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Subscribe to RSSWhile much remains unknown about the Sandy Hook school shooting, we're learning more about one of the victims – gunman Adam Lanza's mother, who owned all of the weapons recovered at the scene. NBC's Mike Isikoff reports, and four of her friends join TODAY's Savannah Guthrie to talk about her life and her relationship with her son.
NEWTOWN, Conn. -- New details about the private lives of Sandy Hook gunman Adam Lanza and his mother, Nancy, emerged Monday, including details of a 2009 divorce settlement that resulted in annual payments to her of nearly $300,000 and gave her ultimate authority to make all decisions on behalf of her troubled son.
Handout / NBC News
Adam Lanza in an undated photo.
While the divorce was granted on the grounds that "the marriage has broken down irretrievably," the parting of the ways between Nancy Lanza and her ex-husband Peter was relatively amicable, according to records obtained by NBC News.
There was no custody dispute over Adam, then a teenager, when the couple split. Peter Lanza, a vice president for taxes at GE Energy and Financial Services, agreed to solely finance the cost of his two sons' college and graduate school education and to provide a car for Adam if he should want one. He also maintained joint legal custody with visitation rights and vacations with Adam. (GE is a minority owner in NBCUniversal.)
There was a check mark in a "limited contest" box on one form -- meaning there appeared to be some financial or property disputes -– but the final settlement reflected no obvious friction.
Nancy Lanza got the Newtown, Conn., house, which she was required to sell or refinance by February 2011 so he would no longer be liable, and the couple kept their own jewelry, and divided photos, personal property -- even season tickets to Boston Red Sox games.
Friends say that Nancy Lanza, a former financial trader, had not been working in recent years. The terms of the settlement could explain why: She received $289,800 in alimony in 2012,which was to increase each year to reach $298,000 in 2015.
But sources close to the family tell NBC News that beneath the apparently cordial separation, which dated to 2001, animosity was growing between the father and his youngest son.
By 2010, Peter Lanza was dating a new woman, whom he later married, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and Adam Lanza cut off all communication with his father. Peter tried to see Adam, but his son refused, they said.
Authorities say Nancy Lanza was the first victim in Friday’s murderous rampage, slain by multiple gunshots in her Newtown home shortly before Adam Lanza, 20, drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School and blasted his way in. By the time police responded, 20 young children, six adults and Adam Lanza were all dead from gunshot wounds, his being self-inflicted.
Friends of Nancy Lanza in Newtown on Monday shed new light on Adam Lanza’s at-times strange behavior in the years before the shooting, but said she did not indicate that it had changed in recent months.
Obtained by NBC News
Nancy Lanza in a Facebook photo provided by a friend.
Ellen Adriani and Russell Hanoman, both of whom said they were close friends of Nancy Lanza’s, said the 52-year-old single mother was devoted to her youngest son, whom they described as intelligent, mild-mannered and socially awkward. He also had an aversion to human contact, they said.
Hanoman, who said he had met Adam on several occasions, recalled him as a “very mild-mannered” young man who was interested in technology and engineering and liked to maintain his distance from other people.
“I remember when I first met him, he deliberately stood maybe 6 feet away from me and took three exaggerated steps toward me … stuck out his hand, shook (mine) … put it back and (took) three exaggerated steps back.”
Adriani, who never met Adam, said Nancy Lanza told her of a time when Adam was ill while he was in high school and didn’t want her to enter his bedroom.
“But yet he still wanted Nancy there for him, so she camped out all night outside his bedroom door,” she said. “Periodically through the evening, he would ask her, ‘Are you there? Are you still there?’ and she’d be, ‘I’m here. I’m here.’ So he needed to have that security that she was there but not in his space.”
Hanoman also remembered Nancy Lanza as a devoted mother.
“Everything that she did in life … was devoted to making sure that he was taken care of,” he said.
Adam Lanza also was “an organic vegan” with a conservative worldview, he said.
