Sandy Hook report sheds no light on motive
By Liz Goodwin & Dylan Stableford
A summary of the nearly year-long
investigation into the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre
was released by the Connecticut
state attorney Monday, shedding little new light on the shooting that killed 26
people, including 20 children, on Dec. 14, 2012.
The 48-page report describes how
20-year-old gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother at their Newtown home before driving to the school,
forcing his way in and fatally shooting 20 first-graders and six educators with
an assault rifle.
But it does not establish a motive for
Lanza, who turned a gun on himself as police arrived.
The report concluded Lanza acted alone.
Lanza clearly had mental health issues,
but prosecutors have no idea whether they contributed to his decision to take
the lives of 20 children — a decision they say was meticulously premeditated.
And they do not know why he chose Sandy
Hook Elementary School
for his crime, except perhaps that it was close to his home.
As was revealed in warrants released earlier
this year, police uncovered a cache of weapons during its investigation:
• A Bushmaster Model XM 15-E2S
semi-automatic rifle, found in the same classroom as the Lanza’s body.
• A Glock 20, 10 mm semi-automatic pistol,
which Lanza used to kill himself.
• A Sig Sauer P226, 9 mm semi-automatic
pistol found on Lanza.
• A Izhmash Saiga-12, 12 gauge
semi-automatic shotgun found in Lanza's car in the parking lot outside the
school "and which was secured in the vehicle’s trunk by police responding
to the scene."
• And a Savage Mark II rifle found at the
Lanza home near the bed where Nanzy Lanza’s body was found.
All of the firearms were legally purchased
by Nancy Lanza, who was not "in any way aware of her son’s plans,"
the report said. In fact, Nancy Lanza "wanted to buy the shooter a CZ 83
pistol for Christmas and had prepared a check for that purchase."
The report details Adam Lanza's interests
at length: playing violent and non-violent video games, target shooting with
his mother and building computers. One of his most time consuming hobbies was
playing "Dance, Dance Revolution," which he played for four to 10
hours at a local theater nearly every weekend.
The report also confirmed information
leaked earlier this year that Lanza kept "a spreadsheet with mass
murders over the years listing information
about each shooting."
Nancy Lanza told a witness the month
before the shooting that her son would only communicate with her by email, even
though they lived in the same house. She said he hadn't left the home in three
months.
According to investigators, no one was
allowed in Adam Lanza's room, including Nancy Lanza.
More from the report:
The shooter disliked birthdays, Christmas
and holidays. He would not allow his mother to put up a Christmas tree. The
mother explained it by saying that shooter had no emotions or feelings. The
mother also got rid of a cat because the shooter did not want it in the house.
When the shooter had his hair cut, he did
not like to be touched and did not like the sound of clippers, so they were not
used much. He would sit with his hands in his lap and always look down, giving
one word answers if the cutter tried to engage him in conversation.
Those who worked on the property [...] never
entered the home. They spoke with the mother outside in the yard or at the
bottom of driveway. They were instructed never to ring the doorbell and to make
prior arrangements before using power equipment as her son had issues with loud
noises.
“The purpose of the investigation was to
determine what crimes had been committed and whether anyone will be prosecuted
as a result of those crimes," Connecticut State Attorney Stephen Sedensky
said. "Based on a painstaking investigation it is determined that there
will be no arrests or prosecutions. The Connecticut State Police are to be
commended for their tireless work on this investigation and their consideration
of the families and victims involved."
Sedensky added: “With the release of this
report today the investigation is closed, and no additional release of
information or documents by this office is anticipated."
It's unclear when the Connecticut State
Police's full report on the shooting — several thousand pages long and
containing more than 700 files included in its investigation — will be
released. The state's attorney said authorities are in the process of redacting
sensitive information and are expecting to complete that process before the
first anniversary of the shooting.
But the decision to withhold the full
report from the public has stirred renewed criticism of the secrecy surrounding
the investigation. Typically, the full evidence is released, not just a
summary.
Sedensky has fought against the release of
911 tapes from the morning of the shooting.
"If the public never hears those
cries for help during this process, they won't be harmed," Sedensky said
in court last month.
Victor Perpetua, the lawyer for the
state's Freedom of Information Commission, disagreed.
"Every time someone calls 911, there
is a belief that there is a crime," Perpetua said. "That is part of
the record, but to me the more important part of the record was what response
did that person get? How was that information taken? What was the time period?
"I don't mean to say anything wrong
happened," he continued. "I don't know one way or the other. At a
certain point people start to ask, 'What is there to hide?' I'm saying the
longer it's delayed, the more questions that are raised and that delays in
providing access to this kind of record increases public insecurity about their
police departments."
A judge had been expected issue a ruling
on the release Monday, but postponed the decision, saying he needed to listen
to the tapes himself.
The family of Vicki Soto, a teacher killed
at the school, released a statement on Sunday ahead of the report's release.
"As we close in on the end of a very
difficult year, the releasing of this report is yet another blow that our
family has been dealt," the family's statement read. "While others
search for the answer as to why this happened, we search for the how. How can
we live without Vicki? How do we celebrate Christmas without Vicki? How do we
go on every day missing a piece of our family? Those are the questions we seek
the answers for. There is nothing in the report that will answer those for
us."
Sandy Hook Elementary School
massacre
2012
massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a mass
shootings 28 killed, including gunman.
Note: Newtown
(CT) is the location of the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Martin
Feinberg is a Newtown (CT) resident,
and his son is Stephen A. Feinberg.
Stephen
A. Feinberg is Martin Feinberg’s
son, and the CEO for Cerberus Capital
Management L.P.
Daniel R.
Coats was a lobbyist for Cerberus Capital
Management L.P., and was a U.S.
ambassador for Germany.
Cerberus
Capital Management L.P. is the owner of the Freedom
Group.
Rumor Control: The Truth About
Cerberus/Freedom Group
July 20, 2012
An old rumor has once again resurfaced
alleging that Cerberus--the private equity firm that owns Freedom group, a
holding company that in turn owns a number of firearms manufacturers, including
Remington, Marlin, Bushmaster, and DPMS--is in some way tied to George
Soros.
Michael
P.C. Carns is a director at the Freedom Group,
and was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), and the Human Rights Watch.
George Soros
is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations,
and was a benefactor for the Human Rights Watch.
Richard
R. Burt is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and was a
U.S. ambassador for Germany.
Rozanne
L. Ridgway was a co-chair for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and a U.S. ambassador for
Germany.
Adolf
Hitler was the fuhrer for Germany.
John
J. Studzinski is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), a director at the Human Rights Watch,
and a papal knighthood knight.
papal
knighthood is an honor conferred by pope from the Roman
Catholic Church.
Benedict
XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) is the pope emeritus
for the Roman Catholic Church.
Was Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph
Ratzinger) A Nazi? Why Join the Hitler Youth?
By Austin Cline
The question of Joseph Ratzinger’s
involvement with Nazi Germany and the Hitler Youth is important: there is
reason to think that Ratzinger has been less than fully candid about his past.
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