The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in
Newtown, Connecticut, United States, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people. Twenty of the victims were children between six and seven years old, and the other six were adult staff members. Earlier that day, before driving to the school, Lanza shot and
killed his mother at their Newtown home. As
first responders
A first responder is a person with specialized training who is among the first to arrive and provide assistance or incident resolution at the scene of an emergency, such as an accident, disaster, medical emergency, structure fire, crime, or terr ...
arrived at the school, Lanza died by
suicide, shooting himself in the head.
The incident is the deadliest
mass shooting
There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 20 ...
at an
elementary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...
in U.S. history, and the
fourth-deadliest mass shooting overall. The shooting prompted renewed debate about
gun control in the United States
Gun politics within American politics is defined by two primary opposing ideologies about civilian gun ownership. Those who advocate for gun control support increased regulation of gun ownership; those who advocate for gun rights oppose incr ...
, including proposals to make the
background-check system universal, and for new
federal and state gun legislation banning the sale and manufacture of certain types of semi-automatic
firearms and
magazines
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...
which can hold more than ten rounds of ammunition.
A November 2013 report issued by the Connecticut State Attorney's office concluded that Lanza acted alone and planned his actions, but provided no indication why he did so, or why he targeted the school. A report issued by the Office of the Child Advocate in November 2014 said that Lanza had
Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of beha ...
and as a teenager had
depression,
anxiety
Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...
, and
obsessive-compulsive disorder, but concluded that they had "neither caused nor led to his murderous acts." The report went on to say, "his severe and deteriorating internalized mental health problems
..combined with an atypical preoccupation with violence
..(and) access to deadly weapons
..proved a recipe for mass murder."
[Report of the Office of the Child Advocate](_blank)
p.9, section 36
Background
As of November 30, 2012, 456 children were enrolled in
kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...
through
fourth grade
Fourth grade (also called grade four, equivalent to Year 5 in England and Wales, and Year 4 in Australia) is a year of Elementary education in some countries. In North America, the fourth grade is the fifth school year of elementary school. Stud ...
at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The school's security protocols had recently been upgraded, requiring visitors to be individually admitted after visual and identification review by video monitor. Doors to the school were locked at 9:30a.m. each day, after morning arrivals.
Newtown is in
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Fairfield County is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is the most populous county in the state and was also its fastest-growing from 2010 to 2020. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 957, ...
, about from New Haven, from Hartford, and from New York City.
Violent crime had been rare in the town of 28,000 residents; there was only one homicide in the town in the ten years before the school shooting.
Under
Connecticut law
The law of Connecticut is the system of law and legal precedent of the U.S. state of Connecticut. Sources of law include the Constitution of Connecticut and the Connecticut General Statutes.
Legal history Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
The ...
at the time,
[Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-3(18) (2011)](_blank)
(defining "'pistol' or 'revolver'" as "any firearm having a barrel less than twelve inches")
(banning any transfer of a pistol
A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, an ...
or revolver to a person under 21, except for temporary and supervised use at a target range) the 20-year-old Lanza was old enough to carry a long gun, such as a rifle or shotgun,
but too young to own or carry handguns.
The guns he used had been purchased legally by his mother.
Events
Murder of Nancy Lanza
Sometime before 9:30a.m.
EST on Friday, December 14, 2012, Lanza shot and killed his mother Nancy Lanza, aged 52, with a
.22-caliber Savage Mark II rifle at their Newtown home.
Investigators later found her body clad in pajamas, in her bed, with four gunshot wounds to her head.
Lanza then drove to
Sandy Hook Elementary School
Sandy may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Sandy (surname), a list of people
*Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983)
*(Sandy) A ...
in his mother's car.
Mass shooting begins
Shortly after 9:35a.m., armed with his mother's
Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle and ten magazines with 30 rounds each,
Lanza shot his way through a glass panel next to the locked front entrance doors of the school.
He was wearing black clothing, yellow earplugs, sunglasses,
and an
olive green
Olive is a dark yellowish-green color, like that of unripe or green olives.
As a color word in the English language, it appears in late Middle English. Shaded toward gray, it becomes olive drab.
Variations
Olivine
Olivine is the typica ...
utility vest.
Initial reports that he was wearing
body armor were incorrect.
Some of those present heard the initial shots on the school intercom system, which was being used for morning announcements.
Principal Dawn Hochsprung and school
psychologist Mary Sherlach were meeting with other faculty members when they heard, but did not recognize, gunshots. Hochsprung, Sherlach, and lead teacher Natalie Hammond went into the hall to determine the source of the sounds and encountered Lanza. A faculty member who was at the meeting said that the three women called out "Shooter! Stay put!" which alerted their colleagues to the danger and saved their lives.
An aide heard gunshots. A teacher hiding in the math lab heard school
janitor
A janitor (American English, Scottish English), also known as a custodian, porter, cleanser, cleaner or caretaker, is a person who cleans and maintains buildings. In some cases, they will also carry out maintenance and security duties. A simil ...
Rick Thorne yell, "Put the gun down!"
Lanza killed both Hochsprung and Sherlach.
Hammond was hit first in the leg, and then sustained another gunshot wound. She lay still in the hallway and then, not hearing any more noise, crawled back to the conference room and pressed her body against the door to keep it closed.
She was later treated at
Danbury Hospital
Danbury Hospital is a 456-bed hospital in Danbury, Connecticut serving patients in Fairfield County, Connecticut, as well as Westchester County and Putnam County, New York.
The hospital has 3,300 employees and is part of the Nuvance Health sys ...
.
A nine-year-old boy said he heard the shooter say "Put your hands up!" and someone else say "Don't shoot!" He also heard many people yelling and many gunshots over the intercom while he, his classmates, and his teacher took refuge in a closet in the gymnasium.
Diane Day, a school therapist who had been at the faculty meeting with Hochsprung, heard screaming followed by more gunshots. A second teacher, who was a substitute kindergarten teacher, was wounded in the attack. While she was closing a door further down the hallway, she was hit in the foot with a bullet that ricocheted. Lanza never entered her classroom.
After killing Hochsprung and Sherlach, Lanza entered the main office but apparently did not see the people hiding there, and returned to the hallway.
School nurse Sarah (Sally) Cox,
60, hid under a desk in her office. She later described seeing the door opening and Lanza's boots and legs facing her desk from approximately away. He remained standing for a few seconds before turning around and leaving. She and the school secretary Barbara Halstead called
9-1-1 and hid in a first-aid supply closet for as long as four hours.
Janitor Rick Thorne ran through hallways, alerting classrooms.
Classroom shootings
![Sandy Hook Elementary floorplan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_floorplan.svg)
Lanza entered Room 8, a first-grade classroom where Lauren Rousseau, a substitute teacher, had herded her first-grade students to the back of the room, and was trying to hide them in a bathroom, when Lanza forced his way into the classroom.
