September 2001 OJJDP Publication

New photos, details emerge of Newtown mass shooter Adam Lanza

Adam Lanza in 2008, when he was in the 10th grade at Newton High School. Adam joined the tech club in high school, but withdrew from school when he was 16. (Frontline)

Accused Newtown shooter Adam Lanza was spending more time alone in the months leading up to the mass shooting as his mother, Nancy Lanza, attempted to encourage him to be independent despite his mental disabilities, a Hartford Courant/Frontline investigation has found. In a new documentary called "Raising Adam Lanza," which airs Tuesday night on PBS, reporters from the Courant attempt to retrace the steps taken by Nancy and Adam in the years leading up to the shooting, complicating the picture that has occasionally appeared in the media of Nancy as a gun obsessed mother who was in denial about her son's mental challenges.

Adam is believed to have shot his mother four times in the head as she slept on Dec. 14 before shooting his way into Sandy Hook Elementary, where he attended school as a child, and killing 20 children and six women. He then took his own life.

Frontline and The Hartford Courant provided Yahoo News with several previously unpublished childhood and teenage photos of Adam Lanza they uncovered in their investigation.

The 20-year-old had been spending more time alone in his mother's $500,000 home in the affluent Connecticut suburb in the months leading up the shooting, Courant reporters Alaine Griffin and Josh Kovner found in their investigation. Adam's social world gradually began shrinking after he left Newtown High School at the age of 16 to enroll in a nearby college, where he made As and Bs before withdrawing there, as well. Since 2010, Adam had not attended school.

Between 2010 and 2012, Nancy took Adam to nearby gun ranges to practice shooting. Nancy purchased four firearms, including the Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle Adam is believed to have used in the attack, during the same period. Her friends say Nancy used target practice as a way to bond with her withdrawn son. Police also uncovered thousands of dollars worth of violent video games in the Lanzas' home. Police believe Adam may have been inspired by the video games he played in the attack, since he changed the magazines of his weapons more frequently than was necessary, Frontline reported. Late Sunday, the Courant also reported that Adam may have felt that he was in direct competition with Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, based on news articles about Breivik's 2011 crime they found in the Lanzas' home.

In the months before the attack, Nancy took frequent trips and left Adam at home unsupervised--including on one trip this past Thanksgiving--in an attempt to make him more independent.

Her friends say Nancy is the forgotten 27th victim that day.

"She's been described as some sort of gun nut or survivalist and this other misconception that she was a bad mother," her friend John Bergquist told Frontline. But he said her life "revolved around caring for Adam."

Adam was diagnosed at a young age with sensory integration disorder, a medically controversial diagnosis that meant Adam had trouble coping with bright lights, loud noises, and knowing when he was in pain. Later, when he was in middle school, Adam was also diagnosed with Asperger's, a condition related to autism that can make social interaction challenging. (Medical experts cautioned that autism disorders are not associated with violent behavior.)

A friend of Nancy’s remembered that when Adam was just six years old, he did not like to be touched. If children his age touched them, he recoiled or became upset. "He was angry with them," Marvin LaFontaine, Nancy's friend, told Frontline. Richard Novia, who co-founded the tech club Adam joined while he attended Newtown High School, told Frontline Adam would have "episodes" as a teen where he would completely withdraw from the world, sometimes sitting in a corner, motionless.

Nancy raised Adam and his older brother in their Newtown home on her own after she and her husband separated in 2001. In 2009, the couple officially divorced, and Adam abruptly cut off contact with his father in 2010 for reasons that are unclear.

Nancy's friends said she was planning on moving to either Washington or North Carolina to enroll Adam in college again, so that he could get a degree in history.

May 13, 2010

For victims of domestic violence, a cherished pet is sometimes the only source of gentle and unconditional love. Women and children who do escape violent situations are often forced to leave their companions behind because many shelters won't accept pets.

American Humane's Pets and Women's Shelters (PAWS^®) Program acknowledges that pets provide unconditional love and comfort to victims of domestic violence. For that reason -- as well as for the safety of the pets -- American Humane advocates to keep domestic violence victims and their pets together whenever possible.

If you think this is a good idea, take action to learn more and vote for American Humane's PAWS^® Program to win $250,000 from the Pepsi Refresh Project.

THE BEST AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM

In a world of growing violence and self-indulgence, more and more of our youth are becoming desensitized to the suffering of others. Save A Dog & Kids, Inc. gives our youth and their families an opportunity to give the care needed by helpless, innocent and loving creatures, and feel the joy and satisfaction of giving of themselves. The program teaches our youth responsibility, appreciation for living creations, and unconditional love. Our society throws away pets by the millions every year into shelters that are forced to euthanize the majority of them. By showing our younger generation that it is acceptable to walk away from the responsibility of a dependent life, and that it is acceptable as a nation to continue breeding, selling, buying, throwing away and killing these creatures, we are telling our youth there is no value to Living Things. The most dangerous consequence of these kinds of behaviors is that we are teaching our youth to have no regard for life. Research into America's abuse problem supports this in a frightening way. Our program can prevent this chain of abuse.