“He was actually politically aware for a teenager,” he said. “… He was always very free-market economics and capitalism, as I think most people are in this country.”
He also was interested in target shooting, sometimes accompanying his mother to local shooting ranges to practice. (Federal agents investigating the school massacre said Monday that they have found evidence that Adam Lanza visited more than one range and "engaged in shooting activities." And they say they know that he visited some ranges with his mother.)
In addition to his technological and weapons prowess, Adam Lanza was an excellent dancer – at least within the confines of the Dance Dance Revolution video game.
“It’s an arcade game as well as on the home systems where you basically dance around to a pattern on the screen,” Hanoman said. “And he was extremely good at it. He would often accumulate an audience of people around watching him…. (But) because it’s a two-player game … if anyone tried to come on the platform with him, no matter what he was doing, he would just turn around and walk out of the arcade.”
Despite such anti-social behavior, Hanoman said that mother and son had over the past several years looked at a number of colleges where Adam Lanza might be able to make a fresh beginning.
“He wanted to go back to school, so they were looking at colleges all over the country, looking for an ideal environment for him,” he said. “… He wanted to become more socialized. He didn’t want to stay trapped in his home the rest of his life.”
NBC News Justice Correspondent Pete Williams, Today Investigative Correspondent Jeff Rossen and Today Producer Robert Powell contributed to this report.
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Pure speculation here but guns are a great investment and people with money know how to invest it. So in a word, money.
Yeah, I noticed that. Guns hold their resale value very well.
Major, they do a lot better than bank CD's. I bought an XM15 used 3 years ago for $500 and sold it this year for $900. Now they don't all do that well and I bought it right but they are quick cash if you need it at any pawn shop.
Back in the 80's I owned a stainless steel .22 carbine, with a folding stock, called an AMT Lightning. It had 30 round banana clip. I was surprised how much the pawn shop paid me for that fun plinkin' gun.
Violent video games are significantly associated with: increased aggressive behavior, thoughts, and affect; increased physiological arousal; and decreased prosocial (helping) behavior. Average effect sizes for experimental studies (which help establish causality) and correlational studies (which allow examination of serious violent behavior) appear comparable (Anderson & Bushman, 2001).
http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2003/10/anderson.aspx
Tell me again how dance dance revolution is a violent game?
No doubt but should we deprive millions the thrill and enjoyment of the games for the actions of a few that go off the deep end. Remember prohibition seemed like a good idea at the time too.
That explains why the murder rate in Japan is one of the lowest in the world, right?
No doubt but should we deprive millions the thrill and enjoyment of
the gamesFIREARMS for the actions of a few that go off the deep end.And their suicide rate is one of the highest.
How funny to see people who like and enjoy video games rushing to defend them (just because the actions of a few).
Here's a clue for you all:
Guns have been around since the beginning of the nation. Violent video games? Only about 20-30 years.
Now, when did these school shootings start?
1800s or so, are you telling me there were video games then?
I think they mean "Call Of Duty"
Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto and others.
The people screaming for "gun control now" and "ban assault weapons" need to think about facts instead of reacting emotionally and making decisons on an issue that they obviously have little experience or knowledge of. The problem is our society is giving criminals and the criminally insane more and more chances to do harm, as lawyers, advocates, and activists spend their time and money crying for criminal rights and against the death penalty. Lunatics intending to do harm can do so with extreme lethality weather they use a gun, a vehicle, a knife, homemade pipe bombs, molotov cocktails, or a can of gasoline and a lighter. We need to make this a safer country by removing the rights of the criminals NOT the lawful. I'm not interested in politics or grandstanding or sound bites...I'm interested in actually making this country a safer place for the innocent. So let's protect them by putting criminals in prison and keeping them there. Let's stop the ridiculously light prison sentences, the early paroles, the lack of a death penalty...let's stop the people committing the crimes instead of taking away freedoms from the potential vicitims.
