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The families of nine of the 26 people killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 have filed a lawsuit against a rifle manufacturer.

The negligence and wrongful death suit was filed in Connecticut against Bushmaster Firearms International.

The families allege the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle used by Adam Lanza, 20, in the incident should not have been made publicly available because it was designed for military use.

Twenty children died in the attack.

“There is one tragically predictable civilian activity in which the AR-15 reigns supreme: mass shootings,” the court documents state.Adam Lanza Sandy Hook shooter

“Time and again, mentally unstable individuals and criminals have acquired the AR-15 with ease, and they have unleashed the rifle’s lethal power into our streets.”

On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, before driving to the school and killing 20 children and six adults. He later took his own life when authorities arrived on the scene.

Other defendants in the lawsuit include firearm distributor Camfour and gun store Riverview Gun Sales where Nancy Lanza purchased the AR-15 rifle.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Bill Sherlach, whose wife was killed in the shooting, as well as the families of victims Vicki Soto, Dylan Hockley, Noah Pozner, Lauren Rousseau, Benjamin Wheeler, Jesse Lewis, Daniel Barden, Rachel D’Avino and Natalie Hammond, who was injured in the attack.

“These companies assume no responsibility for marketing and selling a product to the general population who are not trained to use it nor even understand the power of it,” Bill Sherlach told US media.

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According to a report released on November 21 by the Office of the Child Advocate, in February 2007, Yale clinicians identified in Adam Lanza what they believed were profound emotional disabilities and offered him treatment that could give him relief for the first time in his troubled life.

Adam Lanza, then 14-year-old, was angry and anxious, and he didn’t want to go. His mother, Nancy Lanza, constantly placating her son, was inclined to pull away from the treatment, prompting a psychiatric nurse to reach out to his father, Peter Lanza, in an urgent email.

Nancy Lanza rejected the Yale doctors’ plan.

Six years later, Adam Lanza murdered his mother and massacred 20 children and six educators before turning a gun on himself at the elementary school he once attended in the Sandy Hook section of Newtown, Connecticut.

The Office of the Child Advocate report pointed to the Yale episode as one of dozens of red flags, squandered opportunities, blatant family denial and disturbing failures by pediatricians, educators and mental health professionals to see a complete picture of Adam Lanza’s “crippling” social and emotional disabilities.

While the report does not draw a line between the events in Adam Lanza’s young life and the massacre, it points out repeated examples where the profound anxiety and rage simmering inside Lanza was not explored in favor of attempts to manage his symptoms.

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Peter Lanza, the father of the Newtown school killer Adam Lanza spoke publicly for the first time saying he wishes his son had never been born.

Peter Lanza opened up about his son in one of a series of interviews with The New Yorker that began in September.

Adam Lanza, 20, killed his mother, Nancy, before gunning down 20 students, six staff members and himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012.

His father 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.”

Peter Lanza, a vice president for GE Energy Financial Services, was divorced from Adam’s mother since 2009 and hadn’t seen his son for more than two years at the time of the killings, he told the magazine.

The New Yorker writer Andrew Solomon said Peter Lanza approached him in September.

Adam Lanza’s father spoke publicly for the first time saying he wishes his son had never been born

Adam Lanza’s father spoke publicly for the first time saying he wishes his son had never been born

Peter Lanza was quoted as saying: “I want people to be afraid of the fact that this could happen to them.”

“With hindsight, I know Adam would have killed me in a heartbeat, if he’d had the chance,” Peter Lanza said.

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

Peter Lanza says that by the time his son entered middle school, “it was crystal clear something was wrong.”

Adam Lanza was socially awkward, anxious, unable to concentrate and afflicted with insomnia.

The family thought they’d gotten an answer when Adam Lanza was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, at age 13. But after a severe reaction to the anti-anxiety drug escitalopram, he refused to take any psychotropic drugs thereafter – behavior that profoundly concerned a psychiatric specialist who treated him.

Still, Peter Lanza says he is convinced the Asperger’s diagnosis had little to do with the mass killings. Instead, he said Asperger’s may have been masking schizophrenia.

“Asperger’s makes people unusual, but it doesn’t make people like this,” he told the magazine.

Meanwhile, Peter Lanza refuses to talk about a lingering mystery: where or how his son’s body was disposed of.

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The White House has announced measures aimed at limiting access to firearms for the mentally ill.

The changes clarify ambiguous regulations and allow hospitals to provide more information for background checks, officials said.

The actions come more than one year after the Newtown school shooting, which sparked a national gun debate.

President Barack Obama’s push for stricter gun controls stalled after the incident.

In a statement released on Friday, the White House said the two new actions “will help strengthen the federal background check system and keep guns out of the wrong hands”.

The first proposed regulation, from the Department of Justice, aims to clarify who is prohibited under federal law from possessing a firearm for reasons related to mental health.

That change includes clarifying the term “committed to a mental institution” to include involuntary inpatient as well as outpatient commitments, the White House said.

Barack Obama's push for stricter gun controls stalled after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting

Barack Obama’s push for stricter gun controls stalled after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting

The second proposed action, brought by the Department of Health and Human Services, lifts certain privacy provisions preventing states from forwarding relevant information to the background check system.

The change could give medical entities covered by federal health privacy law permission to disclose “limited information necessary to help keep guns out of potentially dangerous hands”, the White House said.

“The proposed rule will not change the fact that seeking help for mental health problems or getting treatment does not make someone legally prohibited from having a firearm,” the White House said.

The proposed changes follow the one-year anniversary of the December 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 children and six school staff members were killed.

The gunman, Adam Lanza, is believed to have had severe mental health issues at the time of the crime.

Barack Obama proposed several federal gun control measures in the wake of the shooting, including tightening the background check system to make it harder for convicted criminals to buy guns, but Congress declined to act under pressure from the powerful gun lobby.

The president has continued to press Congress for further restrictions, although skeptics note that if the murder of 20 children failed to goad Congress to action, it is unclear what could.

“Passing common-sense gun safety legislation – including expanding background checks and making gun trafficking a federal crime – remains the most important step we can take to reduce gun violence,” the White House statement concluded.

Thousands of documents related to police investigation into the killing of 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut have been released.

Officials described as “painful” some of the details in the report, which includes photos and transcripts.

The report reveals new facts about the life of gunman Adam Lanza, 20, said to have suffered from mental health issues.

Adam Lanza turned a gun on himself after opening fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in December 2012.

Before killing 20 children and six adults with a semi-automatic rifle, Adam Lanza shot dead his own mother at the family home. She had bought him the weapons used in the rampage.

Last month, Connecticut police published a summary of their findings, showing that Adam Lanza had “an obsession” with the 1999 Columbine massacre, during which two teenagers killed 12 students and a teacher.

Adam Lanza turned a gun on himself after opening fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in December 2012

Adam Lanza turned a gun on himself after opening fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in December 2012

Investigators also found that Adam Lanza had acted alone and planned the shooting, which took less than 11 minutes.

The final report contains evidence that Adam Lanza’s mother discussed her son’s “disabilities” with a friend they day before the Sandy Hook attack.

The student would “write 10 pages obsessing over battles, destruction and war”.

The findings also reveal autopsy reports and new information about how the shooting unfolded.

A teacher hiding in a closet said he heard janitor Rick Thorne challenge Adam Lanza. Rick Thorne, who survived the attack, apparently yelled: “Put the gun down.”

Among the audiovisual material released on Friday were photos of items found in Adam Lanza’s home, including numerous rounds of ammunition, gun magazines, shooting earplugs and a gun safe with a rifle in it.

The files were heavily redacted to protect the students’ identity and to withhold gruesome details of the crime.