Save A Dog & Kids, Inc. has been able to find loving homes for over 650 discarded dogs since its establishment in July of 1999 as a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization with the help of volunteer foster families, volunteer trainers who worked for a discount, volunteers to help at adoptions, teens earning scouting badges, teens doing community service hours and teens who just love helping animals and wanted to participate in our Kids Program. We have not only saved wonderful pets that would have been euthanized senselessly, but we have given over 600 families who adopted these loving dogs, and all the hundreds of kids and volunteers who helped care for, train and place them, the gift of love and appreciation for helpless but valuable life. What better way to teach compassion to our children? Save A Dog & Kids Inc. has plans to expand our program into schools, kids' programs that need positive activities and other facilities for kids. There is much to be done if we are to slow down this wasteful killing of these beautiful creations of God, to teach our youth the value of life, and to slow down the growing acceptance of violence. Save A Dog & Kids Inc. has many plans for programs that will give our youth opportunities to want to save lives instead of senselessly taking them.

                   Save A Dog & Kids Inc. proposes to set up a Kids Ranch, a 20 year dream of founder Denise De Vynck: a natural place away from the hustle and bustle of the city where kids and animals can feel safe, loved and valued; a place where kids are given the opportunity to find a sense of self-worth where they can learn compassion for all of God's creatures. These are just a few of the descriptions of the Save A Dog and Kids Ranch. What better way to teach our kids the value of life, giving and hard work than by having them care for, gain the trust of, and save innocent animals. All of us have felt the wonderful feeling created by movies like Where the Red Fern Grows, Lassie, Born Free, The Black Stallion and so many more -- a feeling of love, deep happiness and caring for animals. Our young generations are losing this appreciation of the innocence, helplessness and suffering animals and children experience as well as the joy, satisfaction and beauty of life. They're not learning about the wonderful relationships that can develop between a human being and a loving "best friend."

                Our farming communities are disappearing, and our natural habitats are fighting for survival against human consumption and technology. As we lose the farming way of life, we also lose the old-fashioned values like a hard work ethic and appreciation for the the simple things that are most valuable: life, love, sacrifice, responsibility, honor, morality, and the miracle of God's creations.  We hope to give these values back to our young generation as well as remind our older generation of their existence. By working with animals that need special care, love and training, the kids will learn the value of hard work, patience and giving all they can for results that are more rewarding than anything else they could have done for themselves. No virtual reality man can create can compare to the experience, joy and satisfaction nature gives us unconditionally, free of charge and so wisely. Let's give this great gift to our children by giving them this beautiful, peaceful and loving place to go.

               Save A Dog & Kids wants to bring puppies and trainers to the schools, programs and facilities for kids as well as bring kids to our own ranch to work extensively with the animals that need them. We will need to house and care for the puppies at the ranch, transport them to the Veterinary Clinics, kids in public and private programs, events and adoption opportunities. The costs of buying the land, building the needed facilities for the animals, facilities for care givers and trainers, needed supplies and food, phones and other communication mediums, salaries for the care givers and trainers, transportation vehicle for the animals and for the kids, and other administrative costs could add up to $500,000 or more. We would like to expand our program for the first Phase to at least include the rental of a temporary facility for the housing of the animals, transportation of the animals to schools and kids' programs that kids cannot leave from, and funds to provide food, supplies, costs of running the first Phase of at least $100,000. We are in the process of making a request for a donation of $20,000 to start the first Phase of the program this Spring. Every little donation will make a difference and bring us closer to providing this enriching program to more kids.

CLICK HERE TO GET OUR LETTER TO DONORS and Request a Copy of Our Video!

ASPCA Special Investigator Annemarie Lucas, you see on Animal Planet's Animal Precinct New York, presented a special humane education program to sixth-grade students at Atlanta's Brown Middle School, and said: "At the ASPCA, we uphold a fundamental belief that kindness and empathy are key elements in a complete education."

"these problems with animal overpopulation will never go away unless they implement a strong, fact-based humane education program in the schools. This is all I do know. I have the national contract to provide PBS affiliates with humane education materials for the next three years and I speak to students and youth groups. If this is not soon implemented, then our great grandchildren will also be fighting this very same battle."

Randy N. Warner

President

21st Century Animal Resource and Education Services

Bringing Humane Education Into our nation's schools