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Suspect's friends at loss to explain

Dec 16th 2012, 08:17

Friends say he was quiet and withdrawn
Police have yet to disclose a motive
He had no known criminal record
He had issues with learning, his aunt says

(CNN) -- As with any murder-suicide, the suspect in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting took to his grave the reasons that compelled him to mow down more than two dozen people before taking his own life in the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

But those who knew the alleged shooter grasped to reconcile the difference between the quiet, withdrawn 20-year-old without a criminal record -- and the man who, dressed in black fatigues and a military vest, rained hell at the Newtown, Connecticut, school last week.

Police say the shooter was Adam Lanza; that he killed his mother, Nancy, in their home before walking into the school and spraying with bullets 26 more people, 20 of them children no older than 7.

The rampage ended when Lanza apparently took his own life in a classroom. With him were three firearms: a .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle and two handguns: a Glock and a Sig Sauer.

Connecticut law requires gun owners to be at least 21 years old. The guns, authorities said, belonged to his mother.

A yearbook photo of Adam Lanza, taken during his sophomore year in 2008.

Donna Soto, right, mother of Victoria Soto, the first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School who was shot and killed while protecting her students, hugs her daughter Karly while mourning their loss at a candlelight memorial at Stratford High School on Saturday, December 15, in Stratford, Connecticut.

Firefighters kneel to pay their respects at a makeshift memorial near the school in Newtown on Saturday.

A child lights a candle at a memorial filled with flowers, stuffed toys and candles outside of Saint Rose of Lima Church near Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on Saturday.

Candles light up a memorial outside of Saint Rose of Lima Church in Newtown.

Candles burn next to a lighted tree at a makeshift shrine in Newtown.

Lucas, Kelly and Michael DaSilva pray and embrace at a makeshift memorial near the school in Newtown.

People are overcome with emotion Saturday at a makeshift memorial near Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

Residents arrive Saturday to pay tribute to the victims of an elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

A couple carry balloons to place at a curbside shrine to in Newtown on Saturday.

A mother and daughter attend a prayer service at St. John's Episcopal Church in Newtown on Saturday.

Flowers and signs of sympathy adorn the street leading to Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Claudia Urbiana and daughter Jocelyne Cardenas, left, hug outside of the entrance to the Sandy Hook school.

A makeshift memorial with flowers, stuffed toys and candles sit outside Saint Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown, Connecticut, on Saturday.

A man bows his head as he stands at a makeshift memorial, outside Saint Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown on Saturday, December 15.

New Jersey resident Steve Wruble, who was moved to drive out to Connecticut to support local residents, grieves for victims at the entrance to Sandy Hook village in Newtown on Saturday.

People attend a prayer service in Newtown on Saturday to reflect.

A mother hugs her children after paying tribute to the victims in Newtown on Saturday, December 15.

Newtown High School student Trevor Lopez stands outside of a church where residents have come to pray and reflect on Saturday

Andrea Jaeger places flowers and a candle at a makeshift memorial outside a firehouse near Sandy Hook Elementary School on Saturday.

The U.S. flag flies at half-staff above the White House on Saturday.

Ken Kowalsky and his daughter Rebecca, 13, embrace while standing at the end of the road leading to Sandy Hook Elementary School on Saturday.

A woman puts a flower near crosses planted by Rio de Paz (Rio of Peace), in memory of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.

A woman sits during a service at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, Connecticut on Friday, December 14.

Fans at the NBA game between the Utah Jazz and the Phoenix Suns participate in a moment of silence for the victims of the Newtown shooting on Friday in Phoenix.

An overflow crowd listens to a church service held at the St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Newtown on December 14.

People gather for a prayer vigil at St. Rose Church on Friday.

People gather for a vigil outside the White House in Washington following the Connecticut elementary school shooting on Friday.

Candles burn as people gather for a vigil outside the White House.

Hartford, Connecticut, Mayor Padro Segarra speaks emotionally about the students and teachers who died earlier in the day at Sandy Hook Elementary School in nearby Newtown at a candlelight vigil at Bushnell Park in Hartford on Friday.

Cynthia Alvarez is comforted by her mother, Lilia, as people gather for a prayer vigil at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown.

People gather for a prayer vigil at St. Rose Church in Newtown.

People gather for a prayer vigil at St. Rose Church.

People gather inside the St. Rose Church to remember the shooting victims on Friday

A woman bows her head during a vigil for the shooting victims at St. Rose Church.

People gather in the St. Rose Church for a memorial service Friday.

Women comfort each other during the vigil at St. Rose Church.

A woman looks on during the vigil at St. Rose Church.

People hug outside of the Newtown United Methodist Church on Friday, near the site of the shootings at the Sandy Hook school.

A flag at the U.S. Capitol flies at half-staff after President Barack Obama ordered the action while speaking from the White House. Obama called for "meaningful action" in the wake of the school shooting.

Julie Henson of San Francisco joins other people outside the White House to participate in a candlelight vigil on Friday.

Obama wipes tears as he makes a statement in response to the shooting on Friday.

Washington resident Rachel Perrone, left, and her 5-year-old son, Joe, center, join others outside the White House in a candlelight vigil.

Faisal Ali, right, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, joins the vigil outside the White House.

People gather outside the White House to participate in a candlelight vigil.

Supporters of gun control hold a candlelight vigil for victims of the shooting outside the White House.

Newtown school murders: World reacts

Newtown school shooting: World reacts

Newtown school shooting: world reacts

Newtown school murders: World reacts

Firefighters attach black bunting to a fire truck as a memorial at the fire station down the street from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Saturday, December 15. A gunman killed 26 people at the school, including 20 children, before taking his own life on Friday.

