NYDN
“This was a deeply disturbed kid”
“This was a deeply disturbed kid,” a family insider told the Daily News. “He certainly had major issues. He was subject to outbursts from what I recall.”…
A “longtime” family friend said Lanza had a condition “where he couldn’t feel pain.”
“A few years ago when he was on the baseball team, everyone had to be careful that he didn’t fall because he could get hurt and not feel it,” said the friend. “Adam had a lot of mental problems.”…
He was also seen as an odd figure at Newtown High School.
Even before that, Lanza walked the halls of his middle school carrying a black briefcase while most students lugged their belongings in backpacks. “That stuck out,” said Tim Lalli, 20, who graduated with Lanza in 2010. “It was different.”
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It must have been that anti-Islam movie that provoked the ‘outburst’. Or he just might have been plain insane.
tommy71 on December 15, 2012 at 11:51 AM
Bat $hit crazy is more like it. With such a person in the house I find it a little unsettling that mom kept firearms around that he could access.
Frank Enstine on December 15, 2012 at 11:54 AM
I suspect at least one of the weapons was purchased for him. Not many wealthy fifty year old divorcees pulling down a quarter million dollars annually, in alimony, buy AR-15s for themselves. That part doesn’t smell right.
a capella on December 15, 2012 at 12:01 PM
Well that’s even scarier. According to the article, she has spent the last few years dedicating herself to take care of this little jewel. And a gun purchase was included? Sounds like maybe the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
Cindy Munford on December 15, 2012 at 12:05 PM
I could accept her buying the handguns for herself, but, even that is a bit of a stretch. Two? But, definitely not the rifle. That just doesn’t fit.
a capella on December 15, 2012 at 12:10 PM
You obviously don’t know many gun owners. I don’t know anyone with just one.
Quisp on December 15, 2012 at 12:17 PM
Agreed. That’s one of the big problems with all the early speculation and far to much misinformation. The media is hardly covering themselves in glory but I think few of us here are surprise. Far too many things don’t compute.
Cindy Munford on December 15, 2012 at 12:18 PM
LOL.
a capella on December 15, 2012 at 12:19 PM
True. That is the case in our home, but then we don’t have anyone living here that requires the kind of supervision indicated in the article.
Cindy Munford on December 15, 2012 at 12:20 PM
1. I think that there is alot of remembering going on. There are alot of odd ducks out there.. goth kids, etc. who don’t go on rampages. If not being the high school homecoming queen or hating high school is evidence that you’ll become a mass murderer, then I’m probably high risk. More likely is that acquaintances are trying to make it fit.
2. I wouldn’t condemn the parents. It seems like Mom was at wits end with this son. One thing society should and can do is encourage family members to institutionalize clearly disturbed family members and not be in denial about it.
Illinidiva on December 15, 2012 at 12:22 PM
I watched a number of documentaries on school shootings in the 90s. Often, these kids were violently acting out & fixated on weapons. The parents would take the weapons away but return them as a reward if their behavior improved. The parents were the first to be shot.
Still, we don’t know all the facts so don’t take this as criticism of either parent in this case.
Blake on December 15, 2012 at 12:28 PM
From what I’ve read, even from some HA posters, that is easier said than done, even when the problem is recognized by the family. This kid was twenty years old. Unless he would agree to voluntary treatment or commitment, there isn’t much they can force him to do. And the systems presently in place won’t do anything till he commits a crime. This needs to change, but, I don’t know how it can be done without taking away individual liberties and creating the opportunity for abusing the process. Maybe it just can’t be done.
a capella on December 15, 2012 at 12:32 PM
Saw that quote and expected to see an exposée about Obama’s childhood.
Glenn Jericho on December 15, 2012 at 12:33 PM
With as much misinformation as we have gotten so far everything is pure speculation. I don’t think any parent visualizes this kind of outcome. And when you live with someone day in and day out, do they present themselves as odd to you as others? And if you were to realize that your child had problems, I think I would constantly be looking at things as signs of improvement.
Cindy Munford on December 15, 2012 at 12:34 PM
he was an adult- he could have refused treatment if any at all was sought out…which is unknown at this point. no one can be forced into treatment save if she acknowledged he was in some way threatening.
if her son was disturbed enough in her eyes to require constant at home care she was clearly reprehensible in not getting professional/legal help and, untrained, thinking she could ‘deal with’ the situation on her own. and in keeping guns in the home- let alone perhaps buying him one. so , yes, i will condemn the parents. thank you. and none of the relatives so far who have responded have seen the kid in years- which in itself indicates something odd going on.
having been a goth i can say that it’s his sociopathic tendencies which were the give aways not black clothing and depressing music that he was potentially dangerous- and a mother thinking she could provide in home care to a physically able 20 year old exhibiting severe social and perhaps psychiatric dysfunction.
mittens on December 15, 2012 at 12:37 PM
It’s is very hard to institutionalize people. I have a son who was quiet in high school and he was surprised at hearing from a former classmate, years later, that he consider my son a future serial killer. It is impossible to control the perception of another person.
Cindy Munford on December 15, 2012 at 12:38 PM
Deeply disturbed – you don’t say?
I can assure you that if my 20 year old was showing serious indicators of mental instability, I would go to some lengths to prevent access to my firearms, just as I do now with my three year old.