Rousseau, Rachel D'Avino (a behavioral therapist who had been employed for a week at the school to work with a special needs student), and fifteen students in Rousseau's class were killed. Fourteen of the children were dead at the scene; one injured child was taken to a hospital for treatment, but was later declared dead.
Most of the teachers and students were found crowded together in the bathroom.
A six-year-old girl, the sole survivor, was found by police in the classroom following the shooting.
She hid in a corner of the classroom's bathroom during the shooting.
Her family's pastor said she survived by playing dead. When she reached her mother, she said, "Mommy, I'm okay, but all my friends are dead." The child described the shooter as "a very angry man."
A girl hiding in a bathroom with two teachers told police that she heard a boy in the classroom screaming, "Help me! I don't want to be here!" to which Lanza responded, "Well, you're here," followed by "hammering" sounds.
Lanza also went to Room 10, another first-grade classroom nearby; at this point, there are conflicting reports about the order of events. According to some reports, the classroom's teacher,
Victoria Leigh Soto
Victoria Leigh Soto (November 4, 1985 – December 14, 2012) was an American teacher who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. After the gunman, Adam Lanza entered the school, she hid her students; when the students later ran ...
, had concealed some of the students in a closet or bathroom, and some of the other students were hiding under desks.
Soto was walking back to the classroom door to lock it when Lanza entered the classroom.
Lanza walked to the back of the classroom, saw the children under the desks, and shot them. First-grader Jesse Lewis shouted at his classmates to run for safety, and several of them did. Lewis was looking at Lanza when Lanza fatally shot him.
Another account, given by a surviving child's father, said that Soto had moved the children to the back of the classroom, and that they were seated on the floor when Lanza entered. According to this account, neither Lanza nor any of the occupants of the classroom spoke. Lanza stared at the people on the floor, pointed the gun at a boy seated there, but did not fire.
The boy ran out of the classroom.
The final report into the shooting concluded that the sequence of events in Rooms 8 and 10 was "indeterminate".
A ''
Hartford Courant
The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...
'' report said that six of the children who escaped did so when Lanza stopped shooting, either because his weapon jammed or he erred in reloading it.
Earlier reports said that, as Lanza entered her classroom, Soto told him that the children were in the auditorium. When several of the children came out of their hiding places and tried to run for safety, Lanza fatally shot them. Soto put herself between her students and the shooter, who then fatally shot her.
Anne Marie Murphy, the special education teacher who worked with special-needs students in Soto's classroom, was found covering six-year-old Dylan Hockley, who also died.
Soto and four children were found dead in the classroom. Soto was near the north wall of the room with a set of keys nearby.
One child was taken to the hospital, but was pronounced dead.
Six surviving children from the class and a school bus driver took refuge at a nearby home.
According to the official report released by the state's attorney, nine children ran from Soto's classroom, and police found two hiding in a class bathroom.
Five of Soto's students were killed.
Survivors' eyewitness accounts
First-grade teacher Kaitlin Roig, 29 years old, hid fourteen students in a bathroom and barricaded the door, telling them to be completely quiet to remain safe.
It is believed that Lanza bypassed her classroom, which was the first classroom on the left side of the hallway. Following a lockdown drill weeks earlier, Roig had failed to remove a piece of black construction paper covering the small window in her classroom door. Lanza may have assumed that Roig's classroom was empty because the door was closed and the window covered.
School library staff Yvonne Cech and Maryann Jacob tried to hide eighteen children in a part of the library the school used for lockdown in practice drills. When they discovered that one door would not lock, they had the children crawl into a storage room, where Cech barricaded the door with a filing cabinet.
Music teacher Maryrose Kristopik, 50, barricaded her fourth-graders in a tiny supply closet during the rampage.
Lanza arrived moments later, pounding on the door and yelling, "Let me in," while the students in Kristopik's class quietly hid inside.
Two third-grade students, chosen as classroom helpers, were walking down the hallway to the office to deliver the morning attendance sheet as the shooting began. Teacher Abbey Clements pulled both children into her classroom, where they hid.
Laura Feinstein, a reading specialist at the school, gathered two students from outside her classroom and hid with them under desks after they heard gunshots.
Feinstein called the school office and tried to call 911, but could not connect due to lack of reception on her cell phone. She hid with the children for approximately 40 minutes, at which point law enforcement came to lead them out of the room.
Shooter's suicide
The police heard the final shot at 9:40:03a.m. They believed that it was Lanza shooting himself in the lower rear portion of his head with the
Glock 20SF
Glock is a brand of polymer- framed, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military and police service by 1982 after it was t ...
in classroom 10.
Lanza's body was found wearing a pale green pocket vest over a black polo shirt, over a black T-shirt, black sneakers, black fingerless gloves, black socks, and a black canvas belt.
Other objects found in the vicinity of Lanza included a black
boonie hat
A boonie hat or booney hat is a type of wide-brim sun hat commonly used by military forces in hot tropical climates. Its design is similar to a bucket hat but with a stiffer brim.
The Australian giggle hat has a thinner brim. Often a fabric ta ...
and thin frame glasses. The Glock was found, apparently jammed, near Lanza, and the rifle was found several feet away from him.
A 9mm
SIG Sauer P226
Sig used as a name may refer to:
*Sig (given name)
*Sig, Algeria, a city on the banks of the Sig River
*Sig Alert, an alert for traffic congestion in California, named after Loyd Sigmon
*Sig River, a river of Algeria also known as Mekerra
sig (lo ...
, which was not fired during the incident, was found on Lanza's person.
Immediate aftermath
Authorities determined that Lanza reloaded frequently during the shootings, sometimes firing only 15 rounds from a 30-round magazine.
He shot all but two of his victims multiple times.
Most of the shooting took place in two first-grade classrooms near the entrance of the school.
The students among the victims totaled eight boys and twelve girls, all either six or seven years old,
and the six adults were all women who worked at the school. Bullets were also found in at least three cars parked outside the school, leading police to believe that he fired at a teacher who was standing near a window.
When police interviewed survivors, a teacher recalled hearing Lanza curse several times, as well as say such things as, "Look at me!" and "Come over here!" and "Look at them!"
Police response
The first call to 911 was around 9:35a.m. Newtown 911 police dispatch first broadcast that there was a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School (SHES) at 9:36a.m., about 30 seconds after they received the first call.
Connecticut State Police
The Connecticut State Police (CSP) is a division of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection responsible for traffic regulation and law enforcement across the state of Connecticut, especially in areas not served by ...
(CSP) were dispatched at 9:37a.m.
Newtown police arrived at the school street at 9:39a.m., approximately three-and-a-half minutes after the 911 call, and Connecticut State Police arrived at the school street at 9:46a.m. Newtown police first entered the school at 9:45a.m., approximately nine minutes after the first 911 call and approximately ten minutes after the shooting started. This was approximately five minutes after the last shot was heard.