The Newtown shooting prompted a renewed US campaign for stricter firearms controls.

While no legislation was passed at a national level, some states – including Connecticut and Colorado – imposed tougher gun laws. Other states loosened restrictions.

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Adam Lanza, who killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut last year, had “an obsession” with the 1999 Columbine massacre, an official report has found.

Police said there was evidence Adam Lanza, 20, had planned the shooting, which took fewer than 11 minutes.

However, they could not establish why he opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown on December 14, 2012, before turning the gun on himself.

The case is now closed, and no charges will be brought, state police said.

While investigators noted Adam Lanza’s obsession with mass shootings, they said there was not enough evidence to understand a motive.

The report also noted Adam Lanza’s “significant mental health issues” – he was diagnosed in 2005 with Asperger syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder not linked to violence – but said “what contribution this made to the shootings, if any, is unknown”.

Adam Lanza killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut last year

Adam Lanza killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut last year

Stephen Sedensky, the prosecutor who drafted the report, also noted of Adam Lanza: “Despite a fascination with mass shootings and firearms, he displayed no aggressive or threatening tendencies.”

Before gunning down 20 children and six adults with a semi-automatic rifle at Sandy Hook, Adam Lanza shot dead his own mother at the family home.

“The obvious question that remains is: <<Why did the shooter murder twenty-seven people, including twenty children?>> Unfortunately, that question may never be answered conclusively,” Monday’s report said.

It represents just a part of the evidence collected by Connecticut State Police.

A state law passed earlier in the year said some evidence, including certain images or video of the victims, would never be made available to the public.

Police said “a review of electronic evidence or digital media” belonging to Adam Lanza “revealed that the shooter had a preoccupation with mass shootings, in particular the Columbine shootings and a strong interest in firearms”.

Twelve students and a teacher were killed in April 1999 when two teenagers opened fire in a planned attack at Columbine High School in Colorado.

Other documents at Adam Lanza’s home included a spreadsheet with mass murders listing information about each shooting, two videos showing suicide by gunshot and photocopied newspaper articles from 1891 relating to the shooting of schoolchildren.

The report also outlined the timeline of events as state police understands them.

The shooting began shortly after 09:30 when Adam Lanza forced his way into the locked school by shooting through a glass window near the front doors.

The first call to emergency services came at 09:35 and the last shot, believed to be Adam Lanza firing a handgun at himself, came at 09:40. Most of the deceased were killed in two classrooms.

“In fewer than 11 minutes twenty first-grade pupils and six adults had lost their lives,” the report said.

Donna Soto, the mother of Victoria Soto, one of the teachers killed by Adam Lanza, said in a statement that it was still not clear why her daughter and the others died.

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Connecticut prosecutors said they are about to release the long-awaited report on their investigation over the Sandy Hook mass shooting.

However, the public will have to keep waiting for the full police report on the Newtown elementary school massacre.

The report on the December 14, 2012, shooting, in which 20-year-old Adam Lanza took the lives of 20 first graders, six school staffers and his mother before turning the gun on himself, was supposed to be released in June, then was pushed back to the fall.

The Office of the State’s Attorney for Danbury now says it will publish the summary report Monday afternoon on the state’s Division of Criminal Justice website, www.ct.gov/csao.

Connecticut prosecutors said they are about to release the long-awaited report on their investigation over the Sandy Hook mass shooting

Connecticut prosecutors said they are about to release the long-awaited report on their investigation over the Sandy Hook mass shooting

Mark Dupuis, a spokesman for Danbury State’s Attorney Stephen Sedensky III, declined to say whether the report has been shared with the families of those who died in the shooting, but he said his office is aware of families’ concerns and has taken steps to address those concerns.

The summary report to be released Monday will not include the full state police report on the shooting, which is expected to run thousands of pages. No date has yet been set for the release of the full police report, and some evidence from the state’s investigation will never be made available to the public.

A state law passed after the massacre exempts certain records of a homicide, including photos and film, from freedom-of-information requests from the press and the public if the records are believed to invade the privacy of survivors.

In advance of the summary report being issued, the interim superintendent of schools in Newtown has reached out to parents and sent a letter to ensure they’re prepared.

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Jean Henry, who worked at Connecticut Chief Medical Examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver’s office, was accused of bringing her husband in to gawk at the body of Newtown school shooter Adam Lanza and has been fired.

Dr. H. Wayne Carver dismissed Jean Henry, a processing technician, in a letter released Friday.

Jean henry was accused of showing Adam Lanza’s body to her husband on December 16, 2012.

Two days earlier, Adam Lanza killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and then turned a gun on himself.

It was reported in January that Jean Henry was put on administrative leave pending an investigation into the matter.

Morgue worker Jean Henry was accused of bringing her husband in to gawk at the body of Adam Lanza and has been fired

Morgue worker Jean Henry was accused of bringing her husband in to gawk at the body of Adam Lanza and has been fired

At that time, Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy said he was informed of the investigation, which the University of Connecticut Health Center conducted as the agency that handles personnel matters for the medical examiner’s office.

“I hope that was not true. The investigation is ongoing,” Dannel P. Malloy said

“I would be deeply disappointed if proven to be true and would expect, if proven to be true, that whatever steps are appropriate would be taken.”

The Hartford Courant first broke the story.

Dr. H. Wayne Carver wrote that, in bringing her husband into the morgue, Jean Henry violated the agency’s ethical mission and showed “extremely poor judgment”.

Chris DeFrancesco, a University of Connecticut Health Center spokesman, says a grievance process is underway and no further information is available.

The center handles personnel matters for the medical examiner’s lab.

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A relative of Adam Lanza has revealed that the Newtown gunman had been beaten and taunted by his fellow classmates while he was a student at Sandy Hook Elementary, and his mother had considered filing a lawsuit against the school.

Speaking exclusively with the New York Daily News, Adam Lanza’s relative said that the 20-year-old who would grow up to murder his mother, Nancy, was viciously bullied by his classmates and would come home from class with bruises over his body.

Nancy Lanza was “irate” in her belief that the educators at Sandy Hook weren’t doing all in their power to protect her son, they said.

The relative told the Daily News that Adam Lanza wouldn’t confide in his mother when she asked him what was wrong.

“He would just sit there,” the relative said.

Adam Lanza shot dead 20 first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14 in a matter of minutes, making it one of the worst school shootings in US history.

Last week, a never-before-seen photograph of Adam Lanza emerged, along with college records which include new information about the gunman including that he refused to identify his own gender when asked to do so in college documents.

Adam Lanza had been reportedly beaten and taunted by his fellow classmates while he was a student at Sandy Hook Elementary

Adam Lanza had been reportedly beaten and taunted by his fellow classmates while he was a student at Sandy Hook Elementary

Adam Lanza attended Western Connecticut State University (WCSU) for less than a year after his mother withdrew him from Newtown High School when he still only 16.

Students and teacher who remember Adam Lanza from his WCSU days recall that he was very quiet and struggled to mix with the other students although that was largely attributed at the time to him being younger than them.

Adam Lanza earned a 3.26 grade point average while there, but WCSU after less than a year in 2009, he then attended a community college, but also left that school after a year. Eventually, he worked at a part-time job for a while repairing computers, but that job ended when the business shut down.

He walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14th and opened fire killing 26 people, including 20 children, before killing himself.

He had killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, in her bed before heading to the school.

A bipartisan legislative task force in Connecticut has agreed on a major overhaul of the state’s gun laws in the aftermath of December’s deadly attack.

