza that there was an opportunity to learn from the killings and his cooperation was vital.
The Parkers wouldn’t reveal what Peter Lanza said about his son. Connecticut state police haven’t released any information about a motive, but people close to the investigation have told The Associated Press that Adam Lanza showed interest in other mass killings and had literature on other mass shootings at his home. The people spoke on conditional of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.
Peter Lanza, who was divorced from Nancy Lanza, has declined to comment about the meeting with the Parkers, who said they came away from it with a better understanding of Adam Lanza.
Robbie Parker, who was among the first of the victims’ parents to publicly discuss the shooting, said he and his wife wanted to meet with Peter Lanza because he was the only person who could answer their questions.
“Adam’s gone and his mother’s gone, and those are the two people that could give us the most information to the questions that all of us have,” he said.
The Parkers, who have two other daughters ages 3 and 5, said they’re not angry because they know they can’t undo what happened at the school that day.
“So the idea of wasting any energy on anger towards somebody or trying to point blame at anybody seems like a waste of time and energy that we can use to be better parents to our girls,” Robbie Parker said.
Allisa Parker said she believes Nancy Lanza bears some accountability for what happened. The Bushmaster rifle used in the school shootings belonged to Nancy Lanza.
Asked whether she forgives Adam Lanza, Allisa Parker said it’s not her burden to bear.
“I do hold him accountable, but I feel like God will determine that,” she said. “And I feel like he’s in a place where the judgment will happen, and I don’t have to. I don’t have to judge him, and I’m at peace with …read more
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The gunman behind the shooting massacre at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School reportedly compiled extensive research about previous mass murders into a spreadsheet containing roughly 500 people.
The New York Daily News reports that an obsessive Adam Lanza produced a spreadsheet 7 feet long and 4 feet wide in tiny 9-point font that required a special printer on past mass killings and attempted murders.
“We were told [Lanza] had around 500 people on this sheet,” a law enforcement veteran told the newspaper. “Names and the number of people killed and the weapons that were used, even the precise make and model of the weapons. It had to have taken years. It sounded like a doctoral thesis, that was the quality of the research.”
Twenty children and six adults were killed at the school on Dec. 14 by Lanza, who also killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, before taking his own life as police responded to the school. It has previously been reported that law enforcement officials found research about previous mass murderers at the Newtown, Conn., Lanza shared with his mother, but the extent of that research was not explicitly clear.
A law enforcement veteran who attended the International Association of Police Chiefs and Colonels mid-year meeting in New Orleans last week — a conference where state police colonels share information — told columnist Mike Lupica that gunmen like Lanza should be referred to as “glory killers” instead of mass murderers.
“They don’t believe this was just a spreadsheet. They believe it was a score sheet,” the unidentified career cop told Lupica. “This was the work of a video gamer, and that it was his intent to put his own name at the very top of that list. They believe that he picked an elementary school because he felt it was a point of least resistance, where he could rack up the greatest number of kills. That’s what (the Connecticut police) believe.”
Investigators also believe Lanza was determined not to be killed by responding officers, according to the unidentified officer.
“They believe that [Lanza] believed that it was the way to pick up the easiest points,” he continued. “It’s why he didn’t want to be killed by law enforcement. In the code of a gamer, even a deranged gamer like this little bastard, if somebody else kills you, they get your points. They believe that’s why he killed himself.
“They have pictures from two years before, with the guy all strapped with weapons, posing with a pistol to his head,” the officer continued. “That’s the thing you have to understand: He had this laid out for years before.”
Connecticut school shooter Adam Lanza had been diagnosed with a controversial disorder that made it hard for him to deal with sights, touch and smell and Asperger’s syndrome,a new report claimed Tuesday.
The report, a joint venture of PBS’ “Frontline” and The Hartford Courant, provides perhaps the most detailed account to date of 20-year-old Lanza and his mother Nancy, who was one of the 27 people shot to death on Dec. 14 in Newtown.
Through interviews with family friends and anonymous emails allegedly from family members, a picture emerges of a young man who could not stand to be touched and was virtually isolated from the outside world by the time of the massacre.
Marvin LaFontaine met Nancy Lanza when their children were in Cub Scouts together, and says he kept in touch with her over the years. He provided reporters with home footage of Nancy, Adam and other children and parents at an outing.
LaFontaine says Adam Lanza had been flagged in kindergarten as requiring an “individual education plan” because of special needs.
“There was a shyness and a learning thing and they were trying to unravel it,” he says of Adam in the report.”Adam was a quiet kid. He never said a word. There was a weirdness about him and Nancy warned me once at one of the Scout meetings … ‘Don’t touch Adam.’ She said he just can’t stand that. … He’d become teary-eyed and I think he would run to his mother.”
The report says Adam Lanza went to both public and private schools during his elementary and middle schools years, including Sandy Hook Elementary, where police say he killed 20 children and six adults in the shooting spree.
Once Adam Lanza reached high school, he eventually joined a technology club run by Richard Novia, who served as security chief for Newtown schools. Novia says he immediately identified the teen as a possible target for bullies, and reached out to Nancy Lanza.
“I interacted with his parent early on to find out as much as I could,” Novia says in the report. “As a staff member, and certainly a person who’s going to be overseeing your child, I need to know what I’m dealing with … so my interaction with Nancy Lanza was really, ‘Tell me about Adam. Tell me what, how you deal with Adam.'”
Novia claims Nancy Lanza said her son had been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and sensory integration disorder. The latter disorder, which is not widely accepted in the medical community, means he would have had difficulty coping with loud noises, bright lights, confusion, and change. Adam Lanza also would have not responded appropriately to pain.
The report says after Adam Lanza left high school, he attended a local college for a bit but it didn’t stick. A friend of his father Peter said Adam Lanza stopped communicating with his father in 2010, a year after his parents got divorced.
“Something happened with Adam,” the person says in the report. “Given the amount of time they were spending with each other, it was …read more
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The body of the man who killed 26 people at a Connecticut elementary school has been claimed for burial.
Connecticut Medical Examiner Wayne H. Carver II tells the Hartford Courant that the remains of Adam Lanza were claimed several days ago by someone who wanted to remain anonymous.
A spokeswoman at Carver’s office told The Associated Press she could not release details about the status of Lanza’s remains.
The 20-year-old Lanza killed 20 first-graders and six educators at the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14. He also killed his mother in their Newtown home before going on the rampage and then committing suicide.
A private funeral was held earlier this month in New Hampshire for his mother, Nancy Lanza.
Police have not offered a motive for the killings.
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He was the awkward, peculiar kid who wore the same clothes to school every day.
He rarely spoke and even gave a school presentation entirely by computer, never uttering a word.
He liked tinkering with computers and other gadgets, and seemed to enjoy playing a violent video game, choosing a military-style assault rifle as one of his weapons.
New details about Adam Lanza emerged Friday, as the nation paused to mark one week since he slaughtered 20 first-graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.
Multiple funerals and visitations were held Friday, and at the hour of the attack, 9:30 a.m., a bell tolled 26 times, once for each victim killed at the school.
Lanza also fatally shot his mother before blasting his way into Sandy Hook, and killed himself after the school massacre.
In high school, Lanza would slither through the hallways, awkwardly pressing himself against the wall while wearing the same green shirt and khaki pants every day. He hardly ever talked to his classmates.