No shots were fired by the police.
The Newtown police and Connecticut State Police mobilized local
police dog and
police tactical units
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and ...
, a
bomb squad
Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the milit ...
, and a state police helicopter.
Police locked down the school and began evacuating the survivors room by room, escorting groups of students and adults away from the school. They swept the school for other shooters at least four times.
At approximately 10:00a.m., Danbury Hospital sent extra medical personnel in expectation of having to treat numerous victims. Three wounded patients were evacuated to the hospital, where two children were later declared dead.
The other was an unidentified adult.
The
New York City medical examiner dispatched a portable morgue to assist the authorities.
The victims' bodies were removed from the school and formally identified during the night after the shooting.
A
state trooper was assigned to each victim's family to protect their privacy and provide them with information.
On December 4, 2013, seven 911 calls relating to the shooting were made public.
Investigation
On-site
Investigators did not find a suicide note or any messages referring to the planning of the attack.
Janet Robinson, superintendent of Newtown schools, said she had not found any connection between Lanza's mother and the school, in contrast to initial media reports that said Lanza's mother had worked there.
Police also investigated whether Lanza was the person who had been in an altercation with four staff members at Sandy Hook School the day before the massacre. It was presumed that he killed two of the four staff members involved in the altercation (the principal and the psychologist) and wounded the third (the lead teacher) in the attack; the fourth staff member was not at the school that day.
The state police said they did not know of any reports about any altercations at the school.
Police sources initially reported that Lanza's brother Ryan Lanza, then aged 24,
was the perpetrator.
This was probably because Adam was carrying Ryan's identification, Ryan told ''
The Jersey Journal
''The Jersey Journal'' is a daily newspaper, published from Monday through Saturday, covering news and events throughout Hudson County, New Jersey. ''The Journal'' is a sister paper to ''The Star-Ledger'' of Newark, ''The Times'' of Trenton an ...
''.
Ryan, who lived in
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...
, and was at his job in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
at the time of the shooting, voluntarily submitted to questioning by
New Jersey State Police, Connecticut State Police, and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
.
Police said he was not considered a suspect, and he was not taken into custody.
Ryan said he had not been in touch with Adam since 2010; when asked why, Ryan said his brother was "sick", "
oesn'ttalk to anyone", and that Ryan "didn't know him anymore".
Connecticut State Police indicated their concern about misinformation being posted on social media sites and threatened prosecution of anyone involved with such activities.
Ryan was also mistakenly reported to have mourned his mother and brother on social media and to have been interviewed by the ''
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
''.
A spokesperson for the Lanza family later said an impostor gave the interview.
A large quantity of unused ammunition was recovered inside the school along with three
semi-automatic firearms found with Lanza: a
.223-caliber Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle, a
10mm Glock 20SF handgun, and a 9mm SIG Sauer P226 handgun.
Outside the school, an
Izhmash
JSC Kalashnikov Concern (), known until 2013 as the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant (), is a Russian defense manufacturing concern and joint-stock company headquartered in the city of Izhevsk in the Republic of Udmurtia as well as the capital ci ...
Saiga-12
The Saiga-12 () is a shotgun available in a wide range of configurations, patterned after the Kalashnikov series of rifles and named after the Saiga antelope native to Russia. Like the Kalashnikov rifle variants, it is a rotating bolt, long- ...
shotgun
A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...
was found in the car Lanza had driven to the school, a black
Honda Civic
The is a series of automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1972. Since 2000, the Civic has been categorized as a compact car, while previously it occupied the subcompact class. , the Civic is positioned between the Honda Fit/City and Honda Acc ...
.
On March 28, 2013, court documents released from the investigation showed that the shooting had occurred in the space of fewer than five minutes with 156 shots fired. This comprised 154 shots from the rifle and two shots from the 10mm pistol. Lanza fired one shot from the Glock in the hallway and killed himself with another shot from the pistol to the head.
Off-site
Shortly after the shooting, police announced that Lanza used the rifle to kill the victims at the school.
At a press conference on December 15, Dr. H. Wayne Carver II, the Chief Medical Examiner of Connecticut, was asked about the wounds, and replied "All the ones that I know of at this point were caused by the long weapon."
When asked if the children suffered before dying, Carver replied by stating that "If so, not for very long".
Carver, whose office autopsied the victims and who personally performed seven, said the injuries were "devastating" and that parents identified their children from photographs to spare them the sight. All the child victims were first-graders, and all were killed with the Bushmaster XM15. Carver said the bullets used were "designed in such a fashion the energy is deposited in the tissue so the bullet stays in."
Investigators evaluated Lanza's body, looking for evidence of drugs or medication through
toxicology
Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating e ...
tests.
Unusually for an investigation of this type,
DNA testing
Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, o ...
of Lanza was utilized.
The results of the toxicology report were published in October 2013, and stated that no alcohol or drugs were found in his system.
Lanza's autopsy showed no tumors or gross deformities in his brain.
Lanza removed the
hard drive
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magne ...
from his computer and damaged it prior to the shooting, creating a challenge for investigators to
recover data.
At the time of publication of the final report, it had not been possible to recover data from it.
Police believe that Lanza extensively researched earlier mass shootings, they found that Lanza had downloaded videos relating to the
Columbine High School massacre, other shootings and two videos of suicide by gunshot.
Details of the investigation were reported by law enforcement officials at a meeting of the International Association of Police Chiefs and Colonels held during the week of March 11, 2013. An article published in the ''
New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
'' on March 17, 2013, provided purported details of this report by an anonymous law enforcement veteran who had attended the meeting.
The source stated that the investigation had found that Lanza had created a 7-by-4-foot sized spreadsheet listing around 500 mass murderers and the weapons they used, which was considered to have taken years of work and to have been used by Lanza as a "score sheet".
On March 18, 2013, Lt. Paul Vance of the Connecticut State Police responded that the information from this meeting was "law enforcement sensitive information" and considered the release to be a leak.
The March 28 documents also provided details on items found at Lanza's home, including three
samurai swords
were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the ''daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They had ...
, a newspaper article about the
Northern Illinois University shooting
The Northern Illinois University shooting was a school shooting that took place on Thursday, February 14, 2008, at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. Steven Kazmierczak opened fire with a shotgun and three pistols in a crowd of ...
, and a
National Rifle Association certificate.
The NRA denied that Adam Lanza or Nancy Lanza were members and reporters noted that the NRA site provides training certificate completion templates for courses offered by NRA Certified Instructors.
A
gun safe
A gun safe is a safe designed for storing one or more firearms and/or ammunitions. Gun safes are primarily used to prevent access by unauthorized or unqualified persons (such as children), for burglary protection and, in more capable safes, ...
was found in a bedroom and investigators found more than 1,400 rounds of ammunition and other firearms.