The draft legislation, announced on Monday, would add more than 100 types of guns to the state’s list of banned assault weapons; limit the capacity of ammunition magazines to 10 rounds; ban armor-piercing bullets; require background checks for all weapon sales, including at gun shows; establish safety standards for school buildings; allow mental health training for teachers; and expand mental health research in the state.

“Nobody will be able to say that this bill is absolutely perfect, but no one will also be able to say that this bill fails the test when it comes to being the strongest in the country and the most comprehensive bill in the country,” Connecticut Senate President Don Williams, a Democrat and a member of the task force, said Monday.

Last week, documents revealed how Adam Lanza sprayed 155 bullets at innocent children and educators during a five-minute rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

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Marvin LaFontaine, a friend of Adam Lanza’s mother, has said the Sandy Hook gunman may have launched his murder spree as an “act of revenge” after suffering years of bullying as a student at the Connecticut school.

Marvin LaFontaine said Adam Lanza, who killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, one of the worst school shooting in America’s history, had been harboring resentment towards the Connecticut school for years.

The family friend also said mother Nancy Lanza was so angered by the school’s inability to protect Adam, she would sometimes sit in his class to make sure nobody touched him.

Marvin LaFontaine, who was also Adam Lanza’s Cub Scout leader when he was a young boy, told the New York Daily News: “I think Adam felt betrayed by the school and this was his act of revenge.”

He said he was told by Nancy Lanza that Adam was picked on at school.

Marvin LaFontaine said: “Adam was an easy target. He was quiet and he would never fight back.”

On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot his mother then went on to spray 155 bullets at innocent children and educators during a five-minute bloody rampage that ended with 20 dead school children and 6 dead staff members before he shot and killed himself.

Adam Lanza launched Sandy Hook murder spree as an act of revenge after suffering years of bullying as a student at the Connecticut school

Adam Lanza launched Sandy Hook murder spree as an act of revenge after suffering years of bullying as a student at the Connecticut school

Marvin LaFontaine said Adam Lanza’s childhood experience of Sandy Hook centered on bullying.

The family friend said this angered Nancy Lanza, who would sometimes attend the school unannounced to act as her son’s “bodyguard”.

“Adam didn’t like her showing up,” Marvin LaFontaine said.

“She would sometimes sit in the back of the class and make sure no one would touch him.”

Nancy Lanza also moved Adam in and out of the school and sometimes home schooled him, according to the report.

At the same time, Adam Lanza’s mother was amassing an arsenal of weapons at the house, where investigators found more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition, two rifles, a BB gun, a starter’s pistol, nine knives, a 7-foot spear, a bayonet and three samurai swords.

Documents released as part of the investigation noted that Nancy Lanza may also have been facilitating her son’s fascination with weapons.

Nancy and Adam Lanza reportedly “bonded” during several sessions spent together at a shooting range.

According to the investigation, which is ongoing and may not be complete until June or later, each of the weapons used in the attack was legally licensed to Nancy Lanza.

They also found that Adam Lanza possessed articles on other shootings and a holiday card containing a check made out to him for the purchase of a firearm, authored by Nancy Lanza

Documents indicate that authorities found Nancy Lanza’s gun safe open with shotgun shells and numerous boxes of bullets.

A family friend told the Daily News that, in the months leading up to the shooting, Adam Lanza would dress up in military camouflage and target shoot in his basement with a pellet gun.

The family friend also said Adam Lanza’s dream was to become a Marine like his uncle Jim.

However, a man with mental health issues as marked as Adam Lanza’s is all but guaranteed to be turned away from serving in the armed forces.

That may have also contributed to an emotional break in the young man that led to his killing spree.

“I think that when he found out he couldn’t be a Marine because of his condition, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” the source told the Daily News.

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A new photo of Newtown killer Adam Lanza has emerged today along with his college records.

The documents revealed the Sandy Hook gunman refused to identify his own gender when asked to do so in college papers.

The new photo of Adam Lanza was his student ID during his time at Western Connecticut State University

The new photo of Adam Lanza was his student ID during his time at Western Connecticut State University

Adam Lanza attended Western Connecticut State University for less than a year after his mom withdrew him from Newtown High School when he still only 16.

When asked his gender on a student background information form, Adam Lanza wrote: “I choose not to answer.”

According to records obtained by CBS News, Adam Lanza also wrote the same in response to the question: “How do you describe yourself?”

The new photo of Adam Lanza was his student ID during his time at Western Connecticut State University and shows a gaunt young man with an unusual stare.

Students and teacher who remember him from his WCSU days recall that he was very quiet and struggled to mix with the other students although that was largely attributed at the time to him being younger than them.

Adam Lanza earned a 3.26 grade point average while there. He dropped out of a German language class and withdrew from a computer science class, but earned an A in a computer class, A-minus in American history and B in macroeconomics.

He left WCSU after less than a year in 2009, he then attended a community college, but also left that school after a year.

Eventually, Adam Lanza worked at a part-time job for a while repairing computers, but that job ended when the business shut down.

Adam Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14th, 2012, and opened fire killing 26 people, including 20 children, before killing himself.

He had killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, in her bed before heading to the school.

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Adam Lanza, the young man who killed 27 people in a massacre at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, owned an arsenal of weapons and ammunition, court papers show.

Hundreds of rounds of ammunition and certificates from the National Rifle Association were among the items found in a search of Adam Lanza’s home.

Details of the searches were publicized after a court seal lapsed on Wednesday.

Adam Lanza, 20, first shot his mother, before killing 26 people at Sandy Hook elementary school in December 2012.

Adam Lanza, the young man who killed 27 people in a massacre at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, owned an arsenal of weapons and ammunition

Adam Lanza, the young man who killed 27 people in a massacre at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, owned an arsenal of weapons and ammunition

The mass shooting – which ended when Adam Lanza shot himself – shocked the US and revived debate over how to curb gun violence.

In a statement accompanying the release of the search warrants, state prosecutor Stephen Sedensky said Adam Lanza had managed to shoot all his victims and kill himself within five minutes of making his way into the school.

The 20 children and six staff members were all killed with a Bushmaster .223-calibre rifle, and the gun Lanza turned on himself was a Glock 10mm handgun, Stephen Sedensky said.

Adam Lanza had another loaded handgun with him in the school and three 30-round magazines for the rifle.

One more weapon, a 12-gauge shotgun with 70 rounds, was also found in the car Adam Lanza drove to the school.

Although the description of the gunman in the search warrants suggests he was found wearing military-style clothing and a bullet-proof vest, prosecutors said on Wednesday that Adam Lanza was not wearing such a vest.

Meanwhile, in Adam Lanza’s home a bayonet, a gun safe in his bedroom and several swords were discovered by investigators, search warrants revealed.

The documents showed Adam’s mother, Nancy Lanza, had written a cheque for her son to buy a weapon and placed it in a holiday card.

Books about autism and Asberger’s syndrome, as well as a smashed computer hard drive and gaming console were among the other items they found.

Some details such as the name of a witness, telephone numbers and serial numbers were redacted from the cache of documents.

The papers were made public at the request of Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, who expressed concern about information that had been leaked to the press.

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Children from Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a gunman killed 26 people last month, are to start the new term at what police say is the US’s “safest school”.

Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown has been closed since Adam Lanza killed 20 pupils and six staff on December 14.

Chalk Hill, a disused middle school in nearby Monroe, has been renovated by an 80-strong team and renamed Sandy Hook.

The use of furniture from Sandy Hook had turned it into “a very cheerful elementary school”, officials said.

Extra security measures were being taken at the new school, such as stopping every vehicle that entered the school grounds, said Monroe Police Department’s Lieutenant Keith White.

“I think right now it has to be the safest school in America,” he said.