Adam Lanza didn't have a criminal record. He had an idiot right-wing gun-nut for a mother though.....
california nurse makes a solid discussion and very strong points. It has been reported the mother kept her guns in a lock box, very sturdy and the only key was on her car keyring. Might she have accidently left those keys where Adam found them? We will never know and what good is it now? If Adam was strong enough to deny his father and brother access to him it might have been very hard to get him into therapy. Reports are that he had a psychologist in high school but then he turned 18. I do hope the father continued to try to see Adam and/or Nancy kept the father advised of Adam's decline. I was sad to hear that Nancy was recently diagnosed with MS. She deserved more from life after devoting herself to her two sons. She needs to get more respect that the media and others who didn't know her have given. She was a victim, too. We need to remember her with love and kind thoughts. She would never have wished the events of the 14th on anyone and would have been the first to try and stop her son. RIP, Nancy. Peace to all those lost on that horrific day.
Adam Lanza had a history of psychological problems and nothing was done about it. There were multiple warning signs but no one came forward to warn of his potential for violence, just like the other mass murderers. These people should have been institutionalized but they weren't because people are afraid to report it due to the likelihood of lawsuits and inaction.
But the overwhelming majority of gun crime is committed by convicted criminals and a large majority of the victims are also convicted criminals. Addressing this eliminates most of our problems and gives us more of an opportunity to address the remaining issues such as domestic violence and mental illness.
This was a horrible, disgusting, stomach-churning act of a cowardly psychopath. The thought of anyone harming a child is heartbreaking, that's why I want to see effective change rather than meaningless gun laws that only apply to the lawful that will be ignored by the lawless.
No doubt.
"People are afraid to report it" -- [history of psychological problems] -- people are out-of-the-loop, uninformed, misinformed, not wanting to interfere, in denial; wishing they had a longer vacation to get away from it all.
The mother told a friend that he was getting help. There also has been no indication that he had any previous signs of being potentially violent.
If you institutionalized people just based upon the symptoms he showed prior to the shooting (those actually reported on, not those made up by people commenting) You'd be stripping innocent people of their freedom who have never, and would never harm another person. You'd be taking the rights and freedoms of people who have committed no crime, unless you've decided that it's a crime to have a developmental disability, or that it's a crime to be shy, have anxiety, etc.
These people are more likely to become victims than harm another person. They'd be victimized by people like you...
lol I feel like Sam Spade all over again.
Take Two /////////
Police think I killed Thursby. Archer's wife thinks I killed Miles. Who do you think I shot?
Take Three //////// /
What do you want me to do -- learn to stutter?
@ Payton Blake, Institutionalization isn't the cure-all approach, and mental health patients are protected by law from such involuntary acts, but attention to mental health diseases can't be ignored by the public if such risks are involved. Several treatment options may have been available other than institutionalism.
Allen, the person I was responding to said they should all be institutionalized. I have seen this reaction many times in many different forums. I find it sad and a bit scary to be honest.
Yes, there are people who may need help and may not be getting it, whether that be something as minimal as occasional trips to a therapist or something more. However, people are also often abused by others who claim their mental illness is worse than it is or something other than what it really is. Instead of working with the patient to determine the best treatment option, they may force it upon them, and make them worse.
I have some personal experience with this, though I was lucky enough to have parents intelligent enough to say "screw you" to the people who wanted to hospitalize me for being shy and anxious. Imagine what that would have done to someone like me, whose best option is slowly getting used to the things that make me anxious and finding ways to relieve stress, rather than being forced into situations I don't want to be in by people I don't know, or forced to take medications that I have no say over. You know, there are cases where a person will share their concerns about a medication and ask for other options, and they're told they're just being defiant and diagnosed with another mental illness?