At home, Lanza had access to three more firearms: a
.45 Henry rifle, a
.30 Enfield rifle, and a
.22 Marlin rifle.
These were legally owned by Lanza's mother, who was described as a gun enthusiast.
According to ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', authorities also found a photograph of Lanza holding a gun to his head at his home following his death.
According to ''The New York Times'', law enforcement officials commented that Lanza would spend most of his time in his basement doing solitary activities. According to the same officials, it also appeared that Lanza "may have taken target practice in the basement".
Final reports
State Attorney's report
The final report of the State Attorney summarizing the investigation into the shooting was published on November 25, 2013. It concluded that Adam Lanza had acted alone, and that the case was closed. The report noted that "
anzahad a familiarity with and access to firearms and ammunition and an obsession with mass murders, in particular the April 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado." The report did not identify a specific motive for the shooting, stating, "The evidence clearly shows that the shooter planned his actions, including the taking of his own life, but there is no clear indication why he did so, or why he targeted Sandy Hook elementary school."
On the question of Lanza's state of mind, the report noted "significant mental health issues that affected his ability to live a normal life and to interact with others, even those to whom he should have been close ... What contribution this made to the shootings, if any, is unknown as those mental health professionals who saw him did not see anything that would have predicted his future behavior." The report found no evidence that Lanza had taken drugs or medication that would have affected his behavior, and observed, "'Why did the shooter murder twenty-seven people, including twenty children?' Unfortunately, that question may never be answered conclusively, despite the collection of extensive background information on the shooter through a multitude of interviews and other sources."
On December 27, 2013, police released thousands of pages of documents pertaining to the investigation. In accordance with law, the names of victims and witnesses were redacted or withheld. The summary report included information about items found on Lanza's computer equipment, including writings and material about previous mass shootings.
A former teacher of Lanza's noted that he exhibited antisocial behavior, rarely interacted with other students, and was obsessed with writing "about battles, destruction and war."
Report of the Office of the Child Advocate
The Report of the Office of the Child Advocate concluded: "There was not one thing that was necessarily the tipping point driving Lanza to commit the Sandy Hook shooting. Rather there was a cascade of events, many self-imposed, that included: loss of school; absence of work; disruption of the relationship with his one friend; virtually no personal contact with family; virtually total and increasing isolation; fear of losing his home and of a change in his relationship with Mrs. Lanza, his only caretaker and connection; worsening OCD; depression and anxiety; profound and possibly worsening anorexia; and an increasing obsession with mass murder occurring in the total absence of any engagement with the outside world. Adam increasingly lived in an alternate universe in which ruminations about mass shootings were his central
preoccupation".
[Report of the Office of the Child Advocate](_blank)
, p.104
The authors also noted that despite multiple developmental and mental health problems, Lanza had not received adequate mental health treatment. They wrote: "It is fair to surmise that, had Lanza's mental illness been adequately treated in the last years of his life, one predisposing factor to the tragedy of Sandy Hook might have been mitigated".
[Report of the Office of the Child Advocate](_blank)
, p.107
The report also tentatively disagreed with the conclusions of the State Attorney about why Lanza targeted Sandy Hook. They noted that "According to the FBI, shooters are likely to target places or people that are familiar to them ... The elementary school may have been targeted because he could overpower people, a dynamic that is very important for mass shooters as they do not want to be thwarted".
Perpetrator
Adam Peter Lanza (April 22, 1992 – December 14, 2012) lived with his mother, Nancy Lanza, in Newtown, from the elementary school.
He did not have a criminal record.
He had access to guns through his mother, who was described as a "gun enthusiast who owned at least a dozen firearms".
She often took her two sons to a local shooting range, where they learned to shoot.
Lanza's father has said that he does not believe Nancy feared Adam. She did not confide any fear of Adam to her sister or to her best friend, slept with her bedroom door unlocked, and kept guns in the house.
Education
Lanza attended Sandy Hook Elementary School for four and a half years.
He began at Newtown Middle School in 2004,
but according to his mother was "wracked by anxiety".
She told friends that her son started getting upset in middle school because of frequent classroom changes during the day. The movement and noise were too stimulating and made him anxious. At one point his anxiety was so intense that she took him to the emergency room at Danbury Hospital. Because of the smaller class sizes, his mother moved him to a parochial school,
St. Rose of Lima.
According to a classmate at St. Rose of Lima, he entered "late in the school year", and he left in June 2005.
At age 14, he went to
Newtown High School, where he was named to the
honor roll in 2007.
Students and teachers who knew him in high school described Lanza as "intelligent but nervous and fidgety". He avoided attracting attention and was uncomfortable socializing. He is not known to have had any close friends in school.
Schoolwork often triggered his underlying sense of hopelessness and by 2008, when he turned 16, he was only going to school occasionally.
The intense anxiety Lanza experienced at the time suggests his autism might have been exacerbated by the hormonal shifts of adolescence.
He was taken out of high school and
home-schooled
Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...
by his mother and father. He earned a
GED
The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of four subject tests which, when passed, provide certification that the test taker has United States or Canadian high school-level academic skills. It is an alternative to the US high ...
.
In 2008 and 2009, he also attended some classes at
Western Connecticut State University
Western Connecticut State University (WCSU and WestConn) is a public university in Danbury, Connecticut. It was founded in 1903 as a teacher's college and is part of the Connecticut State University System.
WCSU consists of four schools: the An ...
.
Early living and his developmental and mental health problems
Lanza was born and partially raised in
Kingston, New Hampshire
Kingston is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population at the 2020 census was 6,202.
History
Kingston was the fifth town to be established in New Hampshire. Originally, it was a part of Hampton, New Hampshire. ...
, about southwest of
Exeter
Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
, east of
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, and north of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. While living in New Hampshire at the time, Lanza exhibited developmental challenges before the age of three. These included communication and sensory difficulties, socialization delays, and repetitive behaviors. He was seen by the New Hampshire Birth to Three intervention program and referred to special education preschool services.
Once at elementary school, he was diagnosed with a
sensory-integration disorder. The sensory-processing disorder does not have official status by the medical community as a formal diagnosis but is a common characteristic of autism.
His anxiety affected his ability to attend school and in 8th grade he was placed on "homebound" status, which is reserved for children who are too disabled, even with supports and accommodations, to attend school.
[Shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School](_blank)
, Office of the Child Advocate, 2014, p.8.
When he was 13, Lanza was diagnosed with
Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of beha ...
by a psychiatrist, Paul Fox.
When he was 14, his parents took him to
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
's
Child Study Center, where he was also diagnosed with
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). He frequently washed his hands and changed his socks 20 times a day, to the point where his mother did three loads of laundry a day.
He also sometimes went through a box of tissues in a day because he could not touch a doorknob with his bare hand.
