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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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How soon before the lawsuits starts flying....
Jane, this may be a higher eye opener for our society that will become larger then any lawsuite.
All the excuses for an anti-social mass murderer makes me ill !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As my grandad used to say "You can put dog crap between two pieces of cake but it's still dog crap".
No more "poor mother". She enabled what happened.
How do you explain the highly social mass murderers as US presidents- Bush and Obama- and the Congress that appropriates billions for weapons to murder civilians and the children of Iraqis, Afghanis, and Syrians? By your logic, the flag-wrapped US public enabled the murder of 900,000+ Iraqis under Bush and thousands and counting of Afghans and Pakistanis under Obama. Many Americans are hypocrites of the highest order.
But of course they didn't do anything to bring it on upon themselves. They are all perfect little angels. Right? Pffft...yea right.
It's hard for me to comprehend how in the world Adam's mother could think that he would be able to go to college. Also, taking him target shooting is above the realm. It appears that he was barely functioning. He was so isolated, I would be surprised if he go into town at all.
Why? He did go to college before, and it says he wanted to go to college and try to become less isolated and more social. Other reports have said that he did go into town on his own. It didn't sound at all like he was barely functioning.
Why do people view these events as if they are recent occurrences? Look up Howard Unruh. He killed 13 people in 1949, three of them children. There have always been mass murderers. Most local libraries have old newspapers on microfiche tape, and they are full of stories about people being killed. The times we live in now are the same as the times before, because there have always been mentally ill people that are not treated.
Bath School Massacre - Bath Township, Michigan 1927
45 killed, 38 of them children when Andrew Kehoe the school caretaker blew up the school, burned down his farm, & blew up his car. He was mad about property taxes used to fund the school.
Invasion of Iraq 2003 massacre: US forces killed an estimated 30,000 Iraqi civilians in and around Baghdad, according US President George W Bush in a 12/2005 interview, This when asked if the total exceeded 50,000. American flag wrapped hypocrisy.
Human shields. Stay on topic, troll.
NBC News askes " was he bullied" WHO THE F CARES! if your bullied have a Snickers and talk to someone. dont kill kids. I am confident the 6 and 7 year olds didnt bully this weak human. The media needs to keep this about what it is actually about.
It would be hard for someone who has never been severely bullied to understand how it can affect you in the long run.
When you combine that with someone who already has problems in social settings....it is possible you are contributing to the problem.
millions are bullied every year. the vast majority hike up their panties, stop whining, and press on with life...
and then there are those few who do not ----- that's the problem with humans, they don't all respond in exactly the same manner.
they might need a hug
well..... that's closer to the truth than you might think ---- if people received more hugs, instead of criticism, maybe events like this would be even more rare than they are.
The interviews I've seen from the people who knew/taught this kid while he attended public school all have said that while he was odd he was not bullied by other students. So I don't think bullies were a factor as to why this kid flipped out.
NBC News asks "was he bullied?" WHO THE F CARES! if your bullied grab a Snickers and talk it out, dont kill kids. I am willing to bet my life these 5, 6 and 7 year olds never met this crazy person. The media needs to keep this where it needs to be. There is NO reason to kill children or adults for any reason!
Jcmth: Except if they are families and children of Iraqis, Afghanis, Yemenis, and Syrians... Invasions, aerial bombings, clandestine ops, and drone strikes that kill unknown people? Right America? The US gov't- the President's and the Congress' way to commit mass murder.
Yes already! Except for them. Issue is cleared up now DOU44. Like we didn't already know that!
I am so damned sick of this little prick's face on every webpage. "He was very smart" "He was misunderstood" "He was shy" "He was odd" "He was very bright" "He was withdrawn" "He was nervous" REALLY, I TRULY don't give a flying red rat's @ss WHAT he was............ HE WAS A FRICKING MONSTER AND THE MEDIA IS JUST CREATING ANOTHER ONE WITH THIS COVERAGE, I'll bet you money dollars to dimes! SOOOOOOO damned sick of this little bastard! Keep praising his accomplishments media.......keep commenting........keep it up.......we'll see a remake in a month and guess what...........you'll do the exact same thing and the cycle continues. KILL THIS MONSTER! REMEMBER the VICTIMS! Damn, I hope this dies down soon. I am so tired of seeing this whacko monster's little face................yeah, at 14 years old. Great.....couldn't have put his recent faceboook photo up msn? Wanting to make him look innocent to the guns? You didn't even get the story right due to your rush to the presses. Understand his actions?! Show me someone who CAN and I'll show you a monster.
