Connecticut school district on lockdown after shooting report at a Newtown elemen #11

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Again, it's very easy for us (you) to say what AL's mom should/should not have done. We were *not* living her life. We don't know her thoughts and values nor do we (strangers to the Lanzas) know who the mom was on a personal basis. What we see, we are seeing as an *aftermath* of AL's tragic choices.

Certainly there is responsibility on her part for AL learning to use guns, but AL was also an adult so he himself was accountable for his own choices and for the mass shooting. What you see as *pretty straightforward* is not so when you are personally living in the situation, especially as a mother who appeared to have loved her child.

I am certain if you are a mother who have adult children and your adult children commit a crime and/or do something wrong, you would not want others to judge you for what they believe is "pretty straightforward" and obvious.

Actually, it is easy. I fail to see the need of purchasing a whole bunch of powerful weapons.
He was an adult, but he didn't even get out of the house at the end of it.
Very unlikely he would have been able to purchase any of the weapons himself.
 
I think Nancy likely supported his interest in guns because it was the only thing they connected on and so to her it may have been the only thread she felt connected the two of them at all. I am sure she never thought her son was capable of violence towards others because he seemed to afraid of human contact. She likely thought the isolation was by choice, so why would he feel hostile towards people when it seemed he had no interest in interacting. This crime is all on Adam. I believe he planned this for a very long time and trained himself for his last final act. This was no spur of the moment crime, although an impending move may have been what triggered him to act when he did.
 
I think Nancy likely supported his interest in guns because it was the only thing they connected on and so to her it may have been the only thread she felt connected the two of them at all. I am sure she never thought her son was capable of violence towards others because he seemed to afraid of human contact. She likely thought the isolation was by choice, so why would he feel hostile towards people when it seemed he had no interest in interacting. This crime is all on Adam. I believe he planned this for a very long time and trained himself for his last final act. This was no spur of the moment crime, although an impending move may have been what triggered him to act when he did.

His was apparently obsessed with mass shootings. What did she think that was about? Or did she not even know it?
 
I try not to judge but this woman clearly lived in denial..
 
His was apparently obsessed with mass shootings. What did she think that was about? Or did she not even know it?

It is quite possible she didn't even know it, I believe the obsession was part of his planning, I am not sure if he spoke of it or not, and if he did one can assume he seemed merely 'interested' in it as an intellectual study or sorts.

Since Adam locked Nancy out of his room and his life as much as he could then it is hard to know how much she was aware of his interests.
 
I believe Nancy never thought Adam was in any danger around guns, first to himself, secondly to herself, and finally to outsiders.

She was for whatever reason comfortable with the idea of Adam having access to firearms, it is quite likely that Adam cultivated that belief. Adam was clearly much more capable than he appeared, and may have played on his helplessness in order to allow him to selfishly pursue his own ends without outside interference.

It is on him IMO. I believe he was a calculating person, he played her.
 
I think Nancy likely supported his interest in guns because it was the only thing they connected on and so to her it may have been the only thread she felt connected the two of them at all. I am sure she never thought her son was capable of violence towards others because he seemed to afraid of human contact. She likely thought the isolation was by choice, so why would he feel hostile towards people when it seemed he had no interest in interacting. This crime is all on Adam. I believe he planned this for a very long time and trained himself for his last final act. This was no spur of the moment crime, although an impending move may have been what triggered him to act when he did.

I agree. From the info we've received about the mom, about how she would sit in the classroom with AL and show up at school whenever there were situations with AL, and that she even tried to negotiate a better teacher/student interaction with the school in how they handled AL, it definitely does not appear she didn't love AL nor that she neglected him.

I think as you do that guns were a love of hers and she saw that he had a similar fondness for guns and so she gave him gun lessons and took him shooting as a way to bond with an otherwise uncommunicative, autistic child. I believe that was her way of trying to reach and connect with him. Yes, it is most unfortunate that she felt she was unable to find other ways of relating to AL but I think she had done what she felt to be the best given her circumstances and the fact that she herself was not a mental health expert.

Unless I hear that she was aware that he was violent or hat he secretly killed animals or exhibited some type of siociopathic behavior, I'm not going to be harsh on the mom. That's all I'm going to say on this matter.
 
I think if she thought there was any issue around guns and Adam at all, her first fear would have been that he might commit suicide, and for that reason I think she thought it was safe for him to be around them.
 
I agree. From the info we've received about the mom, about how she would sit in the classroom with AL and show up at school whenever there were situations with AL, and that she even tried to negotiate a better teacher/student interaction with the school in how they handled AL, it definitely does not appear she didn't love AL nor that she neglected him.

I think as you do that guns were a love of hers and she saw that he had a similar fondness for guns and so she gave him gun lessons and took him shooting as a way to bond with an otherwise uncommunicative, autistic child. I believe that was her way of trying to reach and connect with him. Yes, it is most unfortunate that she felt she was unable to find other ways of relating to AL but I think she had done what she felt to be the best given her circumstances and the fact that she herself was not a mental health expert.

Unless I hear that she was aware that he was violent or hat he secretly killed animals or exhibited some type of siociopathic behavior, I'm not going to be harsh on the mom. That's all I'm going to say on this matter.

Surely she could see that he exhibited anti social behavior. The report issued says he lacked empathy.
 
I think if she thought there was any issue around guns and Adam at all, her first fear would have been that he might commit suicide, and for that reason I think she thought it was safe for him to be around them.

He did commit suicide. Unfortunately after he killed a bunch of innocent people.
 
He did commit suicide. Unfortunately after he killed a bunch of innocent people.

