Sandy Hook Gunman Chose School Because He Was Pedophile

[DonViejo]

Full article posted with the permission of Newsweek -- Don

NEWTOWN SCHOOL SHOOTER ADAM LANZA WAS PEDOPHILE WHO WANTED TO ‘SAVE’ KIDS, NEW FBI DOCUMENTS SAY

BY CHRISTAL HAYES ON 10/24/17 AT 3:58 PM

Newtown school shooter Adam Lanza was a pedophile who thought he was saving children by killing them and was in such denial that he suffered from Asperger's syndrome that he refused medication for the disease.

The bombshell revelations were the first details from the FBI's secret trove of documents, which detail the bureau's investigation after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, on December, 14, 2012. About 1,500 pages of documents released Tuesday show Lanza didn't snap but rather planned his attack for more than a year, researching other mass shooting and smashing his computer's hard drive before he killed his mother and then left the gun-filled home he shared with her to kill 20 children and six teachers.

The documents shed light on some of the unknown aspects of the attack, but there is still much about Lanza, his planning and why he chose Sandy Hook that remains unclear—even though it's been nearly five years since the shooting that devastated the nation and world.

The FBI found Lanza's mother, Nancy, was a "gun nut" who lived a very paranoid life. She once didn't go to a party because she never opened the invitation out of fears it would have anthrax inside since there was not a return address, documents show.

Lanza sheltered her son and homeschooled him due to him suffering from Asperger's syndrome, which officials said made him anti-social, awkward around others and caused him to be bullied.

A friend of the family said Lanza was in "complete denial of his disease" and never took his medications.

Nancy Lanza volunteered at Sandy Hook school, and one person told the FBI that her son hated the school because he thought she loved the students more than him.

But another witness told agents that Adam Lanza "loved" the school and would pass frequently during his walks around the area.

The FBI's behavioral analysis unit gave a detailed assessment of Lanza's mental state and found he shared many of of the same characteristics and behaviors with other active shooters and concluded he "had an interest in children that could be categorized as pedophilia," an internal briefing document states.

The FBI said there was no evidence that suggests Lanza ever acted on his interests in children, but the revelation do help pinpoint why he would open fire in an elementary school. Agents also found he'd been planning the attack since at least March 2011.

The analysis found in the weeks and months ahead of the attack, Lanza was having problems with his mother, which was "a significant challenge and stressor in his life."

Many described Lanza's mother as his only friend.

One woman, who claimed to have communicated with Lanza online, told the FBI he was unhappy with life and wrote frequently on a website dedicated to the mass shooting at Columbine High School, which left 13 innocent people dead in 1999.

In some of his blogs, the woman says Lanza talked about committing suicide. He also claimed to have a spreadsheet with all the details of other mass killings and said he hated the sunlight and found food unappealing.

Lanza wrote he felt "pity" for children and didn't like teachers or parents and their control over kids, the woman told FBI agents.

He also wrote about his "respect" for mass killers and about a dream where he watched a student shoot his classmates after they bullied him.

When agents asked her why Lanza shot children at Sandy Hook, the woman said he thought he was "saving them" and "taking them away from harmful influences" who were going to "brainwash" them, the documents show.

Throughout its search of Lanza's home, the FBI collected many things, including electronic devices, CDs and handwritten notes.

His computer was found with a broken hard drive and agents tried to pull some information from the device but the results were not released or were redacted in the 1,500 pages of documents. It's still unclear whether the computer holds details about Lanza's planning, or even a hidden manifesto.

One CD was found to have porn on it, while the others had Japanese videos and images on them. One of the handwritten notes found in his room had mentions of a gun shop, the FBI said.

###

http://www.newsweek.com/fbi-sandy-hook-gunman-chose-elementary-school-because-he-was-pedophile-691817

[underpants]

1. Fascinating and horrible. The tracking of other mass shooters is not surprising.

There appears to be a one-ups-manship with these types and attacks.

[alphafemale]

2. The obviously deranged should not be allowed access to weapons

Is that hard?