“As long as I knew him, he never really spoke,” said Daniel Frost, who took a computer class with Lanza and remembered his skill with electronics. Lanza could take apart and reassemble a computer in a matter of minutes
Lanza seemed to spend most of his time in the basement of the home he shared with his mother, who kept a collection of guns there, said Russell Ford, a friend of Nancy Lanza‘s who had done chimney and pipe work on the house.
Nancy Lanza was often seen around town and regularly met friends at a local restaurant. But her 20-year-old son was seldom spotted around town, Ford and other townspeople said.
The basement of the Lanza home had a computer, flat-screen TV, couches and an elaborate setup for video games. Nancy Lanza kept her guns in what appeared to be a secure case in another part of the basement, said Ford, who often met her and other friends at a regular Tuesday gathering at My Place, a local restaurant.
During the past year and a half, Ford said, Nancy Lanza had told him that she planned to move out West and enroll Adam in a “school or a center.” The plan started unfolding after Adam turned 18.
“She knew she needed to be near him,” Ford said. “She was trying to do what was positive for him.”
Ford said Nancy Lanza didn’t elaborate on what type of services she wanted her son to receive. He said she made fewer appearances at the restaurant in recent months.
Mark Tambascio, owner of My Place, said Nancy Lanza described the same plan to him, saying she might move to Washington State.
Back in high school, Frost recalled, someone brought in a video game called “Counter-Strike,” a shooting video game in which players compete against each other as either terrorists or counter-terrorists.
Lanza “seemed pretty interested in the game,” Frost said, and would play it with other students. He remembers the weapons Lanza chose: an M4 military-style assault rifle and a Glock handgun.
Authorities said Lanza used a military-style assault rifle and carried handguns during the rampage at the school. They still have no clear reason why Lanza would lash out at defenseless first-graders and their caretakers.
State police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said a final report on the investigation could be months away.
A moment of silence was held Friday in remembrance of those killed at the school. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy gathered with other officials in rain and wind on the steps of the Edmond Town Hall as the bell rang. Similar commemorations took place across the country.
Also on Friday, the National Rifle Association called for armed police officers to be stationed at schools. Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the nation’s largest gun-rights lobbing group, said at a Washington news conference that “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
LaPierre blamed video games, music and videos for exposing children to violence.
The founder of a video game website said he expects tens of thousands of players of online shooter games to participate in a 24-hour cease-fire that started at noon Friday. Antwand Pearman, founder of GamerFitNation, said the cease-fire is meant to show respect for those killed in the Newtown shooting. He said video games don’t cause violence.
Source: Fox US News
He was the awkward, peculiar kid who wore the same clothes to school every day.
He rarely spoke and even gave a school presentation entirely by computer, never uttering a word.
He liked tinkering with computers and other gadgets, and seemed to enjoy playing a violent video game, choosing a military-style assault rifle as one of his weapons.
New details about Adam Lanza emerged Friday, as the nation paused to mark one week since he slaughtered 20 first-graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.
Multiple funerals and visitations were held Friday, and at the hour of the attack, 9:30 a.m., a bell tolled 26 times, once for each victim killed at the school.
Lanza also fatally shot his mother before blasting his way into Sandy Hook, and killed himself after the school massacre.
In high school, Lanza would slither through the hallways, awkwardly pressing himself against the wall while wearing the same green shirt and khaki pants every day. He hardly ever talked to his classmates.
“As long as I knew him, he never really spoke,” said Daniel Frost, who took a computer class with Lanza and remembered his skill with electronics. Lanza could take apart and reassemble a computer in a matter of minutes
Lanza seemed to spend most of his time in the basement of the home he shared with his mother, who kept a collection of guns there, said Russell Ford, a friend of Nancy Lanza‘s who had done chimney and pipe work on the house.
Nancy Lanza was often seen around town and regularly met friends at a local restaurant. But her 20-year-old son was seldom spotted around town, Ford and other townspeople said.
The basement of the Lanza home had a computer, flat-screen TV, couches and an elaborate setup for video games. Nancy Lanza kept her guns in what appeared to be a secure case in another part of the basement, said Ford, who often met her and other friends at a regular Tuesday gathering at My Place, a local restaurant.
During the past year and a half, Ford said, Nancy Lanza had told him that she planned to move out West and enroll Adam in a “school or a center.” The plan started unfolding after Adam turned 18.
“She knew she needed to be near him,” Ford said. “She was trying to do what was positive for him.”
Ford said Nancy Lanza didn’t elaborate on what type of services she wanted her son to receive. He said she made fewer appearances at the restaurant in recent months.
Mark Tambascio, owner of My Place, said Nancy Lanza described the same plan to him, saying she might move to Washington State.
Back in high school, Frost recalled, someone brought in a video game called “Counter-Strike,” a shooting video game in which players compete against each other as either terrorists or counter-terrorists.
Lanza “seemed pretty interested in the game,” Frost said, and would play it with other students. He remembers the weapons Lanza chose: an M4 military-style assault rifle and a Glock handgun.
Authorities said Lanza used a military-style assault rifle and carried handguns during the rampage at the school. They still have no clear reason why Lanza would lash out at defenseless first-graders and their caretakers.
State police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said a final report on the investigation could be months away.
A moment of silence was held Friday in remembrance of those killed at the school. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy gathered with other officials in rain and wind on the steps of the Edmond Town Hall as the bell rang. Similar commemorations took place across the country.
Also on Friday, the National Rifle Association called for armed police officers to be stationed at schools. Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the nation’s largest gun-rights lobbing group, said at a Washington news conference that “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
LaPierre blamed video games, music and videos for exposing children to violence.
The founder of a video game website said he expects tens of thousands of players of online shooter games to participate in a 24-hour cease-fire that started at noon Friday. Antwand Pearman, founder of GamerFitNation, said the cease-fire is meant to show respect for those killed in the Newtown shooting. He said video games don’t cause violence.
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Places of worship in Newtown and across the country will ring their bells 26 times Friday in memory of each child and staff member killed in last week’s shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy has asked people across his state to observe a moment of silence at 9:30 a.m., which will mark exactly one week since Adam Lanza gunned down 20 children and six adults at the school. The White House has said President Barack Obama will privately observe the moment of silence.
Nationwide, places of worship and buildings with bells have been asked to ring them 26 times, for the victims at the school. Officials and clergy in many other states have said they will participate.
Newtown and environs weathered a fourth day of funerals Thursday as mourners laid to rest Catherine Hubbard, Benjamin Wheeler, Jesse Lewis and Allison Wyatt, all 6 years old; and Grace McDonnell, 7.
A service was held in Katonah, N.Y., for teacher Anne Marie Murphy, 52, who authorities believe helped shield some of her students from the rain of bullets. Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan compared her to Jesus.
“Like Jesus, Annie laid down her life for her friends,” Dolan said. “Like Jesus, Annie’s life and death brings light, truth, goodness and love to a world often shrouded in darkness, evil, selfishness and death.”
Authorities say Adam Lanza shot his mother at their home and then took her car and some of her guns to the school, where he broke in and opened fire. A Connecticut official said Nancy Lanza, a gun enthusiast who practiced at shooting ranges, was shot four times in the head with a .22-caliber rifle.
Lanza was wearing all black, with an olive-drab utility vest, during the attack. Investigators have found no letters or diaries that could explain the rampage.