Yes, he did, she was wrong on all counts as it turned out, if indeed that was her thinking. Adam was in fact a danger to himself, a danger to her, and a danger to others in the wider community. The only person who knew before he acted that Adam was a danger was Adam himself. I believe he manipulated her so he could continue to have access to weapons once he began to plan this crime, which he may have been planning for many years.
 
Surely she could see that he exhibited anti social behavior. The report issued says he lacked empathy.

Link to report where it states he lacked empathy. I'm talking about PRIOR to the mass shooting not after.
 
Stop the personal attacks.


And lets leave the OT conversations about guns off this thread or you know what will happen to it. :please:
 
Unfortunately most parents are blind to what their children are capable of.....and the other family members can see it plain as day. I have a violent child family member and while its obvious to me that he should never be around guns or people who use them, he has recently been taught by his grandfather to shoot. I have no say in the matter but this child has harmed his brothers and sisters and now he knows how to shoot a gun. Something bad will happen but his mother cannot see it. All I can do is try to educate her try to encourage her to seek treatment for her son and pray. JMO
 
Link to report where it states he lacked empathy. I'm talking about PRIOR to the mass shooting not after.

The report that was just released about the case.
It says he lacked empathy. This article has a PDF file of the actual report attached.
"In 2005, the report says, Lanza was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome — an autism-spectrum disorder that is not associated with violence — and he lacked empathy for others."
http://www.freep.com/article/20131126/NEWS07/311260085/
 
The report that was just released about the case.
It says he lacked empathy. This article has a PDF file of the actual report attached.
"In 2005, the report says, Lanza was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome — an autism-spectrum disorder that is not associated with violence — and he lacked empathy for others."
http://www.freep.com/article/20131126/NEWS07/311260085/

I would like to see the actual 2005 report. Do you have link to actual report and not just a statement made by a news article?

According to the same article, it says AL "displayed no aggressive or threatening tendencies" which to me means no one, not even his mom observed any violence from AL. So how could mom be aware that AL would explode with raging violence on innocent school children/staff?
 
I would like to see the actual 2005 report. Do you have link to actual report and not just a statement made by a news article?

According to the same article, it says AL "displayed no aggressive or threatening tendencies" which to me means no one, not even his mom observed any violence from AL. So how could mom be aware that AL would explode with raging violence on innocent school children/staff?

The article has a link to a PDF file authorities just released about the case.
He might have not exhibited aggressive tendencies, but he was rather clearly interested in violence. He wrote "big book of granny" in fifth grade. Granny's son shot granny in the head.
 
The article has a link to a PDF file authorities just released about the case.
He might have not exhibited aggressive tendencies, but he was rather clearly interested in violence. He wrote "big book of granny" in fifth grade. Granny's son shot granny in the head.

BBM: Oh, my. That was a big red flag. jmo
 
BBM: Oh, my. That was a big red flag. jmo

I missed that too .. big red flag .. huge! Evil little s*** that he was. I really think he was planning this whole thing for 10 years or more, maybe since Columbine.
 
The article has a link to a PDF file authorities just released about the case.
He might have not exhibited aggressive tendencies, but he was rather clearly interested in violence. He wrote "big book of granny" in fifth grade. Granny's son shot granny in the head.

I went to the link in the article. The link only gives the 2013 published "Report of the State's Attorney for the Judicial District of Danbury on the Shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School and 36 Yogananda Street, Newtown Connecticut on December 14, 2012".

I am asking for the official 2005 report mentioned on page 34 of the aforementioned 2013 Report in which the statement "In 2005, the shooter was diagnosed with Asperger's Disorder...It was also noted that he lacked empathy...". Where is that link of the 2005 medical report that describes AL's medical diagnosis and mental health issues?

I see the notation in the 2013 Report regarding the "Granny" book AL is claimed to have written. If true, that is certainly disturbing and I'm shocked the teacher did not notify the mother and/or mental health authorities such as school psychologist about this alleged book AL wrote. However, in this same 2013 Report it states "There is no indication this was ever handed in to the school" but that this book was related to a "5th grade" "class project", so I wonder about the authenticity of this claim. How did LE find this book and who informed them about this book if it were never handed in to the school? Did LE find this 5th grade book in AL's home?

It would be most helpful to obtain the original documents such as the 2005 mental health report on AL and also this "Granny" book alleged to be written by AL.

I'm still of the belief that the mother was unaware of this violent aspect of her son. I've worked with a spectrum of autistic children and know a few Asperger's adults and although most are unable to hold any eye contact and appear socially inept, some of the higher level functioning autistics do try very hard to fit in, and I don't find them to "lack empathy" or appear "sociopathic".

So I'm curious what behaviors/interactions AL displayed that led the mental health 2005 report on AL to state that AL "lacked empathy". And more importantly, because we're discussing the culpability of AL's mom in AL's slaughtering innocent people, I want to know whether the mom was specifically told about her son's "lack of empathy" issues and what the mental health professional suggested as treatment for AL.

By the same token, I see on the very same page 34 of the 2013 Report, the paragraph that states "A sixth grade teacher described the shooter as an average student with A’s and B’s;
homework was never an issue. The shooter never made trouble or distracted others. He had friends and was friendly to others. He was a normal child with no oddities and there
were no reports of bullying or teasing. " This depiction of AL conflicts with the "lacks empathy" component and violent nature of AL in the un-sourced 2005 report within the 2013 Report, and such dicotomized characterizations of AL is given for the same time period of 5-6th grades...

At best, there is ambivalent information in AL's history. One moment he's described as "normal" and "having friends" and "not a troublemaker"; the next, there's reports with unnamed sources wherein he's described as "lacking empathy" and writing about shooting up innocent people...
 
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