Are you this sick of the two US presidents and Congress members who rubber stamp the use of massive force that have killed over 1 million people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan since 2001? Care to talk about US Congress- the ones who will attempt to disarm Americans- funding murderous thugs in Syria?
I really don't give two s*its about other countries right now......and to be dead-honest.....I never really have. They have been killing their own in horrendous ways for centuries and will continue to do so. I don't like Obama, I don't like Bush and I think the US is in the s^itter fella. Starting mass killings is not something I'll ever endorse. Noone is going to take away your manhood. You can't take what you don't have so fella, cling to that AR-15 in your camo hat, SEAL-TEAM 6 Walmart tee shirt and army boots you bought that match the color of the sand and your gunstock, because really, thats all you have.....no manhood to take there.
No, DOU44. I'm not even a little bit sick of them yet. 1 million killed, huh? Maybe it's Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan since 2001 killing their own people just to lay the numbers on the U.S.A. to make America look bad? Has that thought ever crossed your mind? Not one single American bomb or bullet killed anyone...ever...around the world...throughout time. I just wrote it down saying so, so it must be true.
I also din't give a red rat's @ss about his negligent mother. She will be remembered as someone who didn't have enough sense to not buy assault rifles and handguns for "self defense" when she had a son at home she was frightened of. She is as much at fault as this little MONSTER is.........oh and liberals and republicans alike all dropped the ball.
Any rifle could be an "assault" rifle. Just as a shovel can be an assault shovel, or a gas can can be Molotov cocktail. But, the Congress that spends money to indescriminately kill foreigners will attempt to take away AR15s from the public.
I get it; you like the feel of power while you're walking around with a gun strapped to your hip. You like the boner it gives you (as teeny-tiny as it gets, I'm sure) to feel like you can play the hero and save the say from madness with a hood-slide-roll as you whip out that weapon to engage the invisible enemy you shy from just before you close your eyes, holding that gun under your pillow. Give it a rest.
Guns or no guns, killers will kill, but you second ammendment doorstops who cling to manhood with a 30-round mag of .223 are truly pathetic. No law-abiding citizen should lose their rights because of this little prick, but, as one who owns guns myself, theres no way in hell you can convince me that your assault (and be honest, you chant that at the gun store in your head, knowing its just SOOOOO cool, you know, just like in the video game you live in) rifle is used for hunting.....as we well know, muzzle brakes and "tactical" rails with double-mags attached for fast-access is crucial to pick off a rabbit at 30 yards. Stop clinging to the second ammendment with fear......be a fricking man.......want an AR-15 or an full-auto carbine? JOIN THE ARMY and rick your pathetic little life killing everyone you can because of the color of their uniform in war..........if children's lives are less important than your fear of the abstract, you're screwed before the fact, living in your own prison..........just like the one this lady was in through her neglect of sense and surroundings and reality.....and really, its one that you created.
wow, you are really focused on manhood and boners...have something you need to tell someone?
Yeah fella I do. You equate your standing to the assault weapon you own and love. You put that before anything else, or so it seems, when you start to ramp up rhetoric about the governments coming to take away that gun. Tell it like it is. You're afraid of living without one. You think you'll die without one. You think if you won't die, others will so you want to be the hero of the day. Your rights are the same as everyone elses. I am not an anti-gunner. I just think that people who don't call a .223 Carbine with a 30-round magazine an "assault weapon" are living in a video-game dream world of delusion.
@ Iknow
Take a chill pill dude. You're going to have a heart attack. We got it. You don't like AR-15s or similar semi-auto rifles.
The funny thing is you can buy a semi-auto hunting rifle with wood stocks chambered in .223 (just like the AR-15) which functions the exact same way as a semi-auto AR-15. Put the hunting rifle next to the AR-15 & ask the average person which one is worse.
Guess what the answer is? The majority of people will tell you that the AR-15 is far more powerful/dangerous & scarier than the hunting rifle with wood stocks. LOL
So I guess if you're for banning AR-15 style semi-auto rifles then you must also be in favor of banning semi-auto hunting rifles. Besides, most hunting rifles are chambered for larger caliber rounds which can do far more damage at greater distances than the .223 caliber rounds fired by AR-15s. So semi-auto hunting rifles should be outlawed too, right?