Children from Sandy Hook Elementary School are to start the new term at Chalk Hill, a disused middle school in nearby Monroe

Children from Sandy Hook Elementary School are to start the new term at Chalk Hill, a disused middle school in nearby Monroe

Acting Principal Donna Page, who has replaced the slain school head Dawn Hochsprung, wrote to parents of pupils that the school was “safe, secure and fully operational”.

Parents would be allowed to stay in the school during class-time on Thursday to reassure their children, she added.

“That being said, we encourage students to take the bus to school in order to help them return to familiar routines as soon as possible,” she wrote.

Adam Lanza, 20, carried out the attack after killing his mother, the legal owner of the weapons, which included a semi-automatic rifle.

He later shot himself, and was reportedly buried over the weekend after his father, a tax executive, retrieved his body from the authorities last week.

The shooting revived fierce debate over America’s controversial gun control laws, with some pro-gun politicians saying it had prompted them to change their views on the issue.

The Obama administration has indicated it will look for ways to tighten gun laws, and President Barack Obama has given his deputy, Joe Biden, the task of establishing a set of “concrete proposals” within weeks.

Barack Obama has said he would support reinstating an assault weapons ban that lapsed in 2004.

The White House has also suggested the president would back other gun control measures on high-capacity ammunition clips as well as closing loopholes that allow people to buy guns without background checks.

The National Rifle Association (NRA), a powerful US lobbying group, argues against more regulation, saying teachers in schools should be armed in order to better defend students if a shooting occurs.

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The body of Adam Lanza, the man who killed 27 people – including 20 children and his own mother – at Sandy Hook Elementary School, has been claimed for burial.

Adam Lanza shot himself in the head inside Sandy Hook Elementary School, ending a bloody shooting tragedy that has gripped Newtown, Connecticut.

Multiple reports said that Adam Lanza’s body was claimed several days ago by a person who did not wish to be identified.

Connecticut’s chief medical examiner Wayne H. Carver II told the Hartford Courant that the location of Adam Lanza’s burial will not be made public.

When asked by the paper if Adam Lanza’s father, Peter Lanza, who claimed the body, Wayne H. Carver would not comment.

A spokeswoman at the medical examiner’s office told The Associated Press she could not release any details about the status of Adam Lanza’s remains.

A private funeral was held earlier this month in New Hampshire for his mother, Nancy Lanza, who was shot to death in her bed on the morning of the school shooting rampage.

Police have not offered a motive for the killings.

The body of Adam Lanza, the man who killed 27 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, has been claimed for burial

The body of Adam Lanza, the man who killed 27 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, has been claimed for burial

Earlier this week, it was revealed that scientists have been asked to study Adam Lanza’s DNA to see if has an “evil” gene that led him to carry out the massacre.

The study, which will look at any abnormalities or mutations in his individual DNA, is believed to be the first of its kind ever carried out on a mass murderer. The massacre prompted President Barack Obama to look into new gun controls and banning assault rifles such as AR-15 Bushmaster used by Adam Lanza in his rampage.

The study of the killer’s DNA was been ordered by Wayne H. Carver – who carried out the post-mortems on all the victims.

He has contacted geneticists at University of Connecticut’s to conduct the study.

Geneticists said they are likely looking at Adam Lanza’s DNA to detect a mutation or abnormality that could increase the risk of aggressive or violent behavior.

They could analyze Adam Lanza’s entire genome in great detail and try to find any unexpected mutations.

Arthur Beaudet, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, said the University of Connecticut geneticists are most likely trying to “detect clear abnormalities of what we would call a mutation in a gene”.

He added: “Or gene abnormalities and there are some abnormalities that are related to aggressive behavior.

“They might look for mutations that might be associated with mental illnesses and ones that might also increase the risk for violence.”

Arthur Beaudet, who is also the chairman of Baylor College of Medicine’s department of molecular and human genetics in Houston, Texas said geneticists should be doing this type of research because there are “some mutations that are known to be associated with at least aggressive behavior if not violent behavior”.

“I don’t think any one of these mutations would explain all of (the mass shooters), but some of them would have mutations that might be causing both schizophrenia and related schizophrenia violent behavior,” Arthur Beaudet said.

“I think we could learn more about it and we should learn more about it.”

Arthur Beaudet said studying the genes of murderers is controversial because there is a risk that those with similar genetic characteristics could possibly be discriminated against or stigmatized.

But he said the research into Adam Lanza would be helpful even if only a “fraction” may have the abnormality or mutation.

“Not all of these people will have identifiable genetic abnormalities,” Arthur Beaudet told ABC News.

“By studying genetic abnormalities we can learn more about conditions better and who is at risk and what might be dramatic treatments,” Arthur Beaudet said, adding if the gene abnormality is defined the “treatment to stop” other mass shootings or “decrease the risk is much approved”.

Although known to be shy and social inept Adam Lanza had not shown any violent streak although he was known to spend hours in the basement of his home playing violent video games.

People across the US have observed a moment of silence one week after gunman Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Bells in Newtown tolled 26 times – for each victim of the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Adam Lanza, 20, carried out the attack at 09:30 EST after killing his mother. He later shot himself dead.

The moment of silence comes as the main US gun lobby group, the NRA, is set for a news conference on the shootings.

Funerals for those killed have taken place throughout the week, and continue in Newtown on Friday.

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy has asked people throughout the state to join the moment of silence, and churches in many other states have said they will join in ringing their bells 26 times.

The governor, with his deputies, marked the moment on the steps of Edmond Town Hall in Newtown.

Governor Dannel Malloy has called Friday a “day of mourning” and invited the governor of other states to participate in the acts of remembrance.

President Barack Obama said he would observe the tribute to the shooting victims privately.

Since the mass shooting, the Obama administration has indicated that it will look for ways to tighten gun laws in the wake of the attack.

People across the US have observed a moment of silence one week after gunman Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

People across the US have observed a moment of silence one week after gunman Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Vice-President Joe Biden has been assigned to lead the response to the Sandy Hook massacre, and Barack Obama has demanded a set of “concrete proposals” within a month.

Speaker of the House John Boehner has said the Republican-controlled chamber would consider new proposals.

In Washington on Friday, influential National Rifle Association (NRA) is due to hold a news conference on Friday morning after remaining largely silent in the aftermath of the shooting.

Representatives of the group will speak at 10:45 EST.

On Tuesday, the group issued a statement saying: “Out of respect for the families, and as a matter of common decency, we have given time for mourning, prayer and a full investigation of the facts before commenting.”

But the group said it would offer “meaningful contributions” to make sure such tragedies do not happen again.

The guns used in the shooting had been legally bought by the gunman’s mother, Nancy Lanza.

The incident has seen some pro-gun congressmen say the mass shooting has prompted them to change their views on whether guns should be regulated more strictly in the US.

Meanwhile California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who has been an advocate for tighter gun laws, said she would introduce new legislation when Congress meets for the first time in the new year.

But there is no bipartisan consensus on the issue, with some arguing that teachers in schools should be armed in order to better defend students if a shooting occurs.

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Police are still searching for the motive of Adam Lanza’s killing spree, but one working theory is that he was angry that his mother was planning to commit him to a psychiatric facility because he was becoming too difficult for her to handle alone.

Given his decision to kill his mother Nancy Lanza while she lay sleeping in her bed at their Connecticut home and then drive to his former elementary school to purposefully kill innocent children, there had to be a strong connection in his mind between his anger and the school.

Nancy Lanza, 52, was thought to volunteer at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and so the theory extends to the fact that Adam felt he loved those children more than she loved him, since she was planning to send him away.

Fox News quotes a neighborhood figure, whose father works as the pastor of an area church, as saying that the 20-year-old shooter found out that his mother was in the legal process of having him committed and was upset.