Lanza was treated by Robert King, who recommended extensive support be put in place, and King's colleague Kathleen Koenig at the Yale Child Study Center prescribed the antidepressant
Celexa
Citalopram, sold under the brand name Celexa among others, is an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class. It is used to treat major depressive disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and soci ...
.
Lanza took the medication for three days. His mother Nancy reported: "On the third morning he complained of dizziness. By that afternoon he was disoriented, his speech was disjointed, he couldn't even figure out how to open his cereal box. He was sweating profusely ... it was actually dripping off his hands. He said he couldn't think ... He was practically vegetative."
He never took the medication again.
A report from the Office of the Child Advocate found that "Yale's recommendations for extensive special education supports, ongoing expert consultation, and rigorous therapeutic supports embedded into (Lanza's) daily life went largely unheeded."
[Shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School](_blank)
, Office of the Child Advocate, 2014, p.7.
In a 2013 interview, Peter Lanza said he suspected his son might have also had undiagnosed
schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...
in addition to his other conditions. Lanza said that family members might have missed signs of the onset of schizophrenia and psychotic behavior during his son's adolescence because they mistakenly attributed his odd behavior and increasing isolation to Asperger syndrome.
Because of concerns that published accounts of Lanza's autism could result in a backlash against others with the condition,
autism advocates campaigned to clarify that autism is a
brain-related developmental disorder rather than a
mental illness
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
.
The violence Lanza demonstrated in the shooting is generally not seen in the autistic population
and none of the psychiatrists he saw detected troubling signs of violence in his disposition.
Lanza appears to have had no contact with mental health providers after 2006. The report from the Office of the Child Advocate stated: "In the course of Lanza's entire life, minimal mental health evaluation and treatment (in relation to his apparent need) was obtained. Of the couple of providers that saw him, only one—the
Yale Child Study Center
The Yale Child Study Center is a department at the Yale University School of Medicine. The center conducts research and provides clinical services and medical training related to children and families. Topics of investigation include autism and r ...
—seemed to appreciate the gravity of (his) presentation, his need for extensive mental health and special education supports, and the critical need for medication to ease his obsessive-compulsive symptoms."
Investigators found Lanza was fascinated with mass shootings, such as the Columbine High School massacre. Among the clippings found in his room, there was a story from ''The New York Times'' about a man who shot at schoolchildren in 1891. His computer contained two videos of gunshot suicides, movies that showed school shootings, and two pictures of Lanza pointing guns at his own head.
This only came to light after Lanza died, because he never permitted others to access his bedroom, including his mother. Lanza had also taped black plastic garbage bags over the windows in his bedroom to block out sunlight.
He had cut off contact with both his father and brother in the two years before the shooting and at one point communicated with his mother, who lived in the same house, only by email. A document titled "Selfish", describing Lanza's belief in the inherent selfishness of women, was found on his computer after his death.
Final months
According to a report by the Office of the Child Advocate in Connecticut in November 2014, Lanza may have had
anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gr ...
. The authors wrote that "Anorexia can produce cognitive impairment and it is likely that anorexia combined with an autism spectrum disorder and OCD compounded Lanza's risk for suicide".
[Report of the Office of Child Advocate](_blank)
, p.102. They also noted that at the time of his death, Lanza "was anorexic (he was six feet tall (183 cm) and weighed 112 pounds (51 kg)), to the point of malnutrition and resultant brain damage."
He was also living in almost total isolation in his room, spending most of his time on the internet playing ''
World of Warcraft
''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...
'' and other video games. The report stated that he "descended" into a world where his only communication with the outside world was with members of a cyber-community, "a small community of individuals that shared his dark and obsessive interest in mass murder".
[Report of the Office of Child Advocate](_blank)
, p.100.
In the weeks before the killings, Lanza's mother was considering moving him to another town.
She planned to purchase a
recreational vehicle for him to stay in so that potential purchasers could see the house without disturbing him.
[Report of the Office of Child Advocate](_blank)
, p.103 The Report of the Child Advocate stated that:
James Knoll, a
forensic psychiatrist
Forensic psychiatry is a subspeciality of psychiatry and is related to criminology. It encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry. According to the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, it is defined as "a subspecialty of psychiat ...
at
SUNY Upstate Medical University, was consulted about what motivated Lanza to kill. Knoll states that Lanza's final act conveyed a distinct message: "I carry profound hurt—I'll go ballistic and transfer it onto you."
Legal proceedings
In January 2015, the families of two of the first-graders who died in the shooting filed a lawsuit against the city of Newtown and the Newtown Board of Education alleging inadequate security at the school.
In March, it was announced that parents of children and teachers killed in the shooting had filed lawsuits against the estate of Nancy Lanza. The suits are based on a claim that she did not properly secure her firearms, which allowed her son, a person with mental health issues, to gain access to them. The attorneys representing the families said Lanza was believed to have had homeowner's insurance on her home worth more than $1 million and they were seeking compensation based on that.
On October 16, 2019, a jury awarded Leonard Pozner $450,000 for defamation by
James Fetzer
James Henry Fetzer (born December 6, 1940) is a professor emeritus of the philosophy of science at the University of Minnesota Duluth, known for promoting conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial. Fetzer has worked on assessing and clarifying the ...
, who had co-written the book ''Nobody Died at Sandy Hook''. The book claimed that Pozner had fabricated the death certificate of his son Noah, a six-year-old victim of the shooting. Fetzer said he would appeal the decision.
Remington
On December 15, 2014, nine families of the 26 victims of the shooting filed a class-action lawsuit in Connecticut against Bushmaster,
Remington Arms, Camfour, a distributor of firearms, and the now-closed East Windsor store, Riverview Sales, where the gunman's rifle was purchased, seeking "unspecified" damages,
claiming an exemption from the 2005 Federal
Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act
The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) is a U.S law, passed in 2005, that protects firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held liable when crimes have been committed with their products. Both arms manufacturers and dealers ...
(PLCAA) that would normally disallow such a suit as lacking
standing
Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an ''erect'' ("orthostatic") position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the s ...
.
The plaintiffs allege that the XM15-E2S is suitable only for military and policing applications and that Bushmaster inappropriately marketed it to civilians.
In January 2015, Bushmaster's attorneys petitioned to have the suit moved to federal court because, although the shooting took place in Connecticut, it is located in North Carolina.
In February 2015, the victims' families' attorneys made a motion to move the suit back to state court.
On April 14, 2016, a Connecticut court denied the defendants' motion to summarily dismiss the case.
Lawyers for the defense filed a second motion for dismissal a month later.
On October 14, 2016, the defendants' motion to dismiss the lawsuit was granted. The judge ruled the complaint was not valid per federal and Connecticut laws.
The families appealed to the
Connecticut Supreme Court
The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit in Hartford, ac ...
