http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-12-15/newtown-shooter-had-asperger-syndrome-and-some-us-gun-facts
read more at link above!
Newtown Shooter Had Asperger Syndrome, And Some US Gun Facts
(Edit: Should also be noted that the Colorado shooter also had Aspergers)
Submitted by
Tyler Durden on 12/15/2012 11:26 -0500
Update: The focus now shifts to the mother, the first casualty of her son's murderous rampage, who was a "
big, big gun fan" as the NYT explains, and who went target shooting with her children, one of whom had Asperger's.
From
the NYT:
She was “a big, big gun fan” who went target shooting with her children, according to friends. She enjoyed craft beers, jazz and landscaping. She was generous to strangers, but also high-strung, as if she were holding herself together.
Nancy Lanza was the first victim in a massacre carried out on Friday by her son Adam Lanza, 20, who shot her dead with a gun apparently drawn from her own collection, then drove her car to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he killed 26 people, 20 of them small children, officials said.
At craft beer tastings on Tuesday evenings, he recalled, she liked to talk about her gun collection.
“She had several different guns,” he said. “I don’t know how many. She would go target shooting with her kids.”
Law enforcement officials said they believed that the guns were acquired lawfully and registered.
* * *
She was “a big, big gun fan,” he added on his Web site.
Read on here
* * *
As we reported
last night, buried inside the
NYT biopic of Newtown shooter Adam Lanza was arguably one of the most important missing pieces in the story, at least so far, which could provide clues into partially explaining yesterday's tragic loss of young life, namely that the 20 year old man suffered from
Asperger Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism (two conditions which are being merged in the
upcoming update of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) manual of mental disorders), which has been traditionally associated with social communication difficulties,
including flat affect, and one which in some clinical studies has been shown to have a causal link to
violence. In other words, in addition to the surge in the debate over national gun control and access limitations (ignoring that the perpetrator of the biggest school mass murder in US history -
the Bath School disaster - used openly purchased dynamite and no guns, also ignoring that in the US there are
roughly 300 million firearms), perhaps there should also be a broad discussion as to the risks of social misadoption of children with autism and other social and behavioral disorders.
From CBS/AP:
He was an honors student who lived in a prosperous neighborhood with his mother, a well-liked woman who enjoyed hosting dice games and decorating the house for the holidays.
Now Adam Lanza is suspected of killing his mother and then gunning down more than two dozen people, 20 of them children, at a Connecticut grade school before taking his own life.
The 20-year-old may have suffered from a personality disorder, law enforcement officials said.
The New York Times reported Saturday morning that several people told the newspaper that Lanza had Asperger’s syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism.
The Times reported Lanza did not have a Facebook page and did not pose for a high school yearbook picture.
He was described as socially awkward and was known in high school as “intelligent, but nervous and fidgety, spitting his words out, as if having to speak up were painful.”
Investigators were trying to learn as much as possible about Lanza and questioned his older brother, who is not believed to have any involvement in the rampage.
Lanza killed his mother at their home before driving her car to Sandy Hook Elementary School and — armed with at least two handguns — carried out the massacre, officials said.
A third weapon, a .223-caliber rifle, was found in the car, and more guns were found inside the school.
So far, authorities have not spoken publicly of any possible motive. Witnesses said the shooter didn’t utter a word.
Catherine Urso, who was attending a vigil Friday evening in Newtown, Conn., said her college-age son knew the killer and remembered him for his alternative style.
“He just said he was very thin, very remote and was one of the goths,” she said.
* * *
Adam Lanza’s older brother, 24-year-old Ryan Lanza of Hoboken, N.J., was being questioned, a law enforcement official said. He told authorities that his brother was believed to suffer from a personality disorder, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record about the unfolding investigation.
The official did not elaborate, and it was unclear exactly what type of disorder he might have had.
Ryan Lanza had been extremely cooperative and was not under arrest or in custody, but investigators were still searching his computers and phone records. Ryan Lanza told law enforcement he had not been in touch with his brother since about 2010.
* * *
Adam Lanza attended Newtown High School, and several local news clippings from recent years mention his name among the school’s honor roll students.