[CBHagman]

29. In this case his mother was the gun owner, but he lived with her.

And that's the complication here. It's hard enough to intervene in a case where someone might be a danger to him/herself or others, and this was a grown son living with a parent -- not an unusual situation in itself, but would the community stop it? Would anyone stop it?

Please don't think I am suggesting there are no ways to reduce gun violence in this country, and I'm also not condoning Nancy Lanza's weapons purchases, which were of course the eventual means of her own death. But Adam Lanza lived with his mother, and guns were an interest they shared, and unless he were forcibly separated from her and the weapons, he was going to have access. Again, that led to her murder, as well as the murder of 26 other people and Adam Lanza's suicide.

[alphafemale]

35. He killed her first.

It is horrifying.

[ClarendonDem]

30. I thought the guns he used were locked up

And he killed his mother to access them?

[LisaL]

55. Considering he killed her by shooting her, obviously that is not the case.

He already had access before he killed her.

[Not Ruth]

65. He may have killed her with one gun to get the rest of the guns, he could have used a hammer

It is not unheard of. There were some Florida bank robbers that started with a gun. They wanted more, so they started going to lightly used gun ranges, killing the unsuspecting shooter and taking their guns.

[Not Ruth]

43. By obviously deranged, do you mean Aspergers?

That appears to be the only obvious diagnosis, prior to the FBI investigation.

[ck4829]

3. I remember alluding to this back in 2012...

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/10022031217

It was one of the first thoughts in my head, but I didn't want to explicitly say it... All these bizarre actions and we can't do anything to prevent these shootings?

[gratuitous]

6. No, we can do nothing

It's hard to fathom, but we as a society have decided that it's far better that thousands should die annually due to the easy availability of firearms than that even one responsible, law-abiding citizen be deprived of his trusty shootin' arns. One of those alternatives is a dystopian nightmare from which we will never wake up, while the other is the price we willingly pay for freedom.

[Sancho]

25. Exactly...

People Control, Not Gun Control

This is my generic response to gun threads where people are shot and killed by the dumb or criminal possession of guns. For the record, I grew up in the South and on military bases. I was taught about firearms as a child, and I grew up hunting, was a member of the NRA, and I still own guns. In the 70’s, I dropped out of the NRA because they become more radical and less interested in safety and training. Some personal experiences where people I know were involved in shootings caused me to realize that anyone could obtain and posses a gun no matter how illogical it was for them to have a gun. Also, easy access to more powerful guns, guns in the hands of children, and guns that weren’t secured are out of control in our society. As such, here’s what I now think ought to be the requirements to possess a gun. I’m not debating the legal language, I just think it’s the reasonable way to stop the shootings. Notice, none of this restricts the type of guns sold. This is aimed at the people who shoot others, because it’s clear that they should never have had a gun.

1.) Anyone in possession of a gun (whether they own it or not) should have a regularly renewed license. If you want to call it a permit, certificate, or something else that's fine.
2.) To get a license, you should have a background check, and be examined by a professional for emotional and mental stability appropriate for gun possession. It might be appropriate to require that examination to be accompanied by references from family, friends, employers, etc. This check is not to subject you to a mental health diagnosis, just check on your superficial and apparent gun-worthyness.
3.) To get the license, you should be required to take a safety course and pass a test appropriate to the type of gun you want to use.
4.) To get a license, you should be over 21. Under 21, you could only use a gun under direct supervision of a licensed person and after obtaining a learner’s license. Your license might be restricted if you have children or criminals or other unsafe people living in your home. (If you want to argue 18 or 25 or some other age, fine. 21 makes sense to me.)
5.) If you possess a gun, you would have to carry a liability insurance policy specifically for gun ownership - and likely you would have to provide proof of appropriate storage, security, and whatever statistical reasons that emerge that would drive the costs and ability to get insurance.
6.) You could not purchase a gun or ammunition without a license, and purchases would have a waiting period.
7.) If you possess a gun without a license, you go to jail, the gun is impounded, and a judge will have to let you go (just like a DUI).
8.) No one should carry an unsecured gun (except in a locked case, unloaded) when outside of home. Guns should be secure when transporting to a shooting event without demonstrating a special need. Their license should indicate training and special carry circumstances beyond recreational shooting (security guard, etc.). If you are carrying your gun while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, you lose your gun and license.
9.) If you buy, sell, give away, or inherit a gun, your license information should be recorded.
10.) If you accidentally discharge your gun, commit a crime, get referred by a mental health professional, are served a restraining order, etc., you should lose your license and guns until reinstated by a serious relicensing process.

