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Tag: Sandy Hook Elementary School

  • Adam Lanza’s Father Speaks Out On Newtown Massacre

    Fifteen months after the Newtown Massacre, which took the lives of 20 children and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Peter Lanza, Adam Lanza’s father, is speaking out about his son.

    During a chilling interview with the New Yorker, Peter reveals that he wishes his son had never been born, and that he knows that Adam would have killed him if he had had the chance.

    “With hindsight, I know Adam would have killed me in a heartbeat, if he’d had the chance,” he said. “I don’t question that for a minute.”

    Adam also murdered his mother Nancy Lanza, who divorced Peter in 2009. Peter admitted that he had not seen his son in two years, prior to the massacre, and that Adam had shot Nancy four times; once for each of his family members. “The reason he shot Nancy four times was one for each of us,” he explained. “One for Nancy; one for him; one for Ryan; one for me.”

    Peter explained that Adam was once just a little “weird kid”. It wasn’t until Adam entered middle school that he started making startling changes; social awkwardness, lack of eye contact, sleepless nights, etc. Peters says Adam was later diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. “You could see the changes occurring,” Peter explained.

    Adam’s father and mother tried to get him to open up to a therapist, but Peter explained that Adam did not want to accept that he had something wrong with him. “Adam was not open to therapy,” he said. “He did not want to talk about problems and didn’t even admit he had Asperger’s.”

    Peter has struggled to cope with the fact that his son was able to do something so unbelievably horrific. He described him as the worst kind of evil. “You can’t get any more evil,” he said. “How much do I beat up on myself about the fact that he’s my son? A lot.”

    Peter said that he had met with two of the families of the Sandy Hook victims. “It’s gut-wrenching,” he said. “A victim’s family member told me that they forgave Adam after we spent three hours talking. I didn’t even know how to respond.”

    So, why has Peter decided to open up now? He said that he wanted people to realize that this could happen to them. “I want people to be afraid of the fact that this could happen to them,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be understood to be real.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Adam Lanza’s Father Speaks Out For The First Time

    Adam Lanza’s Father Speaks Out For The First Time

    Peter Lanza, the father of Adam Lanza, the 20 year old who shot 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School and six staff members, had his first interview since the tragedy, as he’s been mostly silent and tried to avoid the press up until now.

    And although he didn’t have a close relationship with his son, and didn’t see him for two years before the incident, Peter doesn’t feel that he could have done anything different when it comes to preventing what happened.

    “Any variation on what I did and how my relationship had to be good, because no outcome could be worse,” he said. “You can’t get any more evil…..How much do I beat up on myself about the fact that he’s my son? A lot.”

    Before going to Sandy Hook to commit the murders, Adam Lanza first turned the gun on his mother and shot her four times, and Peter said he has absolutely no doubt in his mind that if he were in the house, Adam would have shot him too. Peter also said Adam shooting his mother four times was no coincidence at all.

    “I don’t question that for a minute,” he said. “The reason he shot Nancy four times was one for each of us: one for Nancy, one for him, one his [his brother] Ryan; one for me.”

    Currently, Peter resides in Fairfield, Connecticut, which is about a half an hour drive from Newton, and since the tragedy, he thought of changing his last name many times but decided against it, because he didn’t want to completely erase what happened or act like he doesn’t feel some sort of responsibility.

    In addition, Peter said his ex-wife never talked about being afraid of Adam, and he’s not sure that she really was, “She never confided about being afraid of him,” he said. “She slept with her bedroom door unlocked and kept guns in the house, which she wouldn’t have done if she were frightened.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Adam Lanza: No Motive Found In Sandy Hook Massacre

    Danbury State’s Attorney Stephen J. Sedensky III, officially closed the investigation of Adam Lanza, the sole mastermind behind the December 14, 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Danbury, Connecticut. Lanza, 20, entered the school by shooting eight rounds through a window, letting himself inside the building where he would ultimately kill 26 people. The mass shooting was the second-worst in U.S. history, taking the lives of 27 people, including Adam’s mother, six school personnel, and, unfathomably, 20 first-grade children.

    From the time Lanza entered the school until he shot himself was barely 11-minutes – but they are 11-minutes of the worst horror imaginable. The disturbed young shooter killed 20 six-year-old children with a high-powered Bushmaster .223. Officials say that Lanza, who weighed only 112 pounds, carried 31 pounds of ammunition into the building with him that day – he had 253 rounds of ammunition when he died.

    Sedensky released the nearly 50-page report on Monday, saying that no charges would be filed, and that officials had assembled a comprehensive timeline of the fateful morning. Sedensky also reported that after the scrupulous investigation to find a possible motive was completed and fruitless, the reason behind the carnage would probably forever be unknown.

    The investigation into Adam Lanza lasted eleven months, and included a painstakingly-thorough sweep of the 20-year-old’s bedroom at the home he shared with his mother, Nancy Lanza. Nancy had apparently been worried about her son in the weeks before the murders – Adam had not left the home in three months, and only communicated with his mother by email or text message.

    The bedroom of Adam Lanza yielded a number of horrifying documents and evidence, such as the spreadsheet he kept that listed detailed accounts of mass murders that had taken place since 1891, as well as newspaper clippings. He was also reportedly captivated by the 1999 school shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado.

    Other than the bizarre behaviors Lanza exhibited, police were unable to find anyone, or anything, to tie Lanza and his possible reasoning to the carnage. The most vital piece of evidence – Adam Lanza’s computer – was destroyed before he went to Sandy Hook on December 14th. Police believe he shot his mother in the head before destroying his hard drive and driving to the school.

    In the timeline, investigators concluded that Lanza probably entered Sandy Hook Elementary around 9:29 a.m. by shooting eight rounds into a glass window. Once inside, the shooter fired sixteen rounds down the hall, which took the lives’ of Principal Dawn Hochsprung, and psychologist Mary Sherlach. After killing the two women, Lanza is believed to have walked to the office where he looked for anyone hiding. Finding no one, he then walked, and entered, the classroom of either Victoria Soto or Lauren Rousseau. (Police were unable to determine which room Lanza entered first, although he did eventually kill himself in Soto’s room.) In Rousseau’s classroom, Lanza shot and killed Rousseau, aide Rachel D’Avino, and fired 80 shots at the children. One child in Rousseau’s room survived by hiding behind her classmates in the bathroom.

    Lanza then proceeded to the next classroom, presumably that of Victoria Soto, and fired 50 shots, killing Soto, aide Mary Anne Murphy, and 5 of the children. According to The Hartford Courant, one of the students was “found under Murphy. Nine children survived in Soto’s classroom, six after they were told by student Jesse Lewis to run when Lanza’s gun jammed. Lewis was one of the children killed.”

    At 9:35:39, the first 911 call from the school was placed by the school janitor, Rick Thorne, who had been running to classrooms, locking the doors and telling children and adults to stay inside. Four minutes after placing that call, the first officers arrived on the scene, though they waited outside for two minutes before entering the building, to ensure there was not another shooter. Upon their arrival, officers reported hearing gunshots, and within six minutes, officials were inside the building. Lanza is believed to have shot himself within minutes of the first officer to arrive; he died at 9:40 a.m.

    The report states that a more extensive narration of the murders will be released at a later time by the state police.

    Main image courtesy ABC News via YouTube.