That news, coupled with his jealousy of the time she allegedly spent with a group of kindergarteners at Sandy Hook, is thought to have served as the basis of the killing.

A number of factors are still unconfirmed in the theory, and it appears that they may remain as such for some time.

Records of conservatorship filings, which Nancy Lanza would have needed to make in order to commit her son since he is over 18-years-old, are sealed by the courts so if any such filings were made they will not be released publicly.

Sandy Hook gunman Adam Lanza feared his mother was planning to have him committed to psychiatric home and targeted the children that she loved more than him

Sandy Hook gunman Adam Lanza feared his mother was planning to have him committed to psychiatric home and targeted the children that she loved more than him

“Adam Lanza believed she cared more for the children than she did for him, and the reason he probably thought this (was the fact that) she was petitioning for conservatorship and wanted to have him committed,” Joshua Flashman told Fox News.

One of the biggest questions remaining ever since the shooting was reported on Friday was Nancy Lanza’s connection to the school which was clearly singled out as a target by Adam.

The majority of his shooting was limited to the reception, where he forced his way into the building and killed those standing in his way, and then to a single first grade classroom.

Those children are thought to be the ones that Nancy Lanza grew close with during the last academic year, when they were in kindergarten.

Initial reports immediately after the shooting claimed that Nancy Lanza was a full time or even substitute teacher at the elementary school, though as the chaos of the day slowed, school officials said that she was not on any records of having worked there in any formal capacity.

That option leaves the possibility open that she volunteered her time with the young children.

That was echoed by Lillian Bittman, a former school board member who told the Wall Street Journal: “No one has heard of her. Teachers don’t know her.”

Though the court records will never back up the claim that Nancy Lanza was trying to have her son committed, her actions do lend credence to the idea because she had spent much time over the course of this year traveling to different schools to find a suitable place to send Adam.

Former babysitters of Adam Lanza’s said that she warned that she could never turn her back on the young boy, meaning that when she went to visit prospective schools, Adam was either with her or very aware of the fact that she had gone shopping for his next home.

In a Facebook conversation between Nancy Lanza and her former sister-in-law Marsha, Nancy revealed that she had wanted to downsize from her $1.4 million home in Newtown.

“I am still in the same place but getting to the point where I may want a smaller house. I travel a lot, spend time with friends, work with a couple of charities,” she wrote in one of the messages.

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Nancy Lanza, mother of Newtown school massacre gunman Adam Lanza, was a survivalist who was stockpiling food because she thought the world economy was on the verge of collapse.

Nancy Lanza, 52, began hoarding food and water because she feared that the ongoing financial crisis was going to bring about the end of civilized society.

She reportedly became “obsessed” with guns and taught Adam how to shoot, but on Friday in a grim twist he blasted her to death while she laid in her own bed.

Law enforcement sources told the Hartford Courant that Nancy Lanza had not gotten up – and could have even been asleep – when her son killed her.

The disclosure raises the prospect that Adam Lanza could have had the same apocalyptic views as his mother, and that she could have even encouraged them in him.

The Mayan Apocalypse, which the ancient Mayan people thought would mark the end of the world, will supposedly take place on December 21, although it is not clear if Adam Lanza thought that was the case.

In an interview the killer’s aunt said Nancy Lanza was “self-reliant” and indicated she was a “prepper”, or a person who prepares for Doomsday by learning essential survival skills – like how to shoot a gun.

Set on the brow of a gently sloping hill, surrounded by two acres of woodland and well-tended lawns, Nancy Lanza’s spacious property looked like any American family’s dream home.

A wide veranda had views across the gardens. A swimming pool, flanked by a white pool house, was round the back of the two-storey building.

Yet behind the front door in the affluent Connecticut community of Newtown, all was not well at 36 Yogananda Street.

Three years previously, in 2009, Nancy and Peter Lanza had divorced after 28 years of marriage. The break up was traumatic, leaving the couple’s sons devastated. Ryan Lanza was living away at university, meaning that his brother Adam, four years younger, was left at home alone with their mother at their $500,000 house.

He was not well known to neighbors, who describe him as being reclusive and troubled.

And when the news broke on Friday of the murder of 26 people at a primary school in the town, and Ryan Lanza was hastily identified as the killer, people who knew the family knew they had named the wrong brother.

“Adam Lanza has been a weird kid since we were five years old,” said Tim Dalton, a neighbor and former classmate, on Twitter.

“As horrible as this was, I can’t say I am surprised.”

“This was a deeply disturbed kid,” a family insider said.

“He certainly had major issues. He was subject to outbursts from what I recall.”

A further family friend said he had acted as though he was immune to pain.

“A few years ago when he was on the baseball team, everyone had to be careful that he didn’t fall because he could get hurt and not feel it,” said the friend.

“Adam had a lot of mental problems.”

Nancy Lanza was obsessed with guns and preparing for the collapse of the world economy

Nancy Lanza was obsessed with guns and preparing for the collapse of the world economy

Adam Lanza’s brother Ryan reportedly told police that his sibling had autism or Asperger’s syndrome, and a personality disorder.

He gave no details, but anti-social disorder – also known as sociopathy – is the type most closely linked with violence and criminal behavior.

Studies have suggested that 50% of the prison population meet the criteria for the diagnosis.

Those with such disorders are more likely to embark on impulsive, risk-seeking behavior, in an attempt to escape feeling empty or emotionally void.

In such cases, they are likely to have little regard for the consequences of their actions, and are unlikely to experience fear.

Ryan Lanza also said that he had not seen him since 2010.

As the news was breaking, Ryan Lanza was at work in accountancy firm Ernst and Young, sitting at his desk in Times Square.

To his horror, the 24-year-old found that his name was flashing up on the television news networks, wrongly accused of the massacre. He fled the office, jumping on a bus to return home to the house he shared in New Jersey. Shaken, he told his neighbor in an online message that he thought his mother was dead and he knew who was responsible for the multiple murder.

“It was my brother,” he said.

Those on the autistic spectrum have a more limited emotional range and can miss social cues, making it more difficult for them to communicate and feel empathy with others. Difficulties communicating can cause frustration, which can spill over into aggression.

Several studies have found that violence and criminal behavior are no more common in those diagnosed with autism than they are in the general population.

Asperger’s syndrome is a type of autism which is more commonly diagnosed in those with higher than average intelligence.

Adam Lanza was said by classmates to be fiercely intelligent.

He’d correct people’s Latin homework, when they were aged around 14, and at 16 was among the list of top students in his English class, studying Of Mice and Men and Catcher In The Rye – the classic tale of troubled youth.

“It was almost painful to have a conversation with him, because he felt so uncomfortable,” said Olivia DeVivo, who sat behind him in English.

“I spent so much time in my English class wondering what he was thinking.”

“He didn’t have any friends, but he was a nice kid if you got to know him,” said Kyle Kromberg, now studying business administration at Endicott College in Massachusetts. He studied Latin with Adam Lanza.

“He didn’t fit in with the other kids,” he said.

“He was very, very shy. He wouldn’t look you in the eyes when he talked. He didn’t really want to lock eyes with you for very long.”

He was also a technical whizz kid, keen on computers and video games, and part of a group who would meet up for computer programming get-togethers.

“My brother has always been a nerd,” Ryan Lanza said, according to Gloria Milas, whose son was a club member along with Adam Lanza.

Catherine Urso, who was attending a vigil on Friday evening in Newtown, said her college-age son knew the killer and remembered him for his alternative style.

“He just said he was very thin, very remote and was one of the goths,” she said.

The siblings certainly carved out different paths in life.