Banning AR-15s or similar so called 'assault weapons' won't make a hill of beans difference in stopping these rampage killings from happening.
I'm sorry, what were you saying? I was staring at this chicks tits the entire time.
@ Iknow
LOL. That's ok. I can't blame you. She is a complete HOTTIE.
Women like her make it difficult to concentrate, especially when you are standing next to them in person....Why can't there be more women like her in the world & far less of the ones that are actually out there roaming around. LOL
Roaming around brings visions of cows to mind..LOL
Damn 1%ers
What the hell. How much do GE executives make anyway? This guy's father can pay his ex-wife 300K a year, give her a mansion, pay for his kids college and grad studies, and then have enough money to get remarried?
so what...
So what is GE doesn't pay any American taxes.
They shift all losses to America and profits overseas to countries with small tax rates.
Then they buy themselves a president.
The dad probably has meals in the White House.
@hall
Who cares. What difference does it make.
Are you also pissed off because Judge Judy makes $48 million/yr. for her little reality judge show? You know that works out to $131,506.85 per day. Oh the horror! How dare they pay her that much!. LOL
If GE wants to pay their executives a high 6 or low 7 figure salary or if you can earn $131K/per day for a T.V. show then good for you. More people should get off of their asses & strive to get into the 1% club instead of sitting around being jealous.
I sincerely hope the local police call in the state and federal authorities as they might not be up to the type of investigation needed. While socially awkward and showing some signs of autism, nothing indicates someone going over the deep end. There are some:questions that need to be answered;
1) Why were the guns not secured. They were registered to his mother and it is troubling that he obviously had free access to them
2) Why did the mother have an assault riffle and several handguns
3) If he first shot his mother several times, did the neighbors hear the gunfire and did they call 911
Something is missing in helping us understand the events and if we are to make an attempt at changing how society views these issues, we mus first understand the Why? In previous tragedies, we are able to trace back to the underlining reason that made the person snapped. In other words, there were always, in retrospect, warning signs. In this case, as reported, we don't see that and unless we do figure out the reason and sequence of events, no laws will prevent this from happening again.
My thoughts and heart go out to the victims families.
Was the mother's house in a regular subdivision? Or was it somewhat isolated, out in a country setting? I never saw that on the news.
I know that I live 3.5 miles outside of town on 6 acres, my neighbor on the west side of me has 7 acres, & the neighbor on the east side of me has 320 acres (his property actually wraps around my 6 acres & the other neighbor's 7 acres like a U). Houses out here are spread out hundreds to thousands of feet apart. No one out here gives gun fire a 2nd thought. It is usually just someone target shooting etc....
Nancy Lanza was an idiot for bringing her austistic son to shooting ranges and teaching him how to kill. Austism is a condition that with some, have distorted perceptions of reality and consequences. I have an autistic step son and in no way would I feel he should be handling deadly weapons. He is nearly 16 and talks about aliens and doesn't always have a firm grasp of his surroundings. I am sure Adam Lanza was in the same way. Nancy Lanza raised a monster and taught him how to kill without thinking about how his disability would supress any reason or rational thoughts. Lets keep weapons away from mentally disturbed and stupid parents.
Not everyone is the same when it comes to autism, if he was even autistic. There are some very high functioning autistic people who you would be hard pressed to even tell they were autistic.
I feel sorry for your step son, to have a step father who is so ill informed about autism...
the United States had guns before and yet now ye call for gun control; aint going to happen, you can have your bailouts, fantasies and mandatory socialism, and yes I will eat a Milky Way bar if it becomes mandatory also, but there is no way there is an overturn of the 1rst or 2nd amendment even by a liberal Supreme Court, now what company did the money come from.........to buy the guns, 300,000 grand a year.....and don't even try to blame it on President Bush.....
Q2000-
"
As passed by the Congress:
For everyone who wants to ban guns and/or amend the Constitution......move to China and get ran over by a tank.
Syria and North Korea have the gun laws liberals want.
".move to China and get ran over by a tank."- Ran?? been to school much?? I believe the word is run and your type of speech is protected but doesn't help move our country forward.
What changes? Take all the guns. Restrict freedom. Spy on all of us 24/7, no matter where we are, no matter what we are doing.
Then and only then can we have peace. Then and only then can we live side by side in a Matrix of happiness.
“If you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to fear.”
