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 Prosecutors closed the case Monday on the Sandy Hook Elementary
shooting last December. Their report offered a chilling portrait of
20-year-old Adam Lanza as a loner who was obsessed with violence and
bound by ritualistic behavior.
But they were unable to answer the question that everyone has been
asking since the tragedy: Why?
"The obvious question that remains is: 'Why did the shooter murder
27 people, including 20 children?' Unfortunately, that question may
never be answered conclusively," the report said.
To try to figure out the motive, investigators said, they
interviewed members of Lanza's family — his father and brother
cooperated fully — along with teachers and others. They said they
also tried within the limits of privacy laws to gather information
on his medical treatment.
They found no evidence he had taken any medication that would have
affected his behavior or explain the bloodbath.
Lanza "was under no extreme emotional disturbance for which there
was a reasonable explanation or excuse," the report concluded.
It said that in fifth grade, Lanza wrote a book that included tales
of children being slaughtered and a son shooting his mother in the
head.
In the years that followed, he was obsessed with mass murders,
assembling articles, photos, books, footage and violent video games,
including one in which players gun down students in school. He even
kept a spreadsheet ranking mass murders.
The summary released by the lead investigator, State's Attorney
Stephen Sedensky III, describes Lanza as having "significant mental
health issues" but sure knowledge of what he was planning: Besides
having the spreadsheet, he smashed his computer hard drive and used
earplugs during the shooting.
Lanza killed 20 first-graders and six educators with a
semi-automatic rifle at the school on Dec. 14. He also shot his
mother in the forehead inside their home. He committed suicide with
a handgun as police arrived at the school.
Sedensky said there was no clear indication why Lanza chose Sandy
Hook Elementary other than that it was close to his home. He
attended Sandy Hook from first through fifth grade, but he was never
assigned to the classrooms where the shootings took place.
The spiral-bound manuscript that Lanza wrote in the fifth grade,
"The Big Book of Granny," was among items seized from his home.
There is no indication he ever handed in the book at school.
The main character has a gun in her cane and shoots people, and
another character likes hurting people, especially children.
Lanza also became obsessed with the 1999 Columbine High shootings
and other such mass killings, the report said.
The guns he used in the attack had been purchased legally by his
mother, who often took her son shooting and, according to the
report, had written out a check to buy him a pistol for Christmas.
Their house also contained knives, swords, spears and other sharp
weapons.
The report said that in 2005, Lanza was diagnosed with Asperger's
disorder — an autism-like condition that is not associated with
violence — and that he lacked empathy for others and behaved
strangely. He seemed to have few friends.
Nobody was allowed into his bedroom, not even to clean, according to
the report. The windows of the room were covered with black trash
bags. The report also said Lanza also disliked birthdays, Christmas
and holidays and did not like to have his hair cut.
He also wouldn't touch doorknobs, his food had to be arranged on the
plate in a certain way, and he changed clothes and washed his hands
often during the day. He was a loner at school and was repelled by
crowds and loud noises. His mother got rid of a cat because her son
didn't want it in the house.
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Weeks before the Newtown shooting, Nancy Lanza was concerned about
her son and said that he hadn't gone anywhere in three months and
would communicate with her by email only, even though they lived in
the same house, according to the report.
However, she never expressed fear that she or anyone else was in
danger from Adam, the report said. She was in New Hampshire the week
before the shooting, arriving home the evening of Dec. 13.
Lanza "was undoubtedly afflicted with mental health problems; yet
despite a fascination with mass shootings and firearms, he displayed
no aggressive or threatening tendencies," Sedensky wrote.
"Some recalled that the shooter had been bullied; but others —
including many teachers — saw nothing of the sort."
Sedensky said the hard drive taken from Lanza's bedroom might hold
clues but was so damaged that data will probably never be extracted
from it.
A timeline released with the report indicates that nearly six
minutes passed between the arrival of the first Newtown police
office and the time officers entered the school. The report said
officers were operating under the belief there may have been more
than one shooter.
Whether the delay made any difference was unclear. The report said
Lanza killed himself about a minute after the first officer arrived.
Donna Soto, the mother of slain teacher Victoria Soto, said in a
statement that nothing could make sense of the shooting.
"Yes, we have read the report, no, we cannot make sense of why it
happened. We don't know if anyone ever will," Soto wrote. "We don't
know if we will ever be whole again, we don't know if we will go a
day without pain, we don't know if anything will ever make sense
again."
Teresa Rousseau, whose daughter Lauren was among the six educators
killed at Sandy Hook, said she hasn't read the report.
"It's just too painful to go there," Rousseau said.
Sedensky's report is a summary of a much larger state police
evidence file that is expected to be released at a later date.
Sedensky has gone to court to fight release of the 911 tapes from
the school to spare the victims' families the anguish. A judge said
Monday he will listen to the recordings before deciding whether they
can be made public.
The report said the first officer arrived behind the school at 9:39
a.m. Two other Newtown officers then arrived within seconds, and
gunshots were heard in the background.
The last gunshot officers heard, which is believed to be the suicide
shot by Lanza, was heard at three seconds past 9:40. Newtown
officers entered the school at 47 seconds past 9:44, according to
the report.
[Associated
Press; MICHAEL MELIA and
PAT EATON-ROBB]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
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broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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