. In March 2019, the court decided in a 4–3 vote to reverse parts of the trial court's rulings and remand the case back to Bridgeport Superior Court for additional hearings. It ruled
that the families' appeal to the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, demonstrating that the gun manufacturers had used advertising that presented the weapons in an "unfair, unethical, or dangerous manner", with Remington seeking to "expand the market for
tsassault weapons through advertising campaigns that encouraged consumers ... to launch offensive assaults against their perceived enemies", was not prohibited by PLCAA, and thus that the plaintiffs had sufficient standing to argue their case at trial court. It also ruled that the plaintiffs can subpoena internal documents on how gun companies have marketed the AR-15.
Remington asked the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
to review the state court ruling, but in November 2019 the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal, allowing the families' suit to proceed.
On July 26, 2021, a judge refused to dismiss the lawsuit. In court documents the next day, Remington offered $33 million to be shared by the nine families.
On February 15, 2022, Remington agreed to settle for $73 million, according to the families' attorney, Josh Koskoff.
Alex Jones
On April 17, 2018, radio host and conspiracy theorist
Alex Jones
Alexander Emerick Jones (born February 11, 1974) is an American far-right and alt-right radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist. He hosts ''The Alex Jones Show'' from Austin, Texas, which the Genesis Communications Network broadcas ...
was sued for defamation by three parents whose children were killed in the shooting. Prior to this, Jones said that the Sandy Hook shooting was "completely fake" and a "giant hoax" perpetrated by opponents of the
Second Amendment
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...
.
Jones claims he later believed the shooting was real.
On May 23, 2018, six more families sued Jones for his claims.
Jones was found to be in contempt of court by a Texas judge even before the trial started, failing to produce witnesses and materials relevant to the procedures. Consequently, Jones and
InfoWars
''InfoWars'' is an American far-right conspiracy theory and fake news website owned by Alex Jones. It was founded in 1999, and operates under Free Speech Systems LLC.
Talk shows and other content for the site are created primarily in stud ...
were fined a total of $126,000 in October and December 2019.
In October 2021, Jones was ordered to pay damages and was criticized by a judge for failing to hand over documents requested by the courts. Jones declared bankruptcy in April 2022 as a result of the defamation lawsuits caused by his claims that the shooting was a hoax.
On August 4, 2022, Jones was ordered to pay $4.1M compensatory damages to Sandy Hook parents and, on August 5, 2022, he was ordered to pay a further $45.2M in punitive damages.
On October 12, 2022, Jones was ordered to pay $965 million in damages to the families of Sandy Hook victims.
Aftermath
The school was closed indefinitely following the shooting, partially because it remained a crime scene.
Sandy Hook students returned to classes on January 3, 2013, at
Chalk Hill Middle School
Monroe is a town located in eastern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 18,825 at the 2020 census.
Monroe is largely considered a bedroom community of New York City, New Haven, and Bridgeport.
History
On May 15, ...
in nearby
Monroe at the town's invitation. Chalk Hill at the time was an unused facility, refurbished after the shooting, with desks and equipment brought in from Sandy Hook Elementary. The Chalk Hill school was temporarily renamed "Sandy Hook".
The
University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...
created a scholarship for the surviving children of the shootings.
On January 31, the Newtown school board voted unanimously to ask for police officer presence in all of its elementary schools; previously other schools in the district had such protection, but Sandy Hook had not been one of those.
On May 10, a task force of 28 appointed members voted to demolish the existing Sandy Hook Elementary school and have a new school built in its place. The $57 million proposed project was sent to the Newtown Board of Education for approval, to be followed by a public ballot.
In October 2013, Newtown residents voted 4,504–558 in favor of the proposed demolition and reconstruction, to be funded by $50 million in state money.
Demolition began on October 25
and was completed in December 2013 at a cost of nearly US$1.4 million.
After the town
clerk's office was inundated with requests from the media,
Connecticut House of Representatives
The Connecticut State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The house is composed of 151 members representing an ...
Republican
Dan Carter
Daniel William Carter (born 5 March 1982) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player.
Carter played for Crusaders (Super Rugby) in New Zealand and played for New Zealand's national team, the All Blacks. He is the highest point scorer in ...
introduced legislation that would restrict access to public information available under the
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request:
* Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act
* ...
.
On June 5, both houses (Senate and House of Representatives) of the Connecticut state legislature passed a bill modifying the state's Freedom of Information Act in order to "prevent the release of crime-scene photos and video evidence from the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre and other Connecticut homicides, concerned such records would be spread on the Internet." The bill then went on to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's desk for his signature. The bill creates a new exemption to the state's Freedom of Information Act. The release of photographs, film, video, digital or other visual images depicting a homicide victim is prevented if such records "could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of the victim or the victim's surviving family members."
The Sandy Hook Promise Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was formed to help survivors and families of the victims while also continuing the service of assisting others impacted by other shootings across the United States.
Responses
President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
gave a televised address on the day of the shootings: "We're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics."
Obama expressed "enormous sympathy for families that are affected".
He also ordered flags to be flown at half-staff at the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
and other U.S. federal government facilities worldwide in respect of the victims.
On December 16, Obama traveled to Newtown where he met with victims' families and spoke at an
interfaith
Interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions (i.e. "faiths") and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels. It is ...
vigil.
Dannel Malloy
Dannel Patrick Malloy (; born July 21, 1955) is an American politician, who served as the 88th governor of Connecticut from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he chaired the Democratic Governors Association from 2016 to 2017. On Jul ...
, the
Governor of Connecticut
The governor of Connecticut is the head of government of Connecticut, and the commander-in-chief of the U.S. state, state's Connecticut Military Department, military forces. The Governor (United States), governor has a duty to enforce state laws, ...
, addressed the media the evening of the shootings near a local church holding a vigil for the victims, urging the people of Connecticut to come together and help each other. Malloy said, "Evil visited this community today, and it is too early to speak of recovery, but each parent, each sibling, each member of the family has to understand that Connecticut, we are all in this together, we will do whatever we can to overcome this event, we will get through it."
Hundreds of mourners, including Malloy, attended vigils in various churches in Newtown.
On December 17, Malloy called for a statewide
moment of silence
A moment of silence (also referred to as a minute's silence or a one-minute silence) is a period of silent contemplation, prayer, reflection, or meditation. Similar to flying a flag at half-mast, a moment of silence is often a gesture of ...
and church bells to be tolled 26 times at 9:30 a.m. on December 21, exactly one week after the school shooting.
U.S. Secretary of Education
The United States secretary of education is the head of the U.S. Department of Education. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States, and the federal government, on policies, programs, and activities rel ...
Arne Duncan said: "our thanks go out to every teacher, staff member, and first responder who cared for, comforted, and protected children from harm, often at risk to themselves. We will do everything in our power to assist and support the healing and recovery of Newtown."