Every gun owner has a grave responsibility to keep the weapons out of others’ hands, and if the mom weren’t dead, questions of criminal liability would not be far behind.
Xasprtr on December 15, 2012 at 12:39 PM
You can have someone detained if they are a threat to themselves or others. Someone linked to a comment where the woman complained that er sister attacked their mother but they couldn’t institutionalize her. Well, the goal is not to lock sick people up forever but to medicate them. She or her mother could have filed a police complaint. Once arrested she would be diverted to a psych/criminal system. They can use the criminal charges to hold them and mediate them. Also, the jail psychs/social workers are very good in getting them to take the meds on their own or to voluntarily agree to hospitalization.
Blake on December 15, 2012 at 12:45 PM
It certainly is. You have to prove that the person is practically insane and therefore a certain threat to himself and or others.
The bar for insanity is set very, very high in reaction to the time when it was set laughably low – e.g. parents used to be able to have their children committed as a form of discipline. There were several cases of young women who were comitted by their families because they were deemed to be immoral…
One extreme to another.
CorporatePiggy on December 15, 2012 at 12:46 PM
Seems to me the mother got the guns because she felt she needed the protection for some reason. Maybe she felt threatened by her son and kept the guns around unsecured she had easy access to them incase he went nuts.
unseen on December 15, 2012 at 12:48 PM
She may have had a gun safe which he did not have access to unless he stole the key. I can see why she might want firearms b/c of the Dr. Petrie case. Her son may have never been violent towards her at all. So, far all I have been able to find out is that he was autistic and had ocd.
Blake on December 15, 2012 at 12:49 PM
It’s not hard to institutionalize people who need it, i.e. a threat to themselves or others. Again they are not meant to be prisons. Crazy people may respond well to meds, stop taking their meds, have the meds not work. However, you don’t lock them up forever just b/c they have a mental illness.
Blake on December 15, 2012 at 12:53 PM
Anyone discover any connection between the shooter and the elementary school? Is that the one he attended as a child?
Paul-Cincy on December 15, 2012 at 12:56 PM
I had a relative who was institutionalized for decades and even was given electric shock. She was a success story of changing the laws on institutionalization but a lot of that had to do with how far medication had come in those years. She still had her relapses but the last part of her life was a fairytale in comparison.
Cindy Munford on December 15, 2012 at 12:58 PM
when someone is in psychiatric treatment for disturbances in which they can be a threat to themselves or others no guns are allowed in the home where they live- not even in a gun safe because-uh- they could shoot the gun owner in the face after stealing the key and then take the rest of the guns and going on a mass murder spree in a school… or something.
she shouldn’t have had guns in the house if he was living there. apparently he tried to buy a rifle on his own earlier this week and was denied. so maybe he killed his mom and stole them from her which is a fairly reasonable presumption.
he was going to get guns and do something evil and f’d up by any means necessary.
mittens on December 15, 2012 at 12:59 PM
It has been one of the theories given but to be honest, at this point, I just don’t trust any of the reporting. The media seems to be willing to fill up the minutes with anything.
Cindy Munford on December 15, 2012 at 1:00 PM
Why is a woman buying two handguns and a rifle for herself a stretch?
I know several women with several handguns, shotguns, and rifles each. Some of them have AR15s.
single stack on December 15, 2012 at 1:24 PM
The inability to feel “pain” is not an autism/Asperger’s trait.
My close family member with Asp’s has been involved with different sports for years, he gets hurt and feels it like everyone else. Hell, I had to explain to him that he needed to be tougher for some levels.
We’re looking at multiple issues, predominantly schizophrenia. They don’t experience pain in a normal way.
I’ve got little sympathy for the shooter’s mom.
If she initiated the divorce, then she was the catalyst.
Both parents have to be around, in some capacity, until these males move out of young adulthood. Only then can you be sure about a schizophrenic break.
But I thought the father was the one with undiagnosed issues.
Looks to be the mom.
She was teaching both sons how to shoot from an early age.
She has a kid with personality/mental-health issues.
And she’s teaching him how to use firearms.
That’s f’ing nuts.
budfox on December 15, 2012 at 1:30 PM
What I find “deeply disturbing” is that the news media prints noise that people send on Twitter as “news”.
crosspatch on December 15, 2012 at 1:42 PM
The information value is low, but they make up for it in volume.
Kenosha Kid on December 15, 2012 at 2:02 PM
a crazy kid did it, why i am not surprised. there are millions of us and some of us are crazy and these things happen. statistically it does seem to happen more in the us, but its still winning the reverse lotto to be caught in these things.
nathor on December 15, 2012 at 2:36 PM
Theses are all great points..
1. Interesting point about the horrific home invasion case.. that could be why Mom wanted a gun.
2. I do agree with you about being very careful who we deem mentally ill. That was my first point. It seems like in these cases that acquaintances remember odd behavior and then say.. why of course that is why he committed mass murder. And the behaviors being ascribed to him are just odd. Being a goth kid or a loner doesn’t mean that someone is going to be a murderer. I wasn’t a popular girl/ homecoming queen in high school and I’d hate it if someone deemed I was mentally ill. However, it serms like there were more issues than that. The mom was home for a reason.
Illinidiva on December 15, 2012 at 3:06 PM