Gunman's aunt speaks out
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Relatives struggle to comprehend, express 'our heartfelt sorrow'
- NEW: Gunman Adam Lanza was a 'challenge,' home-schooled, aunt says
- NEW: Parents divorced; mom was left 'very well off,' aunt says
- Father is a VP at GE Energy Financial Services, mother was homemaker
Nancy Lanza was a
personable neighbor who lived on a block of spacious houses on a crest
overlooking gentle hills, acquaintances said.
She and her family moved
to the Sandy Hook neighborhood about 1998, raising two sons with husband
Peter until the couple separated a few years ago.
"It was just a nice,
normal family," neighbor Rhonda Cullen said Saturday, recalling a
recurring neighborhood ladies night over the Bunco dice game.
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"We used to joke with her
that she'd do all this landscaping that no one could see because it all
was in the back, and because her house was so set back," added Cullen.
At odds with this image
of New England gentility was how the Lanza household possessed a cache
of weapons -- including an assault-style rifle and two handguns -- in a
community prized for its stillness.
Those weapons were found with Nancy Lanza's younger son, Adam, 20 -- whom three law enforcement officials said was the gunman in Friday's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
After gunfire at the school killed 20 children and six adults -- the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history -- the shooter killed himself, officials said.
Before Friday's rampage,
authorities said, Adam Lanza killed his mother in her home in Newtown's
Sandy Hook community, after which the school takes its name. Adam was
living with his mother, two law enforcement sources said. The other son,
Ryan, was living in New Jersey.
Said Cullen, struggling to make sense of the weaponry and the carnage: "Something doesn't add up."
Marsha Lanza, an aunt to
Adam Lanza, described him as a "quiet, nice kid," but he had issues
with learning, she said. Her husband is brother to Adam Lanza's father.
"He was definitely the
challenge of the family in that house. Every family has one," she told
CNN affiliate WLS. "They have one. I have one. But never in trouble with
the law, never in trouble with anything."
She said Adam Lanza's mother "battled" with the school board and ended up having her son home-schooled.
"She had issues with
school," said Marsha Lanza, who lives in Crystal Lake, Illinois. "I'm
not 100% certain if it was behavior or learning disabilities, but he was
a very, very bright boy. He was smart."
Nancy Lanza was a
giving, quiet, reserved person who grew up on a farm in New Hampshire
with three siblings in a self-reliant family, Marsha Lanza said. The
Lanza family is from Kingston, New Hampshire, she said.
"She didn't have to work
because my brother-in-law left her very well off, very well off. She
was always there for her kids," Marsha Lanza added, referring to Nancy
Lanza's financial situation after she and her husband divorced.
The gunman's mother owned guns for self-defense, the aunt said.
"She never felt threatened, or she would have said something," Marsha Lanza said.
The aunt also said she couldn't begin to understand the mass shooting.
"Why these kids, why these innocent little kids? That just still baffles me," she said. "I can't understand why."
She said she doesn't
believe gun laws should be changed. "It's the person who does the
killing, not the gun," she said. "I thank God every day that my kids
have faith and know right from wrong -- and I'm not saying her kids
didn't -- but you have got to give your kids roots."
Adam Lanza's brother,
Ryan, works as a certified public account in New York, the aunt said. "I
couldn't imagine Ryan doing such a thing. He is too well-educated," she
said. "He has it together."
Dan Holmes, who owns a
local landscaping business, said Nancy Lanza was a gun collector, and
that she showed off a rifle she had recently purchased.
"She told me she'd go target shooting with her boys pretty often," Holmes said.
But ATF Special
Assistant Agent Gene Marquez said his agency "has not been able to
uncover any evidence that the mother and the son were actively engaged
in going to the gun ranges, practicing marksmanship, or anything of that
nature."
The three weapons found
at the scene of the shooting were legally purchased by his mother, a law
enforcement official familiar with the investigation told CNN.
Neighbor Gina McDade
said Nancy Lanza was a "stay-at-home mom" and not a teacher or part-time
employee of Sandy Hook Elementary, as some media reports stated.
Nancy Lanza had earlier
worked in finance in Boston and Connecticut, said a friend who knew her
well but who didn't want her name published. Nancy Lanza had retired or
was on a break from her career, but she was not a teacher, the friend
said.
The friend said Nancy was devoted to her sons and had been "caring for Adam," but would not provide further details.