The day after the shootings, Lanza's father released a statement:
Leaders from other countries and organizations throughout the world also offered their condolences through the weekend after the shooting.
President Obama posthumously honored the six adults with the 2012
Presidential Citizens Medal on February 15, 2013.
President Obama said "And then when Dawn Hochsprung, and Mary Sherlach, Vicki Soto, Lauren Rousseau, Rachel D'Avino, Anne Marie Murphy—when they showed up for work at Sandy Hook Elementary on December 14th of last year, they expected a day like any other—doing what was right for their kids; spent a chilly morning readying classrooms and welcoming young students—they had no idea that evil was about to strike. And when it did, they could have taken shelter by themselves. They could have focused on their own safety, on their own wellbeing. But they didn't. They gave their lives to protect the precious children in their care. They gave all they had for the most innocent and helpless among us. And that's what we honor today—the courageous heart, the selfless spirit, the inspiring actions of extraordinary Americans, extraordinary citizens."
Sandy Hook conspiracy theories have become social phenomena, despite overwhelming contemporary coverage of the incident.
Gun control
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting prompted renewed debate about
gun control in the United States
Gun politics within American politics is defined by two primary opposing ideologies about civilian gun ownership. Those who advocate for gun control support increased regulation of gun ownership; those who advocate for gun rights oppose incr ...
, including proposals for making the
background-check system universal, and for new federal and state
legislation
Legislation is the process or result of enrolled bill, enrolling, enactment of a bill, enacting, or promulgation, promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous Government, governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law i ...
banning the sale and manufacture of certain types of semi-automatic firearms and magazines with more than ten rounds of ammunition.
[* * ]
Within hours of the shooting, a
We the People
The Preamble to the United States Constitution, beginning with the words We the People, is a brief introductory statement of the Constitution's fundamental purposes and guiding principles. Courts have referred to it as reliable evidence o ...
petition was started asking the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
to "immediately address the issue of gun control through the introduction of legislation in Congress",
and the gun control advocacy group the
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence reported that an avalanche of donations in the hours after the shooting caused its website to crash.
Five days later, President Obama announced that he would make gun control a "central issue" of his second term,
and he created a gun violence task force, to be headed by Vice President
Joe Biden.
On January 16, 2013, Obama signed 23
executive order
In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of t ...
s and proposed 12 congressional actions regarding gun control.
His proposals included universal background checks on firearms purchases, an assault weapons ban, and a
high-capacity magazine ban
A high-capacity magazine ban is a law which bans or otherwise restricts high-capacity magazines, detachable firearm magazines that can hold more than a certain number of rounds of ammunition. For example, in the United States, the now-expired F ...
limiting capacity to 10 cartridges.
On December 21, 2012, the National Rifle Association's
Wayne LaPierre
Wayne Robert LaPierre Jr. (born November 8, 1949) is an American gun rights lobbyist who is CEO and executive vice president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), a position he has held since 1991.
Personal background
Wayne Robert LaPierr ...
said gun-free school zones attract killers and that another gun ban would not protect Americans. He called on Congress to appropriate funds to hire armed police officers for every American school and announced that the NRA would create the National School Shield Emergency Response Program to help.
After LaPierre's press conference, the Brady Campaign asked for donations to support its gun control advocacy and asked NRA members "who believe like we do, that we are better than this" to join its campaign.
On January 8, 2013, former Congresswoman
Gabby Giffords
Gabrielle Dee Giffords (born June 8, 1970) is an American retired politician and gun control advocate who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing from January 2007 until January 2012, when she resigned ...
, who was shot and injured in a
2011 shooting in Tucson, launched the gun control group
Americans for Responsible Solutions
Americans for Responsible Solutions (ARS) was a United States non-profit organization and super PAC that supports gun control. The group's stated goal was "to encourage elected officials to stand up for solutions to prevent gun violence and pro ...
, with a specific aim of matching or exceeding the fundraising capabilities of the NRA and similar groups.
On January 16, 2013, New York became the first U.S. state to act after the shooting when it enacted the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act.
On April 3, 2013,
Connecticut General Assembly
The Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is a bicameral body composed of the 151-member House of Representatives and the 36-member Senate. It meets in the state capital, Hartford. Th ...
passed a 139-page
major gun-control bill with broad bipartisan support.
Governor
Dannel P. Malloy signed the bill on the same day.
The bill requires
universal background checks
Proposals for universal background checks would require almost all firearms transactions in the United States to be recorded and go through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), closing what is sometimes called the priv ...
(background checks for all firearm purchases),
a high-capacity magazine ban banning the sale or purchase of ammunition magazines capable of holding more than ten rounds of ammunition like those used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting,
created the first registry in the United States for dangerous-weapon offenders, and added over 100 types of guns to the state's
assault weapon
In the United States, ''assault weapon'' is a controversial term used to define firearms with specified characteristics. The definition varies among regulating jurisdictions, but usually includes semi-automatic firearms with a detachable magaz ...
s ban.
Pro-gun groups had rallied outside the Capitol to protest prior to the signing
and challenged it in court. Federal judge
Alfred Covello
Alfred Vincent Covello (born February 4, 1933) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.
Education and career
Covello was born in Hartford, Connecticut. He received an Artium ...
ruled to uphold the law in January 2014.
On April 4, 2013, Maryland also enacted new restrictions to their existing gun laws.
However, ten other states passed laws that relaxed gun restrictions.
Legislation introduced in the first session of
113th Congress included the
Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 and the Manchin-Toomey Amendment to expand background checks on gun purchases.
Both were defeated in the Senate on April 17, 2013.
Video games
A renewed debate about the effects of violent video games on young people began soon after the shooting due to news reports suggesting Lanza frequently played violent video games.
Wayne LaPierre publicly blamed video games for the shooting, specifically targeting the free online game ''Kindergarten Killers'' created by Gary Short.
Police found numerous
[The November 2013 final report names the following twelve video games as being part of Lanza's larger overall collection: '']Left 4 Dead
''Left 4 Dead'' is a 2008 first-person shooter game developed by Valve South and published by Valve. It was originally released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in November 2008 and for Mac OS X in October 2010, and is the first title in the ...
'', ''Metal Gear Solid
is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces opera ...
'', ''Dead Rising
is a series of action-adventure games created by Keiji Inafune. It was originally developed by Capcom until Capcom Vancouver took over developing the franchise. As of March 31, 2022, the game series has sold 15 million units worldwide and is ...
'', ''Half Life
Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable at ...
'', ''Battlefield
A battlefield, battleground, or field of battle is the location of a present or historic battle involving ground warfare. It is commonly understood to be limited to the point of contact between opposing forces, though battles may involve troops ...
'', '' Call of Duty'', ''Grand Theft Auto
''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is a series of action-adventure games created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily d ...