Ryan Lanza went to university; followed his father into finance; was living with friends in an attractive red-brick property in New Jersey. By contrast, Adam Lanza had few friends and, as a child, went to great trouble not to mix with his fellow students at his state school. A Newtown resident also suggested he was home-schooled for some time.

“I always saw him walking alone, sitting on his own at a table or on the bus. Most of the time I saw him he was alone,” said Alex Israel, who was at school with him as a young girl.

“He was really quiet. A little fidgety, uneasy. I think socially he was just going out (into the world) and not making friends with everyone.”

Her mother Beth Israel, who lived nearby, said: “I know he had issues. He was a really troubled kid … a very quiet kid, a shy kid, maybe socially awkward.”

He was not on Facebook, unusually for any Westerner of his generation, and did not appear in his 2010 High School Yearbook. Instead were written the words: “Camera shy”.

Forty miles away from Newtown, in the well-heeled Connecticut city of Stamford, Lanza’s father Peter was returning home on Friday afternoon. A highly-qualified academic who a year ago was appointed vice president of taxes for energy investment firm GE Energy Financial Services, Peter Lanza wound down the window on his blue Mini Cooper and asked the person outside his home how he could help her.

“I explained that I’d been told someone at his address had been linked to the shootings in Newtown,” said Maggie Gordon, a reporter from the local newspaper.

“His expression twisted from patient, to surprise, to horror.”

Peter Lanza had moved out in 2009, remarrying a University of Connecticut librarian in January 2011. He was said to have last seen his son Adam in June. But the painfully shy young man had taken the divorce badly.

“The kids seemed really depressed” by the break-up, said Ryan Kraft, 25, who stayed with Adam when Nancy Lanza went out.

“He would have tantrums,” Ryan Kraft said.

“They were much more than the average kid [had].”

Peter Lanza’s lawyer Gary Oberst said: “He was very upset that he was getting divorced, but he didn’t want to take it out on anybody.

“He did more than he had to with the divorce. When he came in to consult with me, I said ‘This is what your obligation is.’ And he said: <<That’s not enough. I want to do more>>.”

Peter Lanza agreed to pay $240,000 annually to his ex-wife, and Nancy Lanza appeared to live in comfort with Adam. There was also suggestions that she was unable to work.

“She needed to be home with Adam,” one family insider said.

Marsha Lanza, aunt to the boys, described Nancy Lanza as a good mother and kind-hearted.

Nancy Lanza would host games of dice, or else venture out to visit her neighbors for a glass of wine. The home was immaculate; the swimming pool behind the house well maintained.

But Nancy Lanza was also, according to friends, an avid gun collector.

Dan Holmes, owner of a Connecticut landscaping firm, said Nancy Lanza once showed him a “high-end rifle” that she had purchased, adding: “She said she would often go target shooting with her kids.”

The gun used to shoot Nancy Lanza was her own.

Yet, perhaps predictably, the owner of the local rifle range was defiant.

Richard Dravis, who gives shooting training at Wooster Mountain rifle range, 15 miles away from the school, said: “We don’t train crazy people. I think that if we would address the mental health issue here we could possibly do something in the future. But we can’t count the number of rounds in the magazine of a nut head.”

His grandmother was too distraught to speak when reached by phone at her home in Florida, Associated Press reported.

“I just don’t know, and I can’t make a comment right now,” Dorothy Hanson, 78, said in a shaky voice as she started to cry.

All 20 children, 12 boys and 8 girls, who died in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, were aged between six and seven, according to an official list of the dead.

The state’s chief medical examiner said the gunman used a rifle as his main weapon, and all the victims appeared to have been shot several times.

The gunman, named in media reports as Adam Lanza, killed his mother Nancy before driving to the school and opening fire.

Six adults, all women, were also killed before the gunman shot himself dead.

The head teacher at Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Dawn Hochsprung, is listed among the dead, along with adults Rachel DaVino, Anne Marie Murphy, Lauren Russo, Mary Sherlach and Victoria Soto.

The youngest child to be killed was Noah Pozner, who celebrated his sixth birthday only last month.

Most of the children who died on Friday were girls and nearly all were aged six.

Earlier on Saturday, Lt Paul Vance of Connecticut state police said the gunman had forced his way into the school, and had not been let in “voluntarily”.

He said investigators had gathered “good evidence” in the search for a motive.

President Barack Obama is to visit Newtown on Sunday to meet families and speak at a vigil.

After the attack, he urged “meaningful action” against gun crime in the US.

“As a country we have been through this too many times,” he said in an emotional White House address.

The gunman killed his mother at the home they shared before driving to the school in her car and opening fire. Reports say the guns used in the attacks were registered to her.

There are conflicting reports about whether she had worked at the school in the past.

Connecticut Chief Medical Examiner H Wayne Carver said the gunman shot all the victims at the school were shot with a rifle, at least some of them from close range.

Initial reports suggested that the killer had used two handguns which he also had with him.

The suspected gunman’s father, Peter Lanza, said his family was “struggling to make sense of what has transpired”.

“Our family is grieving along with all those who have been affected by this enormous tragedy,” he said in a statement.

Newtown residents have been holding candlelit vigils for Sandy Hook shooting victims

Newtown residents have been holding candlelit vigils for Sandy Hook shooting victims

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy made a television address saying the children were “taken from their families far too soon”.

“What’s important right now is love, courage and compassion,” he said.

Friday’s killings took place in two rooms within a single section of the school, police have said. The shooting lasted just a few minutes.

As they heard the shots, teachers in other parts of the building tried to protect children by locking doors and ushering them into closets.

“I told them we had to be absolutely quiet, because I was just so afraid if he did come in, then he would hear us and just start shooting the door,” said teacher Kaitlin Roig.

“I said to them, <<I need you to know that I love you all very much and that it’s going to be okay>>, because I thought that was the last thing they were ever going to hear.”

Library clerk Maryann Jacob described telling 18 children to crawl into a storage room, before barricading the door with a filing cabinet.

“We set them up with paper and crayons,” she said.

All 20 children, 12 boys and 8 girls, who died in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, were aged between six and seven

All 20 children, 12 boys and 8 girls, who died in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, were aged between six and seven

Dr. Jeannie Pasacreta, a nurse practitioner and psychologist who has been advising parents on how to talk to their children, says neighbors have been cancelling Christmas parties and taking down decorations.

Early reports named 24-year-old Ryan Lanza, of Hoboken, New Jersey, as the gunman, but unnamed officials later said his brother Adam was the suspect.

Ryan Lanza was questioned by police, US media reported, but has not been named as a suspect.

In a separate development, police in Oklahoma have arrested a teenager for allegedly plotting to shoot and bomb students at his school in Bartlesville. Sammie Eaglebear Chavez, 18, is said to have tried to convince other students to help him carry out an attack.

The attack at Newtown is the second deadliest shooting attack at a US school or university.

In 2007, a student at Virginia Tech university killed 32 people and injured many more.

Sandy Hook school shooting victims:

  • Charlotte Bacon, 6
  • Daniel Barden, 7
  • Rachel Davino, 29
  • Olivia Engel, 6
  • Josephine Gay, 7
  • Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
  • Dawn Hochsprung, 47
  • Dylan Hockley, 6
  • Madeleine Hsu, 6
  • Catherine Hubbard, 6
  • Chase Kowalski, 7
  • Jesse Lewis, 6
  • James Mattioli, 6
  • Grace McDonnell, 7
  • Anne Marie Murphy, 52
  • Emilie Parker, 6
  • Jack Pinto, 6
  • Noah Pozner, 6
  • Caroline Previdi, 6
  • Jessica Rekos, 6
  • Avielle Richman, 6
  • Lauren Russo, 30
  • Mary Sherlach, 56
  • Victoria Soto,27
  • Benjamin Wheeler, 6
  • Allison Wyatt, 6

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Reports have emerged that Adam Lanza had visited Sandy Hook Elementary the day before Friday’s massacre during which he was involved in an altercation with four teachers – three of whom are now dead.