Connecticut Chief Medical Examiner H. Wayne Carver II talks to the media about the elementary school shooting during a press conference at Treadwell Memorial Park on December 15.

Zulma Sein is hugged by a family member outside of the entrance to the Sandy Hook School on Saturday.

Police officers keep guard at the entrance to the street leading to the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Saturday, December 15.

Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance addresses the press on December 15.

Police officers stand at the entrance to the street leading to the Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 15.

Corinne McLaughlin, a student at the University of Hartford, bows her head during a candlelight vigil at Hartford, Connecticut's Bushnell Park on Friday, December 14, honoring the students and teachers who died at Sandy Hook Elementary School in nearby Newtown earlier in the day.

Distraught people leave the fire station after hearing news of their loved ones from officials on Friday.

Emergency workers stand in front of the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

A child and her mother leave a staging area outside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14.

Members of the media converge on December 14 in front of an apartment at 1313 Grand Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. The apartment is believed to be connected to the Connecticut elementary school shooting.

Faisal Ali, right, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, joins other people outside the White House on December 14 to participate in a candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Connecticut State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance, center, briefs the media on the elementary school shootings during a press conference at Treadwell Memorial Park on December 14 in Newtown.

People weep and embrace near Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, December 14.

A woman leans on a man as she weeps near Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

President Barack Obama wipes a tear as he speaks about the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School during a press briefing at the White House on December 14.

A woman weeps near the site of a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

A woman weeps near Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

People comfort each other near Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

A man takes in the scene near Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

A young girl is given a blanket after being evacuated from Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

State police personnel lead children from the school.

Children wait outside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, after the shooting.

A boy weeps at Reed Intermediate School after getting news of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

FBI SWAT team members walk along Dickinson Drive near Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

An aerial view of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14.

Connecticut State Troopers arrive on the scene outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

A Connecticut State Police officer runs with a shotgun at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown on December 14.

Police patrol the streets around Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

People try to deal with the shock of the attack outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

Connecticut State Police secure the scene of the shooting on December 14.

People embrace outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

A man escorts his son away from Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

People take in the news outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

People line up to enter Newtown Methodist Church near the the scene of the shooting on December 14.

A woman speaks with a Connecticut state trooper outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

The streets around Sandy Hook Elementary are packed with first responders and other vehicles.

A view of the scene at Sandy Hook Elementary School after the shooting.

A young boy is comforted outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

People embrace each other on December 14.

Connecticut school shooting

Photos: Connecticut school shooting

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Remembering victims of CT shooting

Parents Mourn in Sandy Hook

Students struggle to understand tragedy

Small town changed forever by shooting

Residents meet with grief counselors

Police have yet to disclose a motive for the attack -- which left those who knew Lanza trying to discern whether anything in his past could have foreshadowed the present.

Comforting survivors: 'Hug them' and 'cry with them'

Lanza moved to Connecticut from Kingston, New Hampshire, with his parents and older brother Ryan, according to a booklet for the town's Newtown's Bennetts Farm neighborhood. He enjoyed soccer, skateboarding and video games, the publication said.

In September 2009 -- when Lanza was 17 -- his mother and father divorced, court documents show.

What happened after that for him isn't clear, except that he continued to lived in the picturesque, 300-year-old Connecticut town.

His father, Peter, remarried and lived not far from Newtown, an official said. He was questioned by authorities after the shooting. So, too, was his 24-year-old brother Ryan.

Authorities have offered few details about Lanza. He had no known criminal record, a law enforcement official said.

One of Lanza's aunts, Marsha, described him as a "quiet, nice kid" who had issues with learning, she said. Her husband is Lanza's paternal uncle.

"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 Lanza's mother "battled" with the school board and ended up having her son home-schooled.

"She had issues with school," the aunt, who lives in Crystal Lake, Illinois, said. "I'm not 100% certain if it was behavior or learning disabilities, but he was a very, very bright boy. He was smart."

Slain Connecticut principal just implemented new security system

Alex Israel was in the same class at Newtown High School with Lanza, and lived a few houses down from him.

"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."

Others in Newtown who knew Lanza said they had no idea he'd ever be responsible for such horror.

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 relative told investigators that Lanza 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.

How do we stop the violence?

But a national autism committee cautioned against speculating about any link between autism and violence.

"Autism is not a mental health disorder - it is a neurodevelopmental disorder," said the Autism Research Institute's Autistic Global Initiative Project. "The eyes of the world are on this wrenching tragedy -- with 1 in 88 now diagnosed, misinformation could easily trigger increased prejudice and misunderstanding."

A former classmate told CNN affiliate WCBS that Lanza "was just a kid" -- not a troublemaker.

"I don't know who would do anything like this," the classmate said, before walking away distraught. "This is unspeakable."

The suspect's father was also at a loss for explanation. He sent his condolences to the families of victims in a statement released Saturday.

"Our family is grieving along with all those who have been affected by this enormous tragedy," he said. "No words can truly express how heartbroken we are. We are in a state of disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can."

In New Hampshire, the family of Nancy Lanza -- the mother -- released a statement where they too expressed shock and sadness.

"On behalf of Nancy's mother and siblings we reach out to the community of Newtown and express our heartfelt sorrow for the incomprehensible and profound loss of innocence that has affected so many."

CNN's Susan Candiotti and Mary Snow contributed from Newtown, Connecticut. CNN's Tim Lister, Terry Frieden, John King and Greg Botelho also contributed to this report.

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