A bell tolled Thursday at Newtown’s St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church at the funeral for Catherine, who her family said would be remembered for her passion for animals and her constant smile.
Trinity Episcopal church on Main Street was filled to capacity for the funeral for Benjamin, described as a budding musician and Beatles fan. His service included a rendition of “Here Comes The Sun.” About two dozen Boy Scout leaders lined the front pathway to the church in honor of the former Cub Scout.
In downtown Danbury, mourners filed into the ornate white-pillared First Congregational Church for a memorial service for 30-year-old teacher Lauren Rousseau. Friends wept at the altar as they remembered the spirited, hardworking, sunny-natured woman who brightened their lives with silliness and gave them all nicknames.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was one of the people to visit Newtown on Thursday, stopping by a firehouse.
The Obama administration will push to tighten gun laws in response to the shooting, Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday, and Speaker John Boehner said the GOP-controlled House would consider the proposals.
Biden, who is overseeing the administration’s response to Friday’s shooting, said he and Obama are “absolutely committed” to curbing gun violence in the United States.
“Even if we can only save one life, we have to take action,” he said.
Gun-control measures have faced fierce resistance in Congress for years, but that may be changing because of the events in Connecticut, which shocked the nation.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, assisted by local police raided an East Windsor gun shop Thursday where a man allegedly tried to steal an assault rifle following the mass shooting. He was later arrested.
The reason for the raid on Riverview Gun Sales was unclear and officials told the Hartford Courant it was not prompted by one incident.
David LaGuercia, owner of the shop, issued a statement on Wednesday confirming he sold one gun to Nancy Lanza, the mother of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter, several years ago and he was “appalled” it may have been used to kill children. LaGuercia said he’s cooperating with authorities.
Rarely do residents of Newtown mention the first person police said Adam Lanza killed that morning: his mother, Nancy, who was shot in the head four times while she lay in bed.
That makes 27 victims.
A private funeral was held Thursday in New Hampshire for Nancy Lanza, according to Donald Briggs, the police chief in Kinston, N.H., where her funeral was held. About 25 family members attended the ceremony.
No one outwardly blames Nancy Lanza for the rampage. But authorities have said her 20-year-old son used the guns she kept at their home to carry out a massacre that became the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history and has stirred lawmakers to call for gun control laws.
The dearth of tributes to Nancy Lanza underscores the complicated mix of emotions surrounding her after the shooting.
In a small town where multiple funerals are taking place each day, where black-clad mourners stand in lines waiting to say goodbye to another child, many are incredibly angry at Nancy Lanza for not keeping her guns away from her son.
Some view her as a victim, but one whose guns were used to kill first-graders. And others think Nancy Lanza was an innocent victim, one who should be counted and included at memorials.
“It’s a loss of life and, yes, her life mattered,” said Christine Lombardi. “Yes, I do believe she should be included.”
Others in Newtown are weary of the crush of media and have become reluctant to answer questions after a difficult week. But the subject of marking Nancy Lanza‘s death, along with those of the children and teachers killed by her son, seemed mainly to surprise two moms who stopped to place flowers at the memorial at Main and Sugar streets with their two grammar-school aged girls.
They paused, appeared bewildered, and looked at each other for a moment. Then one quietly said, “No, no,” and they each took a girl’s hand and led them away.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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By Matt Cantor
Source: Newser – Home
By Kate Seamons
Source: Newser – Home
The retired principal of Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School will reportedly return to her post when the school reopens.
The Hartford Courant reports that Donna Page will be back in the position at the school where Adam Lanza, 20, killed 20 children and six adults with a military-style assault rifle on Friday before taking his own life as police responded to the scene. Lanza also killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, 52, at her home.
Page’s return was confirmed late Tuesday by her husband, the newspaper reports.
Students at the school, which serves kindergarten through fourth grade, will resume classes in a formerly closed school in a neighboring community after the winter break, according to the Connecticut Post.
Elsewhere in Newtown, sophomore Mike Stierle said returning to Newtown High School felt “surreal,” the Courant reports.
“Not expecting anything like this to ever happen to this community,” the 16-year-old said.
In an email to Sandy Hook Elementary staff and parents on Monday, Superintendent Janet Robinson wrote that officials hope to open Chalk Hill School in Monroe in January. Sandy Hook students and their teachers will attend school there.
Using that school “is a solution that allows us to keep the entire faculty together,” she wrote. “In the meantime, we need to tend to our teachers’ and students’ needs to feel comfortable after this trauma in this new place.”
Parents will be invited to visit the school with their children this week, according to Robinson’s statement.
“For some children, it will be simply to re-enter a school and know that they are safe,” Robinson wrote.
Click for more from The Hartford Courant.
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As a teenager, Adam Lanza would come in for a haircut about every six weeks without speaking or looking at anyone and always accompanied by his mother, said stylists at a salon in the town where Lanza gunned down 27 people last week, including his mother, before killing himself.
He stopped coming in a few years ago, and the employees at the salon thought he had moved away, said stylist Bob Skuba.
The comments from him and his colleagues were among the first describing how the Lanzas interacted with each other. Investigators have found no letters or diaries that could explain the attack, one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.
Cutting Adam Lanza‘s hair “was a very long half an hour. It was a very uncomfortable situation,” stylist Diane Harty said. She said that she never heard his voice and that Nancy Lanza also hardly spoke.
Another stylist, Jessica Phillips, echoed their descriptions of the Lanzas and added that Nancy Lanza would give her son directions about what to do and where to go.
Adam would move only “when his mother told him to,” Skuba said.
“I would say, ‘Adam, come on.’ He wouldn’t move,” Skuba said. “And his mother would have to say, ‘Adam, come on, he’s ready.’ It was like I was invisible.” He said Adam also wouldn’t move from his chair after his hair was cut until his mother told him to.
If a stylist would ask Adam a question, Skuba said, his mother would answer.
“He would just be looking down at the tiles … the whole time,” Skuba said.
Former classmates have previously described Adam Lanza as intelligent but remote, and former high school adviser described him as anxious and shy. Several people who knew his mother have described her as a devoted parent.
Divorce paperwork released this week showed that Nancy Lanza had the authority to make all decisions regarding Adam’s upbringing. The divorce was finalized in September 2009, when Adam Lanza was 17.
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At the very start of their lives, the schoolchildren are remembered for their love of horses, or for the games they couldn’t get enough of, or for always saying grace at dinner. The adult victims found their life’s work in sheltering little ones, teaching them, caring for them, treating them as their own. The gunfire Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School left a toll both unbearable and incalculable: 20 students and six adults at the school, the gunman’s mother at home, and the gunman himself.
A glimpse of some of those who died:
___
CHARLOTTE BACON, 6
They were supposed to be for the holidays, but finally on Friday, after hearing much begging, Charlotte Bacon’s mother relented and let her wear the new pink dress and boots to school.
It was the last outfit the outgoing redhead would ever pick out. Charlotte’s older brother, Guy, was also in the school but was not shot.
Her parents, JoAnn and Joel, had lived in Newtown for four or five years, JoAnn’s brother John Hagen, of Nisswa, Minn., told Newsday.
“She was going to go some places in this world,” Hagen told the newspaper. “This little girl could light up the room for anyone.”