The fourth teacher – and only survivor of the altercation – wasn’t at school on Friday and is currently being interviewed by investigators. It hasn’t been revealed what the argument was over or if it was reported to authorities.

The staff member’s testimony might be an “important piece of information” for discerning motive in this case, reports NBC.

While initial reports had suggested school principal Dawn Hochsprung buzzed Adam Lanza into the building – bypassing the newly-installed security system – police have confirmed that the shooter forced his way in.

Adam Lanza opened fire on Friday morning at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which teaches children aged 5 to 10. He murdered 26 people at the school before turning the gun on himself, as well as killing one other person – his mother – at another nearby site.

Investigators said they have found “some very good evidence” to explain what drove gunman Adam Lanza, 20, to slaughter 20 children, including Ana Marquez-Greene and Jesse Lewis, and six adults at the Connecticut elementary school.

Adam Lanza had visited Sandy Hook Elementary the day before Friday's massacre during which he was involved in an altercation with four teachers

Adam Lanza had visited Sandy Hook Elementary the day before Friday’s massacre during which he was involved in an altercation with four teachers

“Our investigators at the crime scene … did produce some very good evidence in this investigation that our investigators will be able to use in, hopefully, painting the complete picture as to how – and more importantly why – this occurred,” Connecticut State Police Lieutenant Paul Vance told a news conference Saturday morning.

“We’re hopeful it will paint a complete picture,” he said.

All the bodies were removed from the school overnight and a medical examiner is expected to release the names of the victims on Saturday.

Police have assigned a trooper to support each victim’s family in the days ahead. Paul Vance asked reporters to respect the families’ grief and privacy.

“This is an extremely heartbreaking thing for them to endure,” said Paul Vance.

It is expected that investigators will take another two days to process the school crime scene where it is believed Adam Lanza fired as many as 100 rounds from his guns.

“It’s going to be a slow, painstaking process,” said Paul Vance.

The adult woman found at the secondary crime scene is believed to be the shooter’s mother, Nancy Lanza.

Nancy Lanza legally owned a Sig Sauer and a Glock, both handguns of models commonly used by police, and a military-style Bushmaster .223 M4 carbine, according to law enforcement officials who also believe Adam Lanza used at least some of those weapons.

Nancy Lanza was an avid gun collector who once showed him a “really nice, high-end rifle” that she had purchased, said Dan Holmes, owner of a landscaping business who recently decorated her yard with Christmas garlands and lights.

“She said she would often go target shooting with her kids.”

Grief-stricken members of the community tied white balloons to the sign for Sandy Hook school today in honor of all those who lost their lives.

Outside Saint Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown, Connecticut, mourners left teddy bears, flowers and lit candles for victims.

Newtown was ranked the fifth safest city in America by the website NeighborhoodScout.com based on 2011 crime statistics.

“This wonderful town that we all love for its peace, beauty, the great schools – all of that – has become Columbine,” said Julie Maxwell Shull, a sixth-grade teacher at Reed Intermediate School, referring to the high school that was site of a 1999 shooting in Colorado.

Many people who live in the wealthy, wooded town commute to New York City, about 80 miles away.

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Adam Lanza, a troubled 20-year-old loner with a history of autistic behavior, is the monster behind a horrific shooting at a Connecticut elementary school that left 26 people, including 20 children, dead on Friday.

Adam Lanza shot his mother Nancy, a kindergarten teacher, at the upscale suburban home they shared together and then took three of her guns and drove the Sandy Hook Elementary School about 9:30 a.m.

He used two semi-automatic pistols, a Glock and Sig Sauer, and reportedly wiped out an entire classroom of young children and shot several in a second class before taking his own life.

Witnesses say Adam Lanza was going from room-to-room shooting people after first killing the principal Dawn Hochsprung and psychologist execution-style after they confronted him in the hallway.

Parents who have not been united with their children are assuming the worst. One witness told WCBS: “Police just told us everyone presumed missing is in the school and they are dead.”

Students described being ushered from their classrooms hand-in-hand, with their eyes closed, to the safety of a nearby fire station as police converged on the school.

Adam Lanza’s brother Ryan, 24, who was originally thought to have been the shooter, is being questioned by police after he was arrested at his home in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Ryan Lanza was on a bus on his way home from work when he was being named as the gunman and posted on Facebook that it wasn’t him.

He told a friend he believed his mentally disabled brother did it. Adam Lanza is believed to be autistic.

Another relative told ABC Adam Lanza had been “obviously not well” and Beth Israel, tonight tweeted that her daughter went to school with him and he was “troubled for a long time”.

Alex Israel spoke to CNN about how she went to school with Adam Lanza and she described him as fidgety, and a quiet loner who kept to himself.

Adam Lanza is the monster behind a horrific shooting at a Connecticut elementary school that left 26 people dead on Friday

Adam Lanza is the monster behind a horrific shooting at a Connecticut elementary school that left 26 people dead on Friday

She also said he was a highly intelligent student, “above the rest of us”.

But she said he was never violent.

She tweeted earlier in the day that he was “crazy”.

The gunman’s father Peter Lanza, who is divorced from his wife, lives in Stamford, Connecticut, and declined to comment this evening after police performed a welfare check on him.

Neighbors said he recently remarried.

Peter Lanza learned of the tragic and senseless massacre by reporters who had flocked to his home.

He arrived shortly after police left and asked what the problem was.

The Stamford Connecticut said his expression shifted from patient to surprise to horror.

Newtown was once named one of the safest places to live in America and before this morning, there had been one murder in a decade.

The President addressed a stunned nation five hours after the shooting and openly wept as he spoke of the mindless shooting saying: “Our hearts are broken today.”

Seldom has a head of state expressed greater public emotion in modern times.

Barack Obama struggled for words, pausing several times as he wiped away tears saying: “This evening, Michelle and I will…hug our children a little tighter, and we’ll tell them that we love them.”

Adam Lanza is believed to have shot himself at the scene, according to the New York Times.

He was carrying three weapons including two handguns and a rifle and was wearing a bullet-proof vest, a mask and black military gear.

Three guns were found at the scene – a Glock and a Sig Sauer, both pistols – and a .223-caliber rifle.

The rifle was recovered from the back of a car at the school. The two pistols were recovered from inside the school. They were legally registered to Nancy Lanza.

A number of children were found hiding in closets in the school five hours after the shooting.

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Maryrose Kristopik, a music teacher Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, managed to save 15 children during Friday’s shooting massacre by barricading them into a closet, while gunman Adam Lanza stood outside screaming “Let me in! Let me in!”.

Maryrose Kristopik has been hailed a “hero” by parents after herding the children to safety in a closet and barricading the door to prevent Adam Lanza, 20, from entering.

An unnamed mother, in her 40s, whose 9-year-old son was among the children said: “I want to thank her. She saved their lives.

“The shooter kept banging on the door screaming: <<Let me in! Let me in!>> but he didn’t get in.

“Now I have to explain to my nine-year-old son that his friends won’t be coming back. How am I supposed to do that?”

Brenda Lebinski said her 8-year-old daughter is safe thanks to the teacher’s decision to move all kids into a closet when a gunman had entered the building.

“My daughter’s teacher is my hero,” Brenda Lebinski said.

“She locked all the kids in a closet and that saved their lives.”

Alberta Bajraliu, 41, got a call from a friend who heard a gunshot at the school and told her to check it out.