Nancy Lanza's relatives
say they share the nation's grief and struggle "to comprehend the
tremendous loss that we all share," according to a statement from James
Champion, who is a police officer and brother to Nancy Lanza.
"On behalf of Nancy's
mother and siblings, we reach out to the community of Newtown and
express our heartfelt sorrow for the loss of innocence that has affected
so many," said the family statement, which was read by Rockingham
County, New Hampshire, Sheriff Michael Downing.
That county includes the town of Kingston, where Adam Lanza's father, Peter, was raised.
Peter Lanza released a statement Saturday expressing condolences to the families of victims.
"Our family is grieving
along with all those who have been affected by this enormous tragedy. No
words can truly express how heartbroken we are. We are in a state of
disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can," said the
statement.
Four years ago, the Lanzas' marriage was ending.
Nancy Jean Lanza sued
Peter John Lanza for divorce on November 24, 2008 -- three days before
Thanksgiving, Connecticut court records show.
The husband was known in the family as "P.J.," Marsha Lanza said.
Nancy Lanza checked off "yes" for financial disputes but "no" for parenting disputes, records show.
They were divorced in September 2009 after an uncontested hearing, records show.
Peter Lanza is tax
director and vice president of taxes for GE Energy Financial Services in
the New York City area, according to his resume posted on the website
LinkedIn. He has been an adjunct faculty member at Northeastern
University in Boston since 1995 and also teaches a partnership tax class
in the master's in taxation degree program at Fairfield University in
Fairfield, Connecticut, his LinkedIn page states.
On LinkedIn, he wrote
summaries about himself, including: "Career dedicated to developing and
refining partnership tax planning and transactional skills" and "Work
closely with many of the preeminent partnership tax advisors in the
United States on a daily basis."
Hours after the shooting
Friday, a reporter with the Stamford Advocate found Peter Lanza as he
pulled his blue Mini Cooper into his driveway in Stamford, Connecticut.
Peter Lanza was
apparently unaware that his son was behind the school massacre and his
ex-wife had been killed, the newspaper reported.
Peter Lanza told the
reporter, "Is there something I can do for you?" and then declined to
comment upon being told of his family's involvement in the shooting, the
newspaper reported.
The newspaper quoted an
unidentified neighbor as saying Peter Lanza and his new wife, who has
been living in the neighborhood for at least a decade, were married
fairly recently.
Peter Lanza was taken in
for questioning, but there was no indication he would face any charges,
one U.S. law enforcement official told CNN.
Ryan Lanza was taken
into custody for general questioning Friday from a home in Hoboken, New
Jersey, according to three law enforcement officials. They did not label
him a suspect.
The more complicated story of Adam Lanza was still being assembled by authorities and media in the aftermath of the massacre.
Authorities on Saturday
said they were examining the sequence of events that led Adam Lanza to
dress in what a law enforcement source said was "black battle fatigues
and a military vest," enter Sandy Hook Elementary and begin firing.
He was named by authorities as the invader who shot to death 20 children -- ages 6 and 7 -- and six adults, then killed himself.
Adam Lanza was found
dead in a classroom, and police recovered three weapons from the scene: a
semi-automatic .223 Bushmaster, a Glock and a Sig Sauer, a source with
knowledge of the investigation said.
Adam Lanza had no known criminal record, a law enforcement official said.
A member of Lanza's
family told investigators that he had a form of autism, according to a
law enforcement official who spoke under condition of anonymity due to
the sensitive nature of the investigation.
Acquaintances struggled with fathoming the deadly actions being attributed to someone they had known.
Alex Israel was in the same class at Newtown High School with Adam Lanza, who lived a few houses down from her.
"You could definitely
tell he was a genius," Israel told CNN, adding she hadn't talked with
him since middle school. "He was really quiet, he kept to himself."
His former bus driver, Marsha Moskowitz, told CNN affiliate WABC that he was "a nice kid, very polite" like his brother.
"It's a shock to even know (the family)," she said. "You can't understand what happened."
A former classmate told CNN affiliate WCBS
that Adam Lanza "was just a kid" -- not a troublemaker, not antisocial,
not suggesting in any way that he could erupt like this.
"I don't know who would do anything like this," the classmate said, before walking away distraught. "This is unspeakable."
Source: http://edition.cnn.com
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