'', ''Shin Megami Tensei
''Megami Tensei'', marketed internationally as ''Shin Megami Tensei'' (formerly ''Revelations''), is a Japanese media franchise created by Aya Nishitani, Kouji "Cozy" Okada, Ginichiro Suzuki, and Kazunari Suzuki. Primarily developed and publishe ...
'', ''Dynasty Warriors
is a series of Japanese hack and slash action video games created by Omega Force and Koei (now is Koei Tecmo). The series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' series, based upon the Chinese novel of ...
'', ''Vice City
''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' is a 2002 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the fourth main entry in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2001's ''Grand Theft Auto III'', and the s ...
'', ''Team Fortress
A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal.
As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to info ...
'', and ''Doom
Doom is another name for damnation.
Doom may also refer to:
People
* Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed
* Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist
* Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher
* ...
''. video games in the basement of Adam Lanza's home, which was used as a gaming area. The final report into the shooting by the State Attorney, published in November 2013, noted that "
anzaplayed video games often, both solo at home and online. They could be described as both violent and non-violent. One person described the shooter as spending the majority of his time playing non-violent video games all day, with his favorite at one point being ''
Super Mario Bros.
is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The successor to the 1983 arcade game '' Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series, it was first released in 1985 for ...
''"
The report described his liking for ''
Dance Dance Revolution
(''DDR'') is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, ''Dance Dance Revolution'' is the pioneering series of the rhythm and dance ...
'', which he played frequently for hours with an acquaintance at a movie theater in
Danbury
Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut.
Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...
which had a commercial version of the game, and also played the game at home.
''Dance Dance Revolution'' is a non-violent exercising game where "the user is required to move their feet rhythmically in response to video cues". According to the Report by the Office of the Child Advocate, Lanza would play the game for hours on end using it as a distraction from his inner turmoil. The report said "he would whip himself into a frenzy, a behavior consistent, possibly, with a need to contain anxiety-producing impulses and thoughts. There were days when he would not do anything else but ''Dance Dance Revolution''.
[Report of the Child Advocate](_blank)
, p 98
The final report by the State Attorney did not make a link between video games and the motive for the shooting.
However, the Report of the Child Advocate said "video game and internet addiction appear to be 'highly comorbid with several other psychiatric disorders' including anxiety, depression, and obsessive compulsive challenges".
[Report of the Office of Child Advocate](_blank)
, p.101.
Legacy
Many organizations were created due to the massacre that work to promote an end to school shootings, with some, such as
Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement,
Sandy Hook Promise, and Safe and Sound Schools organized and led by parents of victims, while others, such as
Moms Demand Action
Everytown for Gun Safety is an American nonprofit organization which advocates for gun control and against gun violence. Everytown was created in 2013 when Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America joined force ...
, were created by outsiders outraged by the shooting.
Effect on the community
2014
In March 2014, the Newtown city officials announced the design for the new Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The only remnant of the original school would be its flagpole.
A few days later, the
Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation
Kenneth Roy Feinberg (born October 23, 1945) is an American attorney specializing in mediation and alternative dispute resolution. He served as the Chief of Staff to Senator Ted Kennedy, Special Master of the U.S. government's September 11th Vi ...
released results of a survey with over 1,600 respondents. Among other inquiries, the survey asked residents what should be done with the balance of the $11 million US Dollars in donations that had been received since the incident in 2012.
The majority of responses said that money for mental health counseling and other family expenses should be the top priorities. A few responses suggested that some of the money should be used to purchase and tear down the shooter's family home in order to replace it with a park or wildlife sanctuary.
Jennifer Barahona, the foundation's executive director, was quoted as saying, "That's not something we're considering at this time. It's really outside of our scope."
On October 21, building site preparation work began on the new Sandy Hook Elementary School;
project updates and progress were posted on a dedicated website.
Citing security and privacy reasons and out of respect for the families of victims, no
ground breaking ceremony was held.
Construction was scheduled to begin in March 2015 with the school expected to open by December 2016.
In December, it was announced that the town of Newtown will acquire the property and home of Nancy Lanza at no cost.
The property at 36 Yogananda St. was part of the Lanza estate, to which surviving son Ryan Lanza is the sole heir. Lanza's attorney, Kenneth Gruder, arranged for the transfer through a series of transactions so that probate records would not show the city acquiring the property from the Lanza family. Gruder said the notoriety of the home had made it essentially unsalable.
The home was demolished in March 2015.
2015
On January 21, 2015, Newtown Legislative Council voted unanimously to demolish the house where Nancy and Adam Lanza lived, and to keep the land as open space.
The demolition was completed on March 24, 2015.
In February 2015, the family of one of the victims, Victoria Soto, applied for
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
protection for her name. The reason for this was to help prevent others from misusing Soto's name on social media and for the benefit of the memorial fund set up in her name. The victim's sister, Jillian, said fake social media accounts existed using her sister's name to promote conspiracy theories about the shooting.
2016–present
In July 2016, the new Sandy Hook Elementary School was unveiled and parents were shown around the building. The new school is on the site of the building where the shooting took place, which was demolished and rebuilt with a state grant of around $50 million.
Memorial
![Sandy Hook memorial](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Sandy_Hook_memorial.jpg)
In 2013, the Newtown
board of selectmen appointed the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission.
Out of 189 design submissions, the commission chose a design created by Dan Affleck and Ben Waldo of SWA Group. $3.7 million to construct the memorial was narrowly approved by Newtown voters in April 2021, and site work began in August 2021.
Construction was completed in August 2022. The memorial opened to the public on November 13, 2022, after a private ceremony with the victims' families.
It features a stone basin engraved with the names of the victims, with a young
sycamore
Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the ancient Greek ' (''sūkomoros'') meaning "fig-mulberry".
Species of trees known as sycamore:
* ''Acer pseudoplata ...
tree at its center. A memorial mass is held every year at
St. Rose of Lima Church.
See also
*
List of attacks related to primary schools
These are attacks that have occurred on school property or related primarily to school issues or events. A narrow definition of ''attack'' is used for this list to exclude attacks during warfare, robberies, gang violence, political or police atta ...
*
List of school-related attacks
*
List of school shootings in the United States (2000–present)
School shootings in the United States have occurred at K–12 public and private schools, as well as at colleges and universities, and on school buses. Excluded from this list are the following:
# Incidents that occurred during wars
# Incide ...
*
*
Robb Elementary School shooting
On May 24, 2022, a mass shooting occurred at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, United States, where 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a former student at the school, fatally shot nineteen students and two teachers, and wounded seventeen other ...
Notes
References
External links
*
Sandy Hook Elementary School Official websiteArchive
Final Report28 Dead, Including 20 Children, After Shooting Rampage At Sandy Hook School In Newtown(via Wayback Machine)
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