Adam Lanza of Newtown, Connecticut started 14/12/12 by shooting his mother Nancy in the face before driving to a nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School wearing a black military-style gear, including a bullet proof vest and a mask. He started shooting at about 9:35 am approximately half hour after the school day began, the shooting took place for a few minutes during which 20 school children between the ages of 5-10 years of age, six adults were killed in the shooting including the school principal Dawn Laffert Hochsprung, the school psychologist, Mary Sherlach and school teacher Vicki Soto.
The shooter did not say a word during the shooting and committed suicide by self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Two 9mm handguns, one glock , one SIG Sauer and one .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle were recovered from the scene of the crime. All of the guns were owned legally and registered to his mother Nancy lanza.
A relative told ABC News that Adam was "obviously not well."
Family friends in Newtown also described the young man as troubled and described Nancy as very rigid. "[Adam] was not connected with the other kids," said one friend.
State and federal authorities believe his mother may have once worked at the elementary school where Adam went on his deadly rampage, although she was not a teacher, according to relatives, perhaps a volunteer.
The FBI is in at least three states interviewing relatives and friends of the elementary school gunman who killed 20 children, seven adults and himself, trying to put together a better picture of the shooter and uncover any possible explanation for the massacre, ABC News has learned.
The authorities have fanned out to New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts to interview relatives of Adam Lanza, 20, and his mother, who was one of Lanza's shooting victims.
In the early confusion surrounding the investigation, federal sources initially identified the suspect as Adam's older brother Ryan Lanza, 24. Identification belonging to Ryan Lanza was found at the shooting scene, federal sources told ABC News.
Ryan Lanza soon took to Facebook to say he was alive and not responsible for the shooting. He later was questioned by police.
During the rampage, first-grade teacher Kaitlin Roig, 29, locked her 14 students in a class bathroom and listened to "tons of shooting" until police came to help.
"It was horrific," Roig said. "I thought we were going to die."
She said that the terrified kids were saying, "I just want Christmas. ... I don't want to die. I just want to have Christmas."
A tearful President Obama said Friday that there was "not a parent in America who doesn't feel the overwhelming grief that I do."
The president had to pause to compose himself after saying these were "beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10."
As he continued with his statement, Obama wiped away tears from each eye. He has ordered flags flown as half staff.
It is the second worst mass shooting in U.S. history, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 when 32 were killed before the shooter turned the gun on himself. The carnage in Connecticut exceeded the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in which 13 died and 24 were injured.
Friday's shooting came three days after masked gunman Jacob Roberts opened fire in a busy Oregon mall, killing two before turning the gun on himself.
The massacre prompted the town of Newtown to lock down all its schools and draw SWAT teams to the school, authorities said.
No comments:
Post a Comment