Not that I am saying medication is bad, I use medication for ADD, but not anxiety. I have family members that use medication for depression. I do not want to see people unable to take part in their own treatment though; I do not want to see people who would otherwise be just fine, stripped of their freedom because someone else, who may not even really know what's going on, thinks that person is crazy.
I do not want to see this turn into a witch hunt.
I heard about a case where a patient was on seven or eight different meds. The medication he was on in every single case, was the cause of his illness. He gradually withdrew from his medication regimen, with the help of a cooperative doctor. His anxieties, his delusions, side effects and all went away. That's toxic medication. It should never be forced on anyone -- especially young people.
I am fairly left of center and I don't think gun control directs attention to what is obvious, mental health and law enforcement. Not all mental health situations end in violent encounters, but certain mental health diseases have symptoms as clear to recognize by a mental health professional as a runny nose is to a medical doctor. I ask that we direct more resources at helping our law enforcement agencies co-ordinate with mental health professionals when an obvious mental health encounter with law enforcement occurs. The Conn. Incident, like the Virginia Tech Incident, had several "Elephant in the closet" symptoms that could have been addressed before the shooters took the severe actions that they did. I vote for law enforcement and mental health co-ordination rather than gun control. I can recall a few law enforcement encounters that ended in lethal force with mentally incompetent suspects, often calls from the family for help to control soemone. A mental health professional might have been able to save lives. As a government of the people, if we ever have to raise arms against a tyrant, it will be our fault for allowing it to occur.
Part of the problem remains, authorities have control issues of their own. Many go into law enforcement or the medical profession with a God complex. Then the law requires them to stay tight lipped about telling the public, or family and friends, about patient vulnerabilities which may or may not be well known. If you add partisan politics to an already toxic witches brew, relationships can get further strained.
I don't buy the idea of an elephant in the closet. I think its more likely to be a turkey or a donkey, ha!
I'm laughing about the turkey or donkey. Good response.
So...I see people worried about stripping freedoms from people with mental illness who have displayed potentially dangerous behavior. I see people worried about stripping freedoms from people who have committed violent crimes but "deserve another chance". I see people worried about stripping freedoms from people who have entered our country illegally and remain here illegally. And these same people are the ones calling for the stripping of freedoms from law-abiding citizens who own and use firearms lawfully.
WTH is going on in this country that we give multiple chances to those who have proven they don't deserve it and want to give zero chances to law-abiding citizens who have spent their entire lives proving they're responsible members of society???
Clearly you haven't read what I've said. I am not worried about stripping freedoms from people who have shown dangerous or criminal behavior. I am worried about those who have NOT demonstrated those things, but because of the "oh no, mental illness!" stigma, people who are no danger to themselves or others may be unfairly discriminated against and committed to hospitals, where life would be far worse for them and not helpful at all.
With the exception of the inability to feel physical pain, I have shown similar symptoms as the shooter while I was growing up. My only crime was being easily distracted or having tunnel vision, and being exceedingly shy. So you would advocate locking me up because you fear I might be dangerous? Even though I have never even shown a hint of being a danger to myself or others? Even though I have never shown any violent tendencies? Would you forcefully medicate me without any care for my wishes? Would you forcefully medicate me when you don't even know what's wrong with me?
Because that happens all the time to people who would otherwise have functioned just fine, with a few quirks.
Just because someone has similar behavior to what Adam showed,does not mean that they are going to do what he did. It would be a crime against them to treat them as if they would when they have done nothing wrong.
I support your position 100%
Forgot to clarify, I support Blakes position 100%. As for Jeffersonian3, I prefer to keep the illegal aliens and their proven loyalty and deport the fair weather seccesionist.
Its called moral inversion, Jefferson.
Have you heard the motto some journalists swear by?
"Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted."
That's what happens when reporters harass rich people.
The media glare and spotlight isn't particularly comforting anyhow.
This kid was smart, very smart. Thus far he has covered up the motive quite well. It took a bit of planning for sure. You people seem to want to dismiss the motive on mental health. Sorry but I just can't buy into that at this time. He knew what he was doing every step of the way. Got to connect the dots if they can be found.