___
DANIEL BARDEN, 7
Daniel’s family says he was “fearless in the pursuit of happiness in life.”
He was the youngest of three children and in a statement to the media, his family said Daniel earned his missing two front teeth and ripped jeans.
“Words really cannot express what a special boy Daniel was. Such a light. Always smiling, unfailingly polite, incredibly affectionate, fair and so thoughtful towards others, imaginative in play, both intelligent and articulate in conversation: in all, a constant source of laughter and joy,” the family said.
His father, Mark, is a local musician. The New Haven Register reported the father had been scheduled to play a show at a restaurant Friday in Danbury that was later canceled.
On the biography on his professional website, Mark Barden lists spending time with his family as his favorite activity.
___
RACHEL D’AVINO, 29
Days before the Connecticut shooting rampage, Rachel D’Avino’s boyfriend had asked her parents for permission to marry her.
D’Avino was a behavioral therapist who had only recently started working at the school, according to Lissa Lovetere Stone, a friend who is handling her funeral planned for Friday.
D’Avino’s boyfriend, Anthony Cerritelli, planned to ask her to marry him on Christmas Eve, Lovetere Stone said.
Lovetere Stone said she met D’Avino in 2005 when D’Avino was assigned to her son, who has autism, in their town of Bethlehem, Conn. D’Avino, 29, was so dedicated she would make home visits and frequently offer guidance on handling situations such as helping her son deal with loud music at a wedding.
“Her job didn’t end when the school bell rang at 3 o’clock,” Lovetere Stone said.
Police told her family that she shielded one of the students during the rampage, Lovetere Stone said.
“I’m heartbroken. I’m numb,” Lovetere Stone said. “I think she taught me more about how to be a good mother to a special needs child than anyone else ever had.”
___
OLIVIA ENGEL, 6
Images of Olivia Rose Engel show a happy child, one with a great sense of humor, as her family said in a statement. There she is, visiting with Santa Claus, or feasting on a slice of birthday cake. Or swinging a pink baseball bat, posing on a boat, or making a silly face.
Olivia loved school, did very well in math and reading, and was “insightful for her age,” said the statement released by her uncle, John Engel.
She was a child who “lit up a room and the people around her.” Creative with drawing and designing, she was also a tennis and soccer player and took art classes, swimming, and dance lessons in ballet and hip hop. A Daisy Girl Scout, she enjoyed musical theater.
“She was a great big sister and was always very patient with her 3 year old brother, Brayden,” her family said, recalling that her favorite colors were purple and pink.
Olivia was learning the rosary and always led grace before the family dinner. “She was a grateful child who was always appreciative and never greedy,” the family said.
Her father said she was a 6-year-old who had a lot to look forward to.
Dan Merton, a longtime friend of the girl’s family, recalled that she loved attention, had perfect manners and was a teacher’s pet.
“Her only crime,” he said, “is being a wiggly, smiley 6-year-old.”
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JOSEPHINE GAY, 7
Josephine Gay had turned 7 just three days before the shooting.
On Monday, purple balloons — her favorite color — sprouted from the family mailbox and those of all her neighbors.
In the back of the yellow house on a quiet cul-de-sac sat a jungle gym.
“‘Joey’ is a beautiful little girl, may she never be forgotten and live forever in our hearts,” wrote Polly Larsen, of Sunnyvale, Calif., on Facebook. She said she was close friends with the cousin of Josephine’s mother.
A person who answered the phone at Mother of God Catholic Church in Covington, Ky., said Josephine was the great-niece of the pastor, the Rev. Raymond Hartman.
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DAWN HOCHSPRUNG, 47, principal
Dawn Hochsprung’s pride in Sandy Hook Elementary was clear. She regularly tweeted photos from her time as principal there, giving indelible glimpses of life at a place now known for tragedy. Just this week, it was an image of fourth-graders rehearsing for their winter concert; days before that, the tiny hands of kindergartners exchanging play money at their makeshift grocery store.
She viewed her school as a model, telling The Newtown Bee in 2010 that “I don’t think you could find a more positive place to bring students to every day.” She had worked to make Sandy Hook a place of safety, too, and in October, the 47-year-old Hochsprung shared a picture of the school’s evacuation drill with the message “safety first.” When the unthinkable came, she was ready to defend.
Officials said she died while lunging at the gunman in an attempt to overtake him.
“She had an extremely likable style about her,” said Gerald Stomski, first selectman of Woodbury, where Hochsprung lived and had taught. “She was an extremely charismatic principal while she was here.”
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DYLAN HOCKLEY, 6
The Hockley family moved to Sandy Hook two years ago from England, in love with the sense of community and the elementary school that their boys, Dylan and Jake, would attend. Dylan’s mother, Nicole, is American, and his father, Ian, is British.
They moved into a house on the same street as the mother of the shooter, Adam Lanza.
In a statement, the family said their youngest boy had thrived at Sandy Hook.
“We do not and shall never regret this choice,” the Hockleys said. “Our boys have flourished here, and our family’s happiness has been limitless.”
Dylan had a beaming smile. He played tag every morning at the bus stop with neighbors, bounced on the trampoline and played computer games. He loved purple, chocolate and seeing the moon. He was learning to read and was proud to show off his new skills to his parents. Jake was his best friend and role model.
“We love you Mister D,” the Hockleys wrote in their statement.
Dylan also adored his teacher’s aide, Anne Marie Murphy, and would point to her picture on the family fridge every day. They took great comfort, they said, in knowing that when Dylan died, he was wrapped in Murphy’s arms. She also died.
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MADELEINE HSU, 6
Madeleine Hsu was shy and quiet — but she would light up around dogs.
Karen Dryer, who lived on the same street as the Hsu family, would see Madeleine’s mom waiting for her at the bus stop at 3:15 every afternoon. Dryer would wait too, for her son Logan, who is in kindergarten. Dryer usually brought the family’s golden retriever with her.
“She would come off the bus and her face would light up when she saw the dog,” Dryer said.
Her mom would give her a big squeeze, and Madeleine would hug her little sister. “She was just an absolute doll,” Dryer said. “She seemed very shy, but she was just so sweet.”
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CATHERINE HUBBARD, 6
Catherine’s parents released a statement expressing gratitude to emergency responders and for the support of the community.
“We are greatly saddened by the loss of our beautiful daughter, Catherine Violet and our thoughts and prayers are with the other families who have been affected by this tragedy,” Jennifer and Matthew Hubbard said. “We ask that you continue to pray for us and the other families who have experienced loss in this tragedy.”
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CHASE KOWALSKI, 7
Chase Kowalski was always outside, playing in the backyard, riding his bicycle. Just last week, he was visiting neighbor Kevin Grimes, telling him about completing — and winning — his first mini-triathlon.
“You couldn’t think of a better child,” Grimes said.
Grimes’ own five children all attended Sandy Hook, too. Cars lined up outside the Kowalskis’ ranch home Saturday, and a state trooper’s car idled in the driveway. Grimes spoke of the boy only in the present tense.
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NANCY LANZA, 52, gunman’s mother
She once was known simply for the game nights she hosted and the holiday decorations she put up at her house. Now Nancy Lanza is known as her son’s first victim.
Authorities say her 20-year-old son Adam gunned her down before killing 26 others at Sandy Hook. The two shared a home in a well-to-do Newtown neighborhood, but details were slow to emerge of who she was and what might have led her son to carry out such horror.