Most of you know that a license is no big deal. Besides a driver’s license you need a license to fish, operate a boat, or many other activities. I realize these differ by state, but that is not a reason to let anyone without a bit of sense pack a semiautomatic weapon in public, on the roads, and in schools. I think we need to make it much harder for some people to have guns.

[ClarendonDem]

31. Which of those proposed laws

Would have prevented Lanza from killing 26 people?

[Sancho]

36. Several of them...

to buy guns or bullets, you'd have to show a license.

to go to the range, you'd have to show a license.

to have guns in the house with children, you'd have to have insurance to get the license.

to get the license all those possessing or using or buying guns would need to be screened.

The mother and Lanza would not have been easily able to obtain guns or ammo...

Nothing is foolproof, but a license to purchase, possess, transport, or use a gun or ammo would make it must more difficult for dangerous people to have easy access to guns.

A license would not require a national database with point-of-sale clerks selling you guns.

This is simply a license to protect us from dangerous people.

[ClarendonDem]

37. Actually, none of them

Lanza killed his mother and took her guns, and used those guns to commit his awful crime. He didn't purchase the guns or bullets, wasn't a child, wasn't the gun owner, and therefore under your proposed laws nothing would have changed. I'm not suggesting that the US doesn't need better gun control, I'm just suggesting that your proposals would not actually make a difference.

On edit, since Lanza didn't purchase or own the guns or ammo, and wasn't a child, I'm curious to know how you think your proposals would have made a difference in the Sandy Hook case (not to mention Las Vegas).

[Sancho]

39. None of those guns would be in the house...

and he would not have practiced with his mother...and she would not have had guns with my license.

[ClarendonDem]

45. How so?

What did the mother do that would have prevented the license for guns?

[Sancho]

46. Lots of things...but just for one...

she would likely have had to secure the guns. Lanza was well-known to be an emotional risk.

Insurance questions would likely have denied insurance (and therefore a license) without special security if at all. Maybe she would have been free to go to a shooting range, but not have guns at home.

The types of guns and numbers of guns would be on the license. It's speculation, but even a superficial questionnaire or interview or references would have revealed someone in the house with depression, etc. Those would be red flags for a home with guns, or some follow up that would have made guns more secure - or else no license.

A report issued by the Office of the Child Advocate in November 2014 said that Lanza had the developmental disorder Asperger's syndrome, and as a teenager suffered from depression, anxiety 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".[14]

These were guns available in the home of someone diagnosed to be depressed:

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.[5] Outside the school, an Izhmash Saiga-12 shotgun was found in the car Lanza had driven.[5][31]

If a regular license simply examines the easy possession of guns, they would spot people like this. If the license was not denied, it would likely be restricted in terms of gun security, number of guns, type of guns, and amount of ammunition.

Report of the Office of the Child Advocate[edit]
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".[129]
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".[130]

A license is not a cure-all without failures, but it would make it much more difficult for mass murders. It's simple too.

[ClarendonDem]

47. So you want to deny guns

to an otherwise qualified owner if someone else in the house is a risk?

[Sancho]

51. Absolutely...if they don't take action to prevent killings!!!

That's easy to understand.

If you have children, or unstable people with access to guns, your responsibility (if you want a license) is to prevent them from access to the guns you possess.

[Crunchy Frog]

57. Yes. n/t

[stevenleser]

61. Try getting auto insurance if your adult roommate has had a DUI

many insurers will reject you outright and most others will double your rates.

This would not be a unique thing in the world of assessing risk and penalizing someone who shares an abode with someone who is an elevated risk for various bad behaviors.