Alberta Bajraliu’s 9-year-old daughter Venesa was at the school but her two other children are not.

She said: “I was one of the first there and they were bringing children out, carrying them out. One girl came out and her face was covered in blood and she had bits of meat from other people in her hair. It was terrible.

“Another girl just looked shocked. They brought one girl out and I thought it was my daughter. They asked me: <<Does she have black trousers?>> and I said no as Venesa had jeans.

“When I saw her I just felt so relieved. She has not spoken much about what happened. She said she was in an art class and the teacher closed the door and they were waiting until they could get out.”

Music teacher Maryrose Kristopik managed to save 15 children during Connecticut massacre by barricading them into a closet

Music teacher Maryrose Kristopik managed to save 15 children during Connecticut massacre by barricading them into a closet

Alberta Bajraliu also paid tribute to the school’s principal Dawn Hochsprung who is believed to have been killed. She said: “She would have done anything for her children.”

Josh Milas, 21, a former pupil at the school, also paid tribute to her and said: “She loved those kids. She was a great person.”

Another hero teacher was Kaitlin Roig, who barricaded her first grade students in classroom bathroom and locked the door when she first heard gunshots.

“The kids were being so good. They asked <<Can we go see if anyone is out there?>> <<…I just want Christmas…>> <<I don’t want to die, I just want to have Christmas>>. I said, <<You’re going to have Christmas and Hanukkah… I tried to be positive>>.”

Adam Lanza opened fire inside the Connecticut elementary school where his mother worked Friday, killing 26 people, including 18 children, and forcing students to cower in classrooms and then flee with the help of teachers and police.

The massacre is the nation’s second-deadliest school shooting, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, which left 32 people and the gunman dead.

Parents flooded to Sandy Hook Elementary School, about 60 miles northeast of New York City, looking for their children in the wake of the shooting. Students were told to close their eyes by police as they were led from the building.

A photo taken by The Newtown Bee newspaper showed a group of young students – some crying, others looking visibly frightened – being escorted by adults through a parking lot in a line, hands on each other’s shoulders.

Students and staff were among the victims, state police Lt. Paul Vance said a brief news conference. He also said the gunman was dead inside the school, but he refused to say how many people were killed.

A law enforcement official briefed on the shooting said the gunman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and that one of the victims was the man’s mother, a teacher. The official wasn’t authorized to speak about the investigation.

The attacker was a 20-year-old man armed with a .223-caliber rifle.

Robert Licata said his 6-year-old son was in class when the gunman burst in and shot the teacher.

“That’s when my son grabbed a bunch of his friends and ran out the door,” he said.

“He was very brave. He waited for his friends.”

He said the shooter didn’t say a word.

Stephen Delgiadice said his eight-year-old daughter heard two big bangs and teachers told her to get in a corner. His daughter was fine.

“It’s alarming, especially in Newtown, Connecticut, which we always thought was the safest place in America,” he said.

Danbury Hospital was the only hospital to take in victims from the shootings, admitting three patients. Doctors said at a news conference they cleared four trauma rooms to treat shooting victims.

Mergim Bajraliu, 17, heard the gunshots echo from his home and raced to check on his 9-year-old sister at the school. He said his sister, who was fine, heard a scream come over the intercom at one point. He said teachers were shaking and crying as they came out of the building.

“Everyone was just traumatized,” he said.

Richard Wilford’s 7-year-old son, Richie, is in the second grade at the school. His son told him that he heard a noise that “sounded like what he described as cans falling”.

The boy told him a teacher went out to check on the noise, came back in, locked the door and had the kids huddle up in the corner until police arrived.

“There’s no words,” Richard Wilford said.

“It’s sheer terror, a sense of imminent danger, to get to your child and be there to protect him.”

Melissa Makris, 43, said her 10-year-old son, Philip, was in the school gym.

“He said he heard a lot of loud noises and then screaming. Then the gym teachers immediately gathered the children in a corner and kept them safe in a corner,” Melissa Makris said.

The fourth-grader told his mother that the students stayed huddled until police came in the gym. He also told her that he saw what looked like a body under a blanket as he fled the school.

“He said the policeman came in and helped them get out of the building and told them to run,” Melissa Makris said.

“And they ran to the firehouse.”

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2

Ryan Lanza, the brother of the Connecticut massacre gunman Adam Lanza, defended himself in a series of bizarre Facebook posts after he was mistakenly named as the killer when his ID was reportedly found at the scene.

Ryan Lanza, 24, seemed unaware that his younger brother, Adam Lanza, had gunned down 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown before taking his own life.

“Everyone shut the f*** up it wasn’t me,” Ryan Lanza insisted on his Facebook page on Friday.

“I’m on the bus home now it wasn’t me. IT WASN’T ME I WAS AT WORK IT WASN’T ME.”

The Associated Press said the mix-up came after an official mistakenly transposed the brothers’ first names, while a New Jersey reporter said Ryan Lanza told him the killer may have had his ID.

He is now being questioned by police in Hoboken, New Jersey, but police said he is not a suspect.

Adam Lanza, 20, was dressed in black military gear and a bullet proof vest when he opened fire in the principal’s office and then moving to a kindergarten classroom where his mother, Nancy, taught.

Sources told the New York Post that Adam Lanza had “had a dispute with” his mother, who was found dead at her home. He then drove to the school in her car and gunned down her kindergarten class, Fox reported.

Adam Lanza died of a self-inflicted gun wound at the scene. The Newtown Patch reported that he may have been developmentally disabled.

After Adam Lanza unleashed terror on the elementary school – the second biggest in U.S. history – the body of his father was reportedly found at their home in Newton at 2:00 p.m.

The Associated Press reported that Adam Lanza’s girlfriend and another friend are missing in New Jersey.

Ryan Lanza, the brother of the Connecticut massacre gunman Adam Lanza, defended himself in a series of bizarre Facebook posts after he was mistakenly named as the killer

Ryan Lanza, the brother of the Connecticut massacre gunman Adam Lanza, defended himself in a series of bizarre Facebook posts after he was mistakenly named as the killer

Police surrounded a Hoboken apartment, believed to be the home of Ryan Lanza, on Grand Street on Friday afternoon.

According to sources, he drove to the scene of the shootings in his mother’s car and opened fire at 9:41 a.m. on Friday.

Three guns were found at the scene – a Glock and a Sig Sauer, both pistols – and a .223-caliber rifle. The rifle was recovered from the back of a car at the school. The two pistols were recovered from inside the school.

The identities of the other victims have not yet been released but include the school principal, Dawn Hochsprung, and psychologist. Two of the children died while on the way to hospital.

Robert Licata said his six-year-old son was in class when the gunman burst in and shot the teacher.

“That’s when my son grabbed a bunch of his friends and ran out the door,” he said.

“He was very brave. He waited for his friends.”

Stephen Delgiadice said his eight-year-old daughter heard two big bangs and teachers told her to get in a corner. His daughter was fine.

“It’s alarming, especially in Newtown, Connecticut, which we always thought was the safest place in America,” he said.

A dispatcher at the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps said a teacher had been shot in the foot and taken to Danbury Hospital.

Andrea Rynn, a spokeswoman at the hospital, said it had three patients from the school but she did not have information on the extent or nature of their injuries.

Mergim Bajraliu, 17, heard the gunshots echo from his home and raced to check on his 9-year-old sister at the school. He said his sister, who was fine, heard a scream come over the intercom at one point. He said teachers were shaking and crying as they came out of the building.

“Everyone was just traumatized,” he said.

The shooting is the latest in a series of high-profile gun crimes in American schools and colleges that is especially shocking given the age of the students involved.

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