Kingston, N.H., Police Chief Donald Briggs Jr. said Nancy Lanza once lived in the community and was a kind, considerate and loving person. The former stockbroker at John Hancock in Boston was well-respected, Briggs said.
Court records show Lanza and her ex-husband, Peter Lanza, filed for divorce in 2008. He lives in Stamford and is a tax director at General Electric. A neighbor, Rhonda Cullens, said she knew Nancy Lanza from get-togethers she had hosted to play Bunco, a dice game. She said her neighbor had enjoyed gardening.
“She was a very nice lady,” Cullens said. “She was just like all the rest of us in the neighborhood, just a regular person.”
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JESSE LEWIS, 6
Six-year-old Jesse Lewis had hot chocolate with his favorite breakfast sandwich — sausage, egg and cheese — at the neighborhood deli before going to school Friday morning.
Jesse and his parents were regulars at the Misty Vale Deli in Sandy Hook, Conn., owner Angel Salazar told The Wall Street Journal.
“He was always friendly; he always liked to talk,” Salazar said.
Jesse’s family has a collection of animals he enjoyed playing with, and he was learning to ride horseback.
Family friend Barbara McSperrin told the Journal that Jesse was “a typical 6-year-old little boy, full of life.”
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ANA MARQUEZ-GREENE, 6
A year ago, 6-year-old Ana Marquez-Greene was reveling in holiday celebrations with her extended family on her first trip to Puerto Rico. This year will be heartbreakingly different.
The girl’s grandmother, Elba Marquez, said the family moved to Connecticut just two months ago, drawn from Canada, in part, by Sandy Hook‘s sterling reputation. The grandmother’s brother, Jorge Marquez, is mayor of a Puerto Rican town and said the child’s 9-year-old brother also was at the school but escaped safely.
Elba Marquez had just visited the new home over Thanksgiving and is perplexed by what happened. “What happened does not match up with the place where they live,” she said.
A video spreading across the Internet shows a confident Ana hitting every note as she sings “Come, Thou Almighty King.” She flashes a big grin and waves to the camera when she’s done.
Jorge Marquez confirmed the girl’s father is saxophonist Jimmy Greene, who wrote on Facebook that he was trying to “work through this nightmare.”
“As much as she’s needed here and missed by her mother, brother and me, Ana beat us all to paradise,” he wrote. “I love you sweetie girl.”
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JAMES MATTIOLI, 6
James Mattioli especially loved recess and math, and his family described him as a “numbers guy” who came up with insights beyond his years to explain the relationship between numbers. He particularly loved the concept of googolplex, which a friend taught him.
He was born four weeks before his due date, and his family often joked that he came into the world early because he was hungry.
They wrote in his obituary that 6-year-old James, fondly called ‘J,’ loved hamburgers with ketchup, his Dad’s omelets with bacon, and his Mom’s French toast. He often asked to stop at Subway and wanted to know how old he needed to be to order a footlong sandwich.
He loved sports and wore shorts and T-shirts no matter the weather. He was a loud and enthusiastic singer and once asked, “How old do I have to be to sing on a stage?”
His family recalled that he was an early-riser who was always ready to get up and go. He and his older sister were the best of friend. He was a thoughtful and considerate child, recently choosing to forgo a gift for himself and use the money to buy his grandfather a mug for Christmas.
His funeral is Tuesday.
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GRACE AUDREY McDONNELL, 7
With broken hearts, the parents of Grace Audrey McDonnell said Sunday they couldn’t believe the outpouring of support they’ve received since the little girl who was the center of their lives died in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Lynn and Chris McDonnell called their 7-year-old daughter “the love and light” of their family in a statement released by the little girl’s uncle.
The family also shared a photo featuring Grace smiling into the camera, her eyes shining and a pink bow adorning her long blonde hair.
“Words cannot adequately express our sense of loss,” the McDonnells said.
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ANNE MARIE MURPHY, 52, teacher
A happy soul. A good mother, wife and daughter. Artistic, fun-loving, witty and hardworking.
Remembering their daughter, Anne Marie Murphy, her parents had no shortage of adjectives to offer Newsday. When news of the shooting broke, Hugh and Alice McGowan waited for word of their daughter as hours ticked by. And then it came.
Authorities told the couple their daughter was a hero who helped shield some of her students from the rain of bullets. As the grim news arrived, the victim’s mother reached for her rosary.
“You don’t expect your daughter to be murdered,” her father told the newspaper. “It happens on TV. It happens elsewhere.”
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EMILIE PARKER, 6
Quick to cheer up those in need of a smile, Emilie Parker never missed a chance to draw a picture or make a card.
Her father, Robbie Parker, fought back tears as he described the beautiful, blond, always-smiling girl who loved to try new things, except foods.
Parker, one of the first parents to publicly talk about his loss, expressed no animosity for the gunman, even as he struggled to explain the death to his other two children, ages 3 and 4. He’s sustained by the fact that the world is better for having had Emilie in it.
“I’m so blessed to be her dad,” he said.
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JACK PINTO, 6
Jack Pinto was a huge New York Giants fan. Wide receiver Victor Cruz honored Jack on Sunday on his cleats, writing on them the words “Jack Pinto, My Hero” and “R.I.P. Jack Pinto.”
“I also spoke to an older brother and he was distraught as well. I told him to stay strong and I was going to do whatever I can to honor him,” Cruz said after the Giant’s game with the Atlanta Falcons. “He was fighting tears and could barely speak to me.”
Cruz said he planned to give the gloves he wore during the game to the boy’s family, and spend some time with them.
“There’s no words that can describe the type of feeling that you get when a kid idolizes you so much that unfortunately they want to put him in the casket with your jersey on,” he said. “I can’t even explain it.”
Jack’s funeral and burial were Monday.
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NOAH POZNER, 6
Noah was “smart as a whip,” gentle but with a rambunctious streak, said his uncle, Alexis Haller of Woodinville, Wash.
He was part of a big family. His twin sister, Arielle, assigned to a different classroom, survived the shooting. He called Arielle his best friend and loved her dearly, along with big sisters Danielle and Sophia and big brother Michael.
“They were always playing together, they loved to do things together,” Haller said. When his mother, a nurse, would tell him she loved him, he would answer, “Not as much as I love you, Mom.'”
Haller said Noah loved to read and liked to figure out how things worked mechanically. He was already a very good reader. He loved animals, video games and Nintendo’s Mario Brothers characters. For his birthday two weeks ago, he got a new Wii.
Noah was looking forward to reading a new “Ninjago” book he’d just bought at a book fair. He was also very excited about going to a birthday party he had been invited to. It was to take place Saturday.
“He was just a really lively, smart kid,” Haller said. “He would have become a great man, I think. He would have grown up to be a great dad.”
A funeral was held Monday, followed by burial.
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CAROLINE PREVIDI, 6
“Silly Caroline” Previdi had an infectious grin and a giving heart.
Karen Dryer, a neighbor, remembered how Caroline would ride the bus with her son, Logan, when he got scared. She’d sit with him, make sure he felt safe, and play peek-a-boo over the seat to distract him.
“My son refers to her as ‘Silly Caroline,'” said Dryer, who is still wrestling with how to talk to her son about the shootings. “She’s just a girl that was always smiling, always wanting others to smile.”