Smartness has little correlation with disease, mental or physical. Smart people like Dr. Hawkings don't get critizised for not walking because they are smart. Some of dots might be found in a family lifestyle rather than guns alone. IF and this a big IF for me as I don't know it to be a fact, but IF the mother was living as a Doomsdayer as some have mentioned, the rationale developed by a mentally ill child raised in such an environment might give clues to a motive.
She seemed to be aware of the boys mental deficiencies. I can't help but wonder why she would introduce him to firearms. If not for concern for his own safety. Things happen too quick with a loaded gun in a troubled persons hand. He exhibited signs of isolation and withdrawal, or anti-social behavior. The fact that he would not interact with other people, and was unhappy, should be warning signs, that maybe he could hurt himself. (if not others) He certainly could have hurt himself with other things, but a gun probably shouldn't have been available to this kid. He was sick. And people around him knew it. Guns should not have been anywhere in his world.
He did interact, to some extent, with other people, as stated in the articles. There were also reports that he had wanted to become less isolated and go back to college.
I'm shy, I have social anxiety, I tend to avoid social situations that might make me uncomfortable, even though others can't understand why. Yet....*gasp* I go hunting! with guns! Oh no!
Oh wait, being shy and withdrawn doesn't make me more likely to harm other people.
It does not seem as though she really had any reason to suspect that he was a danger to himself or others when she started taking him to the firing range.
Shawn I think the kid could have gone to any gun shop or show and bought the guns if they were not at home. He didn't put this whole thing together like in a minute or two. This took a bit of planning.
Mental illness is not unlike many other diseases. Similar to drug or alcohol addiction, the family has huge denial. They often think, nobody knows, nobody can see it, and if we ignore it, it will be OK or disapear. Too many Adam Lanzas get hidden and protected by thier families. Some hidden out of embarassment, and some for protection of the sick person from rejection and ridicule. Its the closet. She was an intelligent woman, who did a couple of stupid things. Introducing him to guns was foolish, and with her financial ability (and his fathers) she certainly could have help him get the psychiatric councelling he obviously needed.. She thought she could deal with it on her own, and failed. Failed him, failed herself, and 25 innocent people. SAD.......
Have to wonder if all these people who want to put the blame on mental illness would even listen to said word if it were used as a defense had Adam not killed himself. Juries in the past have not welcomed said defense for sure. Adam knew and planed every step of the way. Even covered up the motive and/or his research.
Maybe he was gay, smashed his hard drive so no one would know he was looking at gay porn, and went out on a Jeffery Dahmer frustrated massacre....
....fiscal cliff = Government has NO MONEY, no money for welfare, unemployment, disability, armed forces...maybe you should hold on to those guns.
Since when is a sovereign peoples whole existance reliant on money? Start with volunteer fire departments for one.
I think if that kid got high and laid this would of never have happened. Any more disturbed twenty year old's out there give them a bag of weed and put them on a plane to Bangkok.
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me
All signs continue to point to a broken marriage that left a boy lost. The most important thing a father can do for his child is to love his mother, the most important thing a mother can do for her son is to respect his father. Adam appears to be a lost child due to a divorce and broken family. The divorce took place during his highschool years and teenage years - the years that a child wants his parents the least, but needs them the most. While I agree that assult weapons need to be controlled in some manner, I do not believe that to date the evidence supports that guns are the problem. The family unit in America is under great pressure and is crashing daily. Fathers must own up and lead their families. We must strength the American Family Unit. Do not bring kids into the world unless you are willing to sacrifice what is necessary to make it all work. All fathers should watch the movie "Courageous" and heed the warning. As for the needs for religion in schools, if all families attended church weekly and embraced their faith, we would not need religion in schools, but since the churches in American remain half-full on weekends, we need to make sure that the teachings such as "love one another" are realized. The churches are the mental health clinics that our society longs for, and scripture is the medication that is needed. Take one dose daily, and as needed. It does not appear (to date) that faith was part of Adams upbringing. You cannot get out what was never put in. It video games was the save haven for Adam, then perhaps it was the violence of usch games that was later played out. We must ensure that our children have respect for higher authority and others - a strong faith is a good place to start. Lets strengthen our marriages and families.
