Sandy Hook Shooter Adam Peter Lanza
| Adam Lanza | |
|---|---|
Lanza’s photo
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| Born | Adam Peter Lanza April 22, 1992 Kingston, New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Died | December 14, 2012 (aged 20) Newtown, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Self-inflicted gunshot |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | None |
| Parent(s) | Peter Lanza (father) Nancy Lanza (mother) |
| Motive | Inconclusive |
| Killings | |
| Date | December 14, 2012 c. 9:35 am – c. 9:40 am |
| Location(s) | Newtown, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Target(s) | Students and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School |
| Killed | 27 |
| Injured | 2 |
Perpetrator
| Adam Lanza | |
|---|---|
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Lanza’s photo
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| Born | Adam Peter Lanza April 22, 1992 Kingston, New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Died | December 14, 2012 (aged 20) Newtown, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Self-inflicted gunshot |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | None |
| Parent(s) | Peter Lanza (father) Nancy Lanza (mother) |
| Motive | Inconclusive |
| Killings | |
| Date | December 14, 2012 c. 9:35 am – c. 9:40 am |
| Location(s) | Newtown, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Target(s) | Students and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School |
| Killed | 27 |
| Injured | 2 |
Adam Peter Lanza (April 22, 1992 – December 14, 2012) and his mother lived in Sandy Hook, 5 miles (8 km) from the elementary school.[128] He did not have a criminal record at the time of the shooting.[8][129][130]
Education
Lanza attended Sandy Hook Elementary School for a brief time.[131] Afterward, he attended St. Rose of Lima Catholic School in Newtown,[132] and then Newtown High School, where he was an honors student.[133] He was taken out of high school at the age of sixteen, and began attending Western Connecticut State University shortly thereafter.[134] Subsequent to his removal from high school, Lanza was home-schooled by his mother and father, and earned a GED.[135] Lanza’s aunt said his mother removed him from the Newtown public school system because she was unhappy with the school district‘s plans for her son.[136] He attended Western Connecticut State University in 2008 and 2009.[135] Students and teachers who knew him in high school described Lanza as “intelligent, but nervous and fidgety”. He avoided attracting attention and was uncomfortable socializing. He is not known to have had any close friends in school.[128]
Behavioral problems
Lanza was diagnosed with a sensory-integration disorder when he started elementary school and was later diagnosed by a psychiatrist with Asperger syndrome when he was thirteen, according to his father, Peter Lanza. He also had obsessive-compulsive disorder. He was referred for treatment for his conditions in October 2006 and was prescribed behavioral-based therapy and Celexa, an antidepressant. Following objections from Nancy Lanza, the treatment was discontinued after four visits, and Lanza stopped taking the medication.[137] His father suspects that Lanza might have suffered from undiagnosed schizophrenia or psychopathy in addition to his other conditions. Peter Lanza said that family members might have missed signs of the onset of schizophrenia during his son’s adolescence because they attributed his odd behavior and increasing isolation to Adam’s Asperger syndrome.[134][138][139][140][141] Because of concerns that published accounts of Lanza’s autism could result in a backlash against others with the condition, autism advocates campaigned to clarify that autism is a brain-related developmental disorder and not a mental illness.[142] The predatory aggression demonstrated by Lanza in the shooting is generally not seen in the autistic population.[143]
Sensory-processing disorder does not have official status by the medical community as a formal diagnosis but is frequently one of the characteristics of autism.[144] Kathleen A. Koenig, a nurse at the Yale Child Studies Center, said Lanza had symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder because he frequently washed his hands and changed his socks 20 times a day, to the point where his mother did three loads of laundry a day.[145] In addition, he would sometimes go through a box of tissues in one day because he could not touch a doorknob with his bare hand.[146]
He was fascinated with mass shootings, most notably the Columbine High School massacre and the Northern Illinois University 2008 shooting. He did not allow anybody in his bedroom (the windows of which he had taped over with black garbage bags), refused to have a Christmas tree in the house, and would not eat his food unless it was arranged in a particular way on his plate.[147] He had also chosen to cut off contact with both his father and brother in the two years before the shooting and at one point communicated with his mother, who lived in the same house, only by email. A document entitled “Selfish” about the inherent selfishness of women was found on Lanza’s computer after his death.[138][148]
Physical condition
According to a report issued by the Office of the Child Advocate in Connecticut in November 2014, Lanza may have suffered from anorexia as a teenager. A February 2008 medical note stated that he was around five foot ten inches tall and weighed 112 pounds. At the time of his death, he was found to be anorexic to the point of malnutrition and resultant brain damage, with a height of six feet and weight of 112 pounds.[149]
Reported 2011 phone call
In January 2014, the New York Daily News reported that Lanza had made a phone call to a college radio station in Oregon in December 2011, in which he used the name “Greg” and compared a teenage mall shooter to Travis the chimpanzee. An audio recording of the call obtained by the newspaper was said to contain Lanza’s voice by two of his former high school classmates. Lanza is also said to have discussed the possibility of going on to the radio show in an instant messaging conversation, in which he had the username “Smiggles”. Danbury State Attorney Stephen Sedensky said “Adam Lanza may have called a radio station, but I do not specifically know whether or not that is Adam Lanza on the audiotape”.[150]
Nancy Lanza
Following her divorce from Adam’s father, a corporate executive, Nancy Lanza was supported by alimony payments.[151][152][153] A relative commented that she did not have to work because the divorce settlement had left her “very well off”.[154] Initial reports that Nancy Lanza had worked as a volunteer at the Sandy Hook Elementary School were denied by the school superintendent on December 15, 2012.[155] In December 2013, the release of documents related to the case included a card found at Nancy Lanza’s home dating from 1999, which read “Dear Mrs. Lanza, Thank you for being such a special volunteer. The children achieved a most successful year with the dedication from your active involvement.”[111]
Her sister-in-law described Nancy Lanza as a “gun enthusiast who owned at least a dozen firearms”.[156][157][158][159] She often took her two sons to a local shooting range and had them learn to shoot.[151] Peter Lanza said he does not believe Nancy Lanza feared her son Adam. She did not confide any fear of Adam to her sister or to her best friend; she slept with her bedroom door unlocked and she kept guns in the house where she lived with Adam.[138]