[BigmanPigman]

4. Mental illness, a love of guns and testosterone are the elements

and common factors of most mass shootings where politics and religion aren't the first source of motive.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

5. So much pain. It's heartbreaking.

[alphafemale]

7. The day of Sandy Hook is probably the hardest i have ever cried in my life.

The idea of those precious baby's throwing up those tiny hands in front of their faces.

And that teacher that hid her children in a closet and gave her life.

[ClarendonDem]

32. It was a heartbreaking event

[janterry]

8. This article has lots of tidbits, but I don't think it's helpful (from a clinical perspective)

Medication for asperger's is maybe an SSRI or anti-anxiety. That was NOT his problem. He was seriously disturbed and - I'm just going to say it - psychotic. Frankly, I can't imagine that his proper dx wasn't schizophrenia.

[PdxSean]

9. Thats a fucked up Newsweek headline.

“The FBI's behavioral analysis unit gave a detailed assessment of Lanza's mental state and found he shared many of of the same characteristics and behaviors with other active shooters and concluded he "had an interest in children that could be categorized as pedophilia," an internal briefing document states.”

Um, like what, for instance?

The article says they found porn, but says nothing about kiddie porn, and there are no noted allegations of inappropriate touchings. It doesn’t even say he has a SEXUAL “interest in children.”

Lanza was most assuredly a fucked up human being, but allegations of paedophilia should not be thrown about so flippantly.

Without more information, the Newsweek title is little more than a disgusting, red herring.

[Lucinda]

14. +1

[LisaL]

15. As far as I can tell he spend most of his time in his mother's basement and wasn't around any actual

children. So I agree, the headline is red herring.

[EL34x4]

41. Newsweek has been unrecognizable lately.

It's almost as if they became a blog that allows anyone to post articles.

Many of the articles featured over there lately are far below the caliber of journalism they were known for when Newsweek was primarily a weekly print magazine. I was a long time subscriber for about 20 years starting in the early 1990s.

[cagefreesoylentgreen]

42. I had to read the lede three times.

It took me three times before I could finally understand what the writer was trying to say. My god, that was a torture.

[RayOfHope]

72. agreed and..

Aspergers is not a disease and the article makes it seem as if medication is a cure for it.

Super sloppy article.

[RhodeIslandOne]

10. I doubt he could have acted on it

I can't imagine he'd be able to lure a child into his home or car or whatever.

[SoCalMusicLover]

11. But Mom Was A Responsible Gun Owner nt

[ileus]

23. Right up until she was killed, and her firearms stolen.

[left-of-center2012]

12. Conspiracy 'nutz' say Sandy Hook never happened.

One despicable person some years back was demanding a father dig up his dead son to prove it.

Where do these deranged trolls come from?

[Ms. Toad]

13. Asperger's is a syndrome, not a disease.

It has nothing (or next to nothing) to do with a mass killing.

It is not sinister to choose not to take medication for Aspergers syndrome. The failure to take medication for Asbergers is unrelated to a mass killing - and including it in the article with such prominence, without indicating it was unlikely to have any connection to his decision to to kill the Sandy Hook Children, is irresponsible.

[marybourg]

38. I agree. I find this article

very disturbing and unconvincing.

[WinkyDink]

50. Likewise.

[WinkyDink]

49. Thank you.

[mopinko]

16. rape victim.

bet my bottom dollar.

[LisaL]

17. You'd lose your bottom dollar.

There is not a shred of evidence to support that idea.

[mopinko]

26. no, there usually isnt.

[lame54]

18. Suicide would have saved them

[LisaL]

19. The headline is very misleading.

The idea that he wanted to save the children comes from some witness who is clearly speculating.

[lame54]

20. I'll stand by my post

[LisaL]

21. He did actually kill himself after he killed the children.

[maxsolomon]

27. I'd have reversed the sequence

always do the suicide part of murder-suicide 1st.

[milestogo]

22. A really tragic life.

[mn9driver]

24. There is no "Aspergers medication".

That part of the article seems pretty uninformed.

[Spider Jerusalem]

33. Yep, and it's also not a "disease"

you can treat comorbidities like anxiety and depression, but there isn't a medication to make you not autistic.

[marybourg]

40. Which causes me to question

the reliability of the other assertions in the article.

