Adam Lanza the alleged shooter from Newton

Gunman Newtown Who was Adam Lanza?
He is the alleged gunman: The 20-year-old Adam Lanza. What is known about him and his family? What could have caused the disaster? The main informant is his brother Ryan. Malte Arnsperger


Newtown, on Friday morning. First, he apparently kills his mother. Then Adam Lanza driving her car to Sandy Hook Elementary School. Dressed in dark clothing military, armed with two pistols, enter the 20-year-old, the building of the primary school. You know him well here, after all, his mother was a teacher for many years. But Adam Lanza does not come with good intentions. He opens fire, killing 20 children and six adults. Then he directed himself

Parents had separated
Less than 24 hours after the shooting in the town in the U.S. state of Connecticut seems to approximate the end of the bloody deed to be clear. But it is only the outer frame, the skeleton of a crime that leaves dozens of parents without their children and profoundly shocked the whole country. And while America mourns, the question arises: Who was this man who just before Christmas so many people committing suicide? And why did he do that?



Meant life it seems good with Adam Lanza, at least in material terms. He lived, it reported U.S. media, with his mother, Nancy, in a quiet house on a 300 square meter property. Neighbors remember a lovely wife who loves her garden and used the house for the holidays festive wiped out. Several years ago, she moved with her husband and their two sons, Adam and Ryan of Kingston, New Hampshire, according to Newton. Father Peter had indeed separated in 2008 by the mother. But the manager took care of his family very obviously, and referred to his ex-wife allegedly more than $ 200,000 a year. "He paid a lot more and do when he really had to," Lanza's lawyer is quoted. Neighbors say the couple during the divorce Lanza was handled very considerate of each other.

"It was bang, bang"
Adam visited, like his older brother Ryan four years ago also, the local high school and has won several awards for his good grades. Former classmates describe him as a very intelligent, but quiet guy who did more for himself and spent much time playing computer games, like soccer played around or rode a skateboard. He was not one who did was anti-social problems or set. He was therefore "Just a kid" - just a child.

But if you believe U.S. media reports, Adam was a boy with severe mental health problems. His mother had given up her job, therefore a few years ago to take care of all around her youngest can. "She had to stay at home with Adam," a friend of the family is quoted. "He was quite confused." Adam, it is now told his brother Ryan to the authorities, was autistic, or have suffered from Asperger's syndrome, an autistic disorder.

Are the reasons for the massacre that is to be found in this complex disease? But why then had to die and his mother, who had been so taken care of him? Should a dispute there must have been just before the deed between the two. Maybe Ryan can provide investigators further starting points or explanations for the massacre that anrichtete his brother in their hometown. Ryan Lanza was a few hours after the fact, taken away by police for questioning. As a witness. But for many people, he was at that time long ago, the actual perpetrator. Because against 20 German time clock him several U.S. media had called the shooter - we at stern.de have him named. Quick as a flash, his name spread on social networks, his Facebook photo appeared on television. Even a Ryan-Lanza-hate page was created on Facebook. Under the title "Ryan Lanza - you were a coward" - "Ryan Lanza, you were a coward," made many people air their anger about the killing spree.

"It was not me"
Here Lanza Ryan sat at the time when his brother shot dozens of people, in his office in New York, 100 kilometers away. In Manhattan, the 24-year-old working, living for some years in Hoboken, New Jersey, for the consulting firm Ernst & Young. Eventually he got to what had happened in his hometown and that he was held for the offender. On Facebook he resisted these suspicions. "All Shut up, it was not me," he wrote. And then: "I'm on the bus home, I was not." And again: "It was not me, I was at work, I was not." For this confusion, there are apparently a fairly simple explanation: When the body of Adam Lanza was an identity of his brother were found.

And while Ryan Lanza, is just like his father, Peter, now questioned by the authorities, the hatred of the Internet community pours his dead brother. Dozens of Facebook pages have been created in the last hours. "Adam Lanza - serious shit" - "Adam Lanza - real shit", it says on one, on another Adam Lanza page a user wrote: "It was really sick and hateful, what he did I know that God. not with him is, God is with those who he killed.