“Caroline Phoebe Previdi was a blessing from God and brought joy to everyone she touched,” her parents, Jeff and Sandy Previdi, said in a statement. “We know that she is looking down on us from Heaven.”
Family friend David Sutch, who lives in Brookfield, Mo., described the Previdis as loving and compassionate, always having other children over to the house, willing to befriend anyone.
“I can’t imagine a family that deserved this less,” he said.
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JESSICA REKOS, 6
“Jessica loved everything about horses,” her parents, Rich and Krista Rekos said in a statement. “She devoted her free time to watching horse movies, reading horse books, drawing horses, and writing stories about horses.”
When she turned 10, they promised, she could have a horse of her own. For Christmas, she asked Santa for new cowgirl boots and hat.
The Rekoses described their daughter as “a creative, beautiful little girl who loved playing with her little brothers, Travis and Shane.
“She spent time writing in her journals, making up stories, and doing ‘research’ on orca whales — one of her passions after seeing the movie ‘Free Willy’ last year.” Her dream of seeing a real orca was realized in October when she went to SeaWorld.
Jessica, first born in the family, “was our rock,” the parents said. “She had an answer for everything, she didn’t miss a trick, and she outsmarted us every time.” A thoughtful planner, she was “our little CEO.”
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AVIELLE RICHMAN, 6
The curly-headed little girl known as Avie Richman loved a lot of things. Horses. Harry Potter. The color red. She tried archery after watching the Disney movie “Brave.” She told her parents that her dream car was a minivan. To reward her for reading over the summer, they took her to lunch.
Avie had moved to Sandy Hook from San Diego about two years ago with her parents, Jeremy Richman and Jennifer Hensel.
“They still call Avielle their California girl,” Melissa C. Stewart, a family friend, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “When they first moved here, it was hard to keep shoes on Avielle because she was so used to running barefoot on the beach in San Diego.”
In a blog called “Avielle’s Adventures,” Jeremy Richman would tell friends about their family life: trips to the Thanksgiving Day parade in Stamford, Arielle’s 6th birthday at the horse stable, a road trip to Iowa.
In August, he wrote about the newest milestone for his “little hummingbird,” who was about to start first grade.
“We can’t believe it,” he wrote. “Jenn and I are both very nervous and excited.”
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LAUREN GABRIELLE ROUSSEAU, 30, teacher
Lauren Rousseau had spent years working as a substitute teacher and doing other jobs. So she was thrilled when she finally realized her goal this fall to become a full-time teacher at Sandy Hook.
Her mother, Teresa Rousseau, a copy editor at the Danbury News-Times, released a statement Saturday that said state police told them just after midnight that she was among the victims.
“Lauren wanted to be a teacher from before she even went to kindergarten,” she said. “We will miss her terribly and will take comfort knowing that she had achieved that dream.”
Her mother said she was thrilled to get the job.
“It was the best year of her life,” she told the newspaper.
Rousseau has been called gentle, spirited and active. She had planned to see “The Hobbit” with her boyfriend Friday and had baked cupcakes for a party they were to attend afterward. She was born in Danbury, and attended Danbury High, college at the University of Connecticut and graduate school at the University of Bridgeport.
She was a lover of music, dance and theater.
“I’m used to having people die who are older,” her mother said, “not the person whose room is up over the kitchen.”
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MARY SHERLACH, 56, school psychologist
When the shots rang out, Mary Sherlach threw herself into the danger.
Janet Robinson, the superintendent of Newtown Public Schools, said Sherlach and the school’s principal ran toward the shooter. They lost their own lives, rushing toward him.
Even as Sherlach neared retirement, her job at Sandy Hook was one she loved. Those who knew her called her a wonderful neighbor, a beautiful person, a dedicated educator.
Sherlach’s son-in-law, Eric Schwartz, told the South Jersey Times that Sherlach rooted on the Miami Dolphins, enjoyed visiting the Finger Lakes, relished helping children overcome their problems. She had planned to leave work early on Friday, he said, but never had the chance. In a news conference Saturday, he told reporters the loss was devastating, but that Sherlach was doing what she loved.
“Mary felt like she was doing God’s work,” he said, “working with the children.”
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VICTORIA SOTO, 27, teacher
She beams in snapshots. Her enthusiasm and cheer was evident. She was doing, those who knew her say, what she loved.
And now, Victoria Soto is being called a hero.
Though details of the 27-year-old teacher’s death remained fuzzy, her name has been invoked again and again as a portrait of selflessness and humanity among unfathomable evil. Those who knew her said they weren’t surprised by reports she shielded her first-graders from danger.
“She put those children first. That’s all she ever talked about,” said a friend, Andrea Crowell. “She wanted to do her best for them, to teach them something new every day.”
Photos of Soto show her always with a wide smile, in pictures of her at her college graduation and in mundane daily life. She looks so young, barely an adult herself. Her goal was simply to be a teacher.
“You have a teacher who cared more about her students than herself,” said Mayor John Harkins of Stratford, the town Soto hailed from and where more than 300 people gathered for a memorial service Saturday night. “That speaks volumes to her character, and her commitment and dedication.”
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BENJAMIN WHEELER, 6
Music surrounded Benjamin Wheeler as he grew up in a household where both his mother and father were performers. They left behind stage careers in New York City when they moved to Newtown with Benjamin and his older brother, Nate.
“We knew we wanted a piece of lawn, somewhere quiet, somewhere with good schools,” Francine Wheeler told the Newtown Bee in a profile.
Ben was spirited and energetic. He was taking swim lessons, and at soccer practice, he’d often be running across the field long after it was necessary. A recent accomplishment, his family said, was performing at a piano recital this month — and sitting still long enough to play one piece.
Francine, a music educator and singer-songwriter, used to make up songs for Ben when he was a baby. Some eventually found their way onto a CD, she told the local newspaper. Ben’s father, David, still writes and performs, according to a profile on the website of the Flagpole Radio Cafe theater.
Before school on Friday, Ben had told his mother he wanted to be an architect — but also a paleontologist.
“That’s what Nate is going to be,” he told his mom. “And I want to do everything Nate does.”
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ALLISON WYATT, 6
Allison Wyatt was the light of her family’s life.
Her grandparents’ church in Dayton, Ohio, encouraged parishioners to pray for the family. “We are deeply saddened by the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut on December 12, 2012,” the church said on its website. “We are especially saddened as we have discovered this has hit our parish community directly.”
On Friday, after news of the shooting broke, one of Allison’s aunts posted on Facebook that her nieces attended Sandy Hook school, and asked for prayer. “One is fine and the other is missing at this time,” she wrote. “We are remaining positive at this time and counting on the power of prayer.”
Later, after news of Allison’s death, she asked for prayer again.
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Online:
http://noahsarkofhopefund.eventbrite.com/
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Associated Press writers Christina Rexrode, Denise Lavoie, Mark Scolforo, Allen Breed, Pat Eaton-Robb, Bridget Murphy, Christopher Sullivan and Danica Coto contributed to this report.
Source: Fox US News
Police have found no evidence that the troubled gunman who killed 20 children and six adults in a Connecticut elementary school was being treated with any drugs that might have tamed the mental illness that authorities believe drove his murderous rage, according to a report.