[Crunchy Frog]

54. Thank you! Irritating as fuck.

I'm assuming he had some other mental condition for which there is medication, and the reporter got confused. It definitely detracts from my ability to take the article as a whole seriously.

[Honeycombe8]

28. And the online acquaintance didn't report him?

I'm always amazed to hear these bizarre tell tell stories of mass shooters come out AFTER he commits a heinous crime, but not before.

I blame the nutso mother, actually. And father, too. They raised him to be what he was. Asbergers may have contributed, but most people w/Asb. don't commit mass murder of children, so you can't blame that.

[ClarendonDem]

34. What did the mother do

That makes her responsible for her son killing children and teachers? What other parents are responsible for the crimes of their children?

[marylandblue]

58. She is indirectly responsible

Office of Child Advocate report details how she did not recognize how serious her son's problems were and did not provide proper treatment - not just medication, but Asperger's kids need help with social skills, life organization and behavior management. She provided none of these things, leaving an unhappy child obsessed with mass murder.

[Crunchy Frog]

62. Umm, stockpile massive numbers of weapons where he could easily access them

and encourage his interest in said weapons when she knew what his mental state was like.

[Honeycombe8]

68. Yes, she's partially to blame.

She had a cabinet full of guns & ammo, despite having a son with issues in the house. The son was sitting for 7 or more hours a day in his room, alone, playing violent video games. He was anti-social, and apparently taught to shoot guns. She was paranoid, thinking that mail to the house might contain anthrax...hence all the guns. The father, as I recall, had little to do with his son.

So, yeah...she was partially responsible, IMO. As was the father.

[Not Ruth]

44. I do not believe that the father was a part of his life

The mother raised him as a single parent. The mother was nuts according to the article, but there does not appear to have been a mental health diagnosis prior to her murder.

[LisaL]

52. She was divorced but Adam was already 17 when divorce took place.

[Honeycombe8]

69. Exactly. As I recall, the father had little to do with his son, and had always been that way. nt

[Not Ruth]

63. Most people with (xxx) do not commit mass murder

And you can substitute whatever you want for (xxx) , including 15 felonies or more guns than they can fit in a closet,

[Honeycombe8]

70. The marks were there.

Unhappy. Mental issues. Fixated on mass shootings and joined forums specifically about Columbine and maybe others. House with a lot of guns and ammo. Wondered what it would be like to kill a lot of people. He could shoot. No friends. Suicidal thoughts. Spent hours every day alone in his room playing violent video games.

There was reason to suspect he was dangerous.

[WinkyDink]

48. The FBI's "conclusion" is EXTREMELY specious, given that there is no attendant action on Adam's

part.

[Not Ruth]

53. What is an attendant action?

[WinkyDink]

73. He didn't commit any pedophiliac deeds. The FBI is now into mind-reading.

[TexasBushwhacker]

59. Yeah, correlation and causation are 2 different things n/t

[stevenleser]

56. So he was "Catcher in the Rye's" Holden Caulfield if Caulfield was a homicidal pedophile?

Admittedly it has been a long time since I read that book but it is what I immediately thought of when reading this OP

[Not Ruth]

60. Or a product of divorce

One can cherry pick anything from Lanza’s life and conclude THAT was the reason. Newsweek did.

[stevenleser]

66. I wasn't speaking of his motive so much as who he was as a person, his worldview/lifeview.

Again, assuming these accounts are correct its as if he modeled himself after Salingers character.

[Tikki]

64. Oh boy..cant wait to see what the FBI comes up for paddock 4 years after...

the fact.

Can’t figure out a motive...how about access to many, many, many weapons and a
grandiose image of one’s self=a mass killer.

Tikki

[pnwmom]

67. This seems sketchy because there is no Asperger's medicine. However, there are medications

for schizophrenia, a disease which causes psychosis and is a better fit for his actions.

Most schizophrenics, of course, are not violent; but if he didn't take a needed anti-psychotic, that could have led to this situation.

[alphafemale]

71. Wish momhah had done a hip check on a busy street with that one

How many kitten corpses do you need to find?

Or at least don't have an arsenal and teach the sick ass fuck to shoot