The man identified in media reports Friday as the shooter in the second deadliest school shooting in American history has told friends that he thinks his developmentally disabled brother may have committed the crime, Patch has learned.
A close friend of Ryan Lanza who requested to not be identified told Patch that he spoke to Lanza as he was making his way home from work to Hoboken. Lanza also took to his Facebook page to rail against CNN naming him as the suspect in the shooting in Newtown, Conn.
“I’m on the bus home now, it wasn’t me,” Lanza wrote.
Lanza’s mother, Nancy, a school teacher, is believed to be among the dead. More than 25 people, including 18 students, died in the mass shooting.
The shooter was Adam Lanza, 20, the younger brother of Ryan Lanza, the New York Post reported at 3:29 p.m., citing sources. Ryan Lanza is being questioned by Hoboken police and is not a suspect, the Post also reported.
Newtown First Selectman Pat Llodra told Patch that there is no information being released about the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
"I'm horrified, saddened and shocked that this happened in Newtown," Llodra said. "Our priorities right now are making sure everyone is safe and reuniting parents with their children."
A reverse 911 call went out to all Newtown public school parents, NBC is reporting. Parents converged on the school seeking information about their children.
One mother of an 8-year-old girl at the school, Brenda Lebinski, told Patch that her daughter is safe thanks to one teacher's decision to move all kids into a closet when a gunman had entered the building.
Lebinski said that she had spoken to her daughter's teacher as well as a volunteer who was in the school at the time of the shooting, and that a masked gunman had shot adults in the school.
"My daughter's teacher is my hero," Lebinski said. "She locked all the kids in a closet and that saved their lives."
According to Lebinski, the school had been on lockdown but police started leading out children and faculty members by class, and several children had blood on their clothing as they were led out. It isn't clear how many kids are still inside the school. Parents continue to surround the area, seeking news of their children.
Christine Wilford, a parent of a seven-year-old boy at the school, told Patch that her son was out of the school and safe with her husband. A woman standing next to Wilford burst into tears, saying her own son was still inside.
Danbury Hospital has confirmed to TV reporters that three patients have been transported by ambulance.
The Hartford Courant is reporting multiple injured parties, saying a shooter had been in the building’s main office and an individual in one area had “numerous gunshot wounds,” police said.
State police reported shortly after 12 p.m. that officials from the state Medical Examiner's Office were en route to the scene.
At a fire station near the school that is serving as a staging area, a woman was being wheeled on a gurney as a helicopter circled overhead and armed officials from multiple state and federal agencies moved beyond a cordoned-off area swarmed by parents.
Marilyn Gudsnuk, 52, of nearby Southbury said she heard 10 to 12 gunshots around 9:40 a.m. Gudsnuk, who attended the elementary school herself as a child, said she is taking care of a 91-year-old resident who lives across the street from the school.
"I took off running into the house," she said. "I didn't know what was happening. It was scary."
Asked whether she imagined a shooting could happen at her former school, Gudsnuk said, "Never in a million years."
"I just pray for these people," she said. "The anguish they are going through. And all because someone's not right in the head."
We have precedent as it relates to DWI manslaughter which civil suits have been succcessfully resulted in civil penalties against those who serve and enable the driver who kills under the influence. In this case there is a joint custody order entered in conjunction with the divorce decree. The Father had a loco parentis relationship and should be accountable for the care and environment which impacted the killer who was emotionally unstable with asperger syndrome, which has symptoms of depreesion and tantrums and anger issues. A significant civil financial judgement would go a long way to broaden accountability beyond the killer alone. It has worked with DWI cases and everyone is aware of consequences of over serving drivers in your home or in a restaurant.
First, the so-called "Dram Shop Acts" and equivalent laws are specifically directed to the instance where a tavern or liquor store -- or a host, such as at a party -- serves liquor to a person, especially one known to be intoxicated, and the person commits some tort on a third party. That is a different situation than where someone has mere KNOWLEDGE of another's acts leading to a tort. In general, mere knowledge of something is very rarely (if ever) actionable in the United States. Second, Adam Lanza, a 20-year-old, was long passed the age of majority in Connecticut, which is 18. That is the age that would have been certainly used by the court in Connecticut to set most, if not all, obligations, absent very unusual circumstances. All support, liability and joint-custody arrangements -- except perhaps for college expenses and the like -- would have normally expired long ago. You recite some "facts" that I doubt are true as a matter of law. For example, I have seen nothing saying he was a "legal" dependent of anyone -- such that someone was in loco parentis -- let alone an absent father. This would be very unusual, and certainly there is nothing reported that I have seen saying that.
@Donna, I pray that you see the light and give up your views on guns.
Families lost children and other loved ones. Don't desecrate that with quotes from Ronald Reagan.
I know there is more potential for death from cars. I hate how people use this tragedy to advance their agenda. Huckelbee/prayer in school, both sides of the control debate. All using these children.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-detailed-account-yet-of-the-sandy-hook-massacre-2012-12 http://www.businessinsider.com/adam-lanza-very-very-bright-and-a-deeply-disturbed-kid-2012-12