Yeah, right. I come from an upper level intact family. The prevailing culture worships money, power and loose morals. Respect? There's precious little of that anymore. A rather large majority of my friends came from divorced families. May be they see me as some kind of screw ball. I've been pushed away from controlling churches where fornication was openly encouraged, mocked about by crazy preachers. People are the same everywhere. They may hate you for being better off. They don't trust an outside non-conformist. How can we be saved by faith if we've been eroded by powerful psychological attacks on our God given identities? Your competitors mock fear and weakness. God help us.
There is a national epidemic of angry and violent males. And it occurs mostly in poor black communities and upper class white neighborhoods, where every one of our mass shooters come from. Why? Absent fathers. It's the big elephant in the room among whites because to admit this we'd have to look in the mirror. Over 50 percent divorce and fathers rarely sitting down for quality time teaching their kids. Who has time to build confidence in our sons and daughters? He'll, I've got to tee off in an hour.
The result: self-centered and angry mommas boys who disrespect women (just see how dad does it). And when dangerous meds are added to the mix, not to mention all the sugar and energy drinks, poor diet and lack of sleep, we get Borderline sociopaths. And sometimes, when we have someone who has clinical mental issues, coupled with all the above plus a high level of intelligence, we end up with a monster.
Hey dads, thanks a lot. Get your ass home and sit down to dinner with your kids. And forget about the hot young secretary...she only loves your money anyway. Your wife has been there from the beginning. Show some real manhood and dedicate yourself to your families...with your time, not a new car. The studies are glaringly clear on all this. I've bee a coach for twenty five years and there is NO one more who has more impact on a boy than his father.
Gee I wonder where the guys that make up these violent video games get their ideas from ? Reality is always stranger than fiction. What seems rather unique concerning Adam is that he seemed to have covered up the reason why.
I would say that almost every "normal" person in a state of rage could commit heinous acts such as this. The prisons are full of people who didn't simply take a deep breath and wait for "normal" reason to return or thought they had a duty to avenge some perceived wrong. I still agree with Peyton that pre-emptive law enforcement for persons with mental dis-abilities is a rights violation, I am familiar with the Hughes Bill and it's laws. I also am concerned about pharmacuetical side effects being more hazardous than the disease, but if a person can be identified as being in need of services or something as simple as inclusion, or "me" time as a treatment, than certain help or advice should not be avoided because it will cost too much, that to me is no excuse. "Normal" people have help lines that they can call, I don't see a stigma in providing the same services for people with mental dis-abilities.
Slate published a wishy-washy article by a medical expert. The grave MD lamented irresponsible speculation in the media. He didn't know the correct definition of a sociopath. He couldn't understand how an autistic personality could commit violence. Where have we seen this dog doo B4? Many academics are oblivious to deception, as if they are only narrowly focused on their exalted tests. Has it occurred to anyone their patients aren't trust worthy? The human animal is a cunning, devious creature. Wake up! Your diagnoses may need revision. BTW, they wouldn't accept my input. My comment was unposted, due to internal error.
Are you saying that we should use Adam as the standard for who is sane or insane? I think we are going to need a lot more coo-coo nests than what we have. Aagin the pie is only so big and just how big a slice do we want to give to this program of locking up the so called nuts.
At the end of it all less people would be dead if she didn't keep semi automatic weapons with extended magazines in her house.
How about you end with "not secured safely"
All I can Say is Trigger Locks and Gun Safes have a place in the home with guns.