Investigators searching the home Adam Lanza shared with his mother, Nancy Lanza, seized cellphones, computers and computer games, but found nothing to indicate he was under medication, Hearst Connecticut Newspapers reported. Authorities armed with search warrants are still working to obtain medical records, according to the report. Lanza’s parents told friends and divorce mediators that the 20-year-old had Asperger’s syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism, but it was unclear if he had ever been formally diagnosed.
Experts say Asperger’s would not explain the horrific attack and believe Lanza, who killed his 52-year-old mother before going to the school, suffered other mental problems, including possible personality disorders.
Detectives were scouring cellphone records, text messages, computer records and social network pages, hoping to find clues as to what made Lanza snap.
“They are looking at everything,” former FBI agent Robert Paquette told the newspaper group. “They are poring over anything and everything. Was he on meds? Did he go off meds? How was his relationship with his mother? What video games did he play? How often did he play? Where did he learn to shoot? How often did he shoot? … Forensics are going to tell us who died where and when. What they want to determine is why.”
Meanwhile, the children of Newtown, Conn., were back in school Tuesday with the exception of the Sandy Hook School survivors. Newtown High School Principal Charles Dumais, in an email to parents, said schools in the district would open two hours later than usual, with counselors available to students and their families.
“This is a day to start healing,” Dumais said.
The fate of Sandy Hook School is unclear, but the children who attended the K-4 school will eventually attend Chalk Hill Middle School, a school that had been mothballed by the nearby town of Monroe. Dozens of rounds are still embedded in the walls, cabinets, closets and floors of the Sandy Hook School, which police say is still an active crime scene.
On Monday, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy called upon churches across the state to ring their bells 26 times Friday at 9:30 a.m. in tribute to the victims.
Meanwhile, parents began the task of burying their children Monday. Funerals for Noah Ponzer and Jack Pinto took place on Monday, and the funerals of 6-year-olds Jessica Rekos and James Mattiloi were scheduled for Tuesday.
As awful as the tragedy was, investigators say it could have been worse: Lanza still had hundreds of rounds when he killed himself as police moved in, according to Connecticut state Police Lt. Paul Vance.
“There was a lot of ammo, a lot of clips,” said state Police Lt. Paul Vance. “Certainly a lot of lives were potentially saved.”
The chief medical examiner has said the ammunition was the type designed to break up inside a victim’s body and inflict the maximum amount of damage, tearing apart bone and tissue.
Source: Fox US News
By Matt Cantor
Source: Newser – Home
At the bar, everybody knew her name.
Nancy Lanza was the one who, if she heard you were short on cash, regularly offered to pick up the tab at My Place.
Two or three nights a week, Lanza — the mother of the gunman in Connecticut’s horrific school massacre — came in for carryout salads, but stayed for Chardonnay and good humor. The divorced mother of two — still smooth-skinned and ash blonde at 52 — clearly didn’t have to work, but was always glad to share talk of her beloved Red Sox, gardening and a growing enthusiasm for target shooting.
But while Lanza spoke proudly about her sons and brought them in for breakfast when they were younger, friends say she held one card very close: home life, especially its trials and setbacks, was off limits.
Now, the secrets Lanza kept are at the center of the questions that envelop this New England town, grieving over the slaughter unleashed by her 20-year-old son Adam, who investigators say killed his mother Friday with one of her own guns before murdering 26 children and teachers at a nearby school.
“Her family life was her family life. She kept it private, when we were together. That was her own thing,” said Louise Tambascio, who runs the warmly lit pizzeria and bar with her own sons, and became a shopping and dining companion of Nancy Lanza‘s.
Friends had met Lanza’s younger son, who stared down at the floor and didn’t speak when she brought him in. They knew he’d switched schools more than once and that she’d tried home schooling him. But while she occasionally expressed concern about his future during evenings at the bar, she never complained about anything at all.
“I heard her as a parent. I always said that I wouldn’t want to be in her shoes. But I thought, `Wow. She holds it well,”‘ said Tambascio’s son, John.
California resident Ryan Kraft told KCAL-TV in Los Angeles that when he was a teenager he lived a few doors down from the Lanza family and used to babysit Adam Lanza, then nine or 10 years old. He said the boy “struck me as an introverted kid.”
“His mom Nancy had always instructed me to keep an eye on him at all times, never turn my back or even go to the bathroom or anything like that. Which I found odd but I really didn’t ask; it wasn’t any of my business,” said Kraft, who lives in Hermosa Beach. “But looking back at it now, I guess there was something else going on.”
Despite the challenges, the trappings of Lanza’s life in Newtown were comfortable. When she and then-husband Peter Lanza moved to the central Connecticut community in 1998 from southern New Hampshire, they bought a brand new 3,100-square-foot colonial set on more than two acres in the Bennett’s Farm neighborhood. Nancy Lanza had previously worked as a stock broker at John Hancock in Boston and her husband was a successful executive.
When the couple divorced in 2009, he left their spacious home to Nancy Lanza and told her she would never have to work another day in her life, said Marsha Lanza of Crystal Lake, Ill., Lanza’s aunt. The split-up was not acrimonious and Adam spent time with both his mother and father, she said.
Those who knew Nancy Lanza recall her as very generous, often giving money to those she met and doing volunteer work.
When a mutual friend sought a loan from an acquaintance, Jim Leff, and Leff asked for collateral, Lanza intervened.
“Nancy overheard the discussion, and, unblinkingly, told him she’d just write him a check then and there,” Leff recalled on his blog in a post after Lanza’s death. “While I’m far from the most generous guy in the world, it’s not often that I feel stingy. But I learned something from that. I should have just written him the check. She was right.”
Mark Tambascio recalled the time Lanza invited him and his brother to attend a Boston Red Sox game, buying them tickets atop the outfield wall known as the Green Monster, and refusing any talk of repayment.
There were moments when she appeared carefree. Inside My Place on Sunday, friends passed around a book of photos from a 2008 sailing trip off Newport, R.I., including one showing Lanza, her eyes gently closed and head tilted back as the sea breeze blew through her hair. “Dreamer!” read the caption.
Neighbors knew her from the monthly gathering of women who rotated between homes for games of the dice game bunko. Lanza enthused about gardening, while poking fun of the fact that few could see the result because her house was set back from the road on a low rise, partly cloaked by trees.
“She used to give me a hard time, you know, because I put out all these Christmas lights, and she said, `I put out mine, too, but you can’t even see them,”‘ said Rhonda Cullens, who lives one street over.
Lanza also began telling friends that she’d bought guns and had taken up target shooting, John Tambascio said.
All three of the guns that Adam Lanza carried into Sandy Hook Elementary were owned and registered by his mother — a pair of handguns and a .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle, his primary weapon.
Investigators said Sunday that Nancy Lanza visited shooting ranges several times and that her son also visited an area range.
Ginger Colbrun, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said it’s still not clear whether Nancy Lanza brought her son to the range or whether he ever fired a weapon there.
Marsha Lanza told the Chicago Sun-Times that Nancy Lanza wanted guns for protection. “She prepared for the worst,” Marsha Lanza told the newspaper. “I didn’t know that they (the guns) would be used on her.”
Guns were her hobby,” Dan Holmes, who got to know Lanza while doing landscaping work for her, told The Washington Post. “She told me she liked the single-mindedness of shooting.”
But while trips to shooting ranges gave Lanza an outlet, she returned home to the ever-present challenges of raising a son with intractable problems.
At Newtown High School, Adam Lanza was often having crises that only his mother could defuse.
“He would have an episode, and she’d have to return or come to the high school and deal with it,” said Richard Novia, the school district’s head of security until 2008, who got to know the family because both Lanza sons joined the school technology club he chartered.
Novia said Adam Lanza would sometimes withdraw completely “from whatever he was supposed to be doing,” whether it was sitting in class or reading a book.
Adam Lanza “could take flight, which I think was the big issue, and it wasn’t a rebellious or defiant thing,” Novia said. “It was withdrawal.”
The club gave the boy a place where he could be more at ease and indulge his interest in computers. His anxieties appeared to ease somewhat, but they never disappeared. When people approached him in the hallways, he would press himself against the wall or walk in a different direction, clutching tight to his black briefcase.
Marsha Lanza described Nancy Lanza as a good mother.
“If he had needed consulting, she would have gotten it,” Marsha Lanza said. “Nancy wasn’t one to deny reality.”
But friends and neighbors said Lanza never spoke about the difficulties of raising her son. Mostly she noted how smart he was and that she hoped, even with his problems, that he’d find a way to succeed.
“We never talked about the family,” John Tambascio said. “She just came in to have a great time.”
Source: Fox US News
Federal investigators planned to visit dozens of shooting ranges and gun stores across Connecticut Sunday, attempting to figure out what led smart but painfully awkward 20-year-old Adam Lanza to murder 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, while townspeople and President Obama prepared to attend an interfaith vigil amid sorrow and confusion.
The tragedy brought forth soul-searching and grief around the globe. Families as far away as Puerto Rico began to plan funerals for victims who still had their baby teeth, world leaders extended condolences, and vigils were held around the U.S.
The gunman’s father released a statement on Saturday.
“Our hearts go out to the families and friends who lost loved ones and to all those who were injured,” Peter Lanza said. “Our family is grieving along with all those who have been affected by this enormous tragedy. No words can truly express how heartbroken we are. We are in a state of disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can. We too are asking why. We have cooperated fully with law enforcement and will continue to do so. Like so many of you, we are saddened, but struggling to make sense of what has transpired.”
The victims of the shooting were shot multiple times by rifle, the medical examiner said Saturday, and Dr. H. Wayne Carver said the deaths are classified as homicides. Police began releasing the identities of the dead.
Police said they had found “very good evidence” they hoped would answer questions about the motives of the gunman, described as brilliant but remote, who forced his way into the school and killed 26 children and adults in one of the world’s worst mass shootings.
Click here to see a list of the victims.
Lt. Paul Vance of the Connecticut State Police said Saturday morning that the suspect was not voluntarily let into the school.
Lanza shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, drove to the school in her car with at least three guns, including a high-powered rifle that he apparently left in the back of the vehicle, and shot up two classrooms around 9:30 a.m. Friday, law enforcement officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A custodian ran through the halls, warning of a gunman on the loose, and someone switched on the intercom, alerting people in the building to the attack — and perhaps saving many lives — by letting them hear the hysteria going on in the school office, a teacher said. Teachers locked their doors and ordered children to huddle in a corner or hide in closets as shots echoed through the building.
Lanza was found dead inside the school, according to officials.Eighteen of the children and six more adults were dead at the school and two more children died later, Lt. Vance said at a press conference Friday.
The well-liked principal, Dawn Hochsprung, was believed to be among the dead. A woman who worked at the school was wounded.
President Barack Obama will attend an interfaith memorial service Sunday in Newtown. It will be the fourth time he has traveled to a city after a mass shooting.
The president had planned to travel to Maine Wednesday for an event promoting his positions in “fiscal cliff” negotiations, but the White House canceled that trip because of the shooting.
The tragedy elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, a 20-year-old described as brilliant but remote, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims.
The rampage, coming less than two weeks before Christmas, was the nation’s second-deadliest school shooting, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech massacre that claimed 33 lives in 2007.
In tight-knit Newtown on Saturday, overflow crowds packed St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church. The Rev. Richard Scinto, a deacon, gave a homily.
“In the past 48 hours I’ve said the phrase `I don’t know’ about 1,000 times,” he said. “That not knowing has got to be the worst part of this whole thing.”
At St. John’s Episcopal Church, 54-year-old Donna Denner, an art teacher at an elementary school in nearby Danbury whose classroom was locked down after the shooting, said she feels the same way she did after 9/11 but isn’t sure the rest of the country is.
“I don’t know if the rest of the country is struggling to understand it the same way we are here,” she said. “Life goes on, but you’re not the same. Is the rest of the country — are they going about their regular activities? Is it just another news story to them?”
Lanza’s brother, Ryan Lanza, 24, who was widely and erroneously reported to be the suspect, was questioned in Hoboken, N.J., but authorities said he was not involved. An FBI source tells Fox News that Ryan Lanza and the father, Peter Lanza, have both been cleared and are not longer being questioned.
The vehicle the suspect drove to the school was registered to his mother. At least three guns were found — a Glock and a Sig Sauer, both pistols, inside the school, and a .223-caliber rifle in the back of a car, authorities said.
Sources told Fox News the guns used in the shooting were owned by and legally registered to Nancy Lanza.
ATF spokeswoman Ginger Colbrun said earlier that there was no evidence Lanza was involved in gun clubs or had trained for the shooting. When reached later in the day and asked whether that was still true, she said, “We’re following any and all leads related to this individual and firearms.”
Dean Price, director of the Wooster Mountain State Range — a shooting range in Danbury — said two ATF agents visited the range Friday night and stayed into the early morning looking through thousands of names on sign-in logs.
He said that he had never seen Adam or Nancy Lanza there and that agents told him they did not find their names on the sign-in sheets.
Law enforcement officials have said they’ve found no note or manifesto from Lanza of the sort they have come to expect after murderous rampages such as the Virginia Tech bloodbath in 2007 that left 33 people dead.
Vance said during Friday afternoon’s news conference that police arrived at the scene “within minutes” of a 911 call placed shortly after 9:30 a.m. Friday.
“Every door, every crack, every crevice of that school” was checked, Vance said. “The entire school was searched.” He said the shooting occurred inside two rooms in “one section of the school.”
Lanza was believed to suffer from a personality disorder and lived with his mother, said a law enforcement official who was briefed on the investigation but was not authorized to discuss it.
Education officials said they had found no link between Lanza’s mother and the school, contrary to news reports that said she was a teacher there. Investigators said they believe Adam Lanza attended Sandy Hook Elementary many years ago, but they had no explanation for why he went there Friday.
President Obama was notified of the shooting about an hour after it occurred, White House officials said.
“Our hearts are broken today,” Obama said in a brief address to the nation on Friday. “We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in these past few years, and each time I receive the news I react not as a president, but as a parent.”
“Most victims were children, between five and 10 years old…They had their entire lives ahead of them, birthdays, graduations weddings, kids of their own,” he said, pausing before wiping tears from his eyes.
Sandy Hook Elementary School has close to 700 students.
Newtown is in Fairfield County, about 45 miles southwest of Hartford and 60 miles northeast of New York City.
FoxNews.com’s Cristina Corbin, Jana Winter, Perry Chiaramonte, Mike Levine and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: Fox US News