Yes. Be good little boys and girls. Obey all the rules. Accept new rules, whenever they are dictated. Keep your eyes straight ahead. Think good thoughts. Be positive.
But even then, be warned, in the perfect little American community we can experience the murder of innocence.
Even then, we learn, there will be a struggle to establish this happy Matrix we all desire. Therefore, all the more reason to surrender our rights and freedoms, so our leaders can work their overarching solutions without resistance and interruption.
Get spied on 24/7? Hey! That sounds kinda fun. It'll be like I'm a movie or rock star! Who cares about all this freedom crap when you can pretend you're some famous person being watched all the time. Spy on me! I want to be first!
After reading all the stuff on the mother and her deranged son, sounds like the mom is like 50% responsible, since when is it a good idea to put a gun into the hands of someone who has no social skills, comepletly devoyed of emotion, sympathy empathy, normal feelings of hurt and pain. was the heavy artilary just laying there on the coffee table, saying come get me I'm ready to start firing at real people for the fun of it
where does it say he was totally devoid of emotion, sympathy, empathy? And just because he couldn't feel physical pain doesn't mean he couldn't feel emotional pain.
I know there is a tendency for people to assume after things like this that anyone who did it must not have had any emotions at all, but that isn't necessarily the case. Not having social skill is NOT the same as not having feelings.
Payton: "where does it say he was totally devoid of emotion, sympathy, empathy? And just because he couldn't feel physical pain doesn't mean he couldn't feel emotional pain.
I know there is a tendency for people to assume after things like this that anyone who did it must not have had any emotions at all, but that isn't necessarily the case. Not having social skill is NOT the same as not having feelings."
Honk that horn lady, honk that horn.
Stupid stupid wealthy people. Dad works as a tax consultant for GE??? You know, the ones who paid NO TAXES? Mom has nothing better to do with her 300,000 a year so she teaches this messes up kid to SHOOT? They spawned a monster and leashed him upon innocent little children. Irresponsible la la land 1%ers. They're as guilty as he is.
sounds like dad was good at his job and earned his $300,000... sorry didnt mean to interupt your rant...
@republicanbs
I think this sums you up fairly well: Jealous, party of 1!
If GE wants to pay their execs high 6 or low 7 figures per year, it would have to be since he was able to pay his ex-wife $300K/yr. in alimony, so what. Good for him.
Why don't you figure out a way to become one of the wealthy people instead of sitting around bitching about what other people earn.
What have we learned? That the whole family was a bunch of sick whack jobs! With all of their money, they couldn't get their son some help? And to stock the house full of guns when you have a troubled teenager? You might as well stock the house with drums of gasoline and spend your time throwing lit matches at each other. So sad that all of those poor parents and their beautiful children had to pay such a price. An American tragedy that was fully avoidable...
My mother and I made cookies together growing up. I guess shooting is the new baking.
This just leaves me a little confused. Did the mother try to get help? Or did she think her being there, and giving him his space was enough??? So sad...
Ok, let's Review: Non working mother, Socially awkward child, over-protected by Mommy. Mommy's a gun enthusisast who has also home skooled her son for some of his years due to his "issues" (why not, she's not working). Mommy's a diehard conservative who loves to watch survivalist tv shows and will not allow anyone into her home. Mom knows her son has major issues, but the only mom-son activity she apparently encourages with her son (that anyone in her famly or her personal circle has made us aware of) is her love of guns and shooting.
CUE MAYHEM.
And, no one saw it coming. And if only everyone around them had armed themselves, LIKE THE OFF-THEIR-NUT Lanzas, this tragedy would not have occurred. Riiiiigggght.
Sometimes, its okay to blame the Parents. She was a sh#tty parent- and her kid killed her. Unfortunately, after he did that, he went down to a local school, where he had been told by his mom that the children are all brainwashed (just ask Mike Huckabee or any other conservative who wants to blame this on lack of prayer in school instead of on a conservative gun-nut nutjob family) and shot a bunch of helpless kids dead.
It's the Gun nuts, stupid. It's the guns, its the paranoia, but mainly its the conservative gun nuts, paranoid and armed.
That really showed your ignorance.
Skooled
My Christmas wish list: That every person who thinks they can parent a troubled kid so much better than his parents do- that you get a troubled kid to raise by yourself for a few years. If you had a "normal" child-congratulations. But since you have no idea how challenging an emotionally "off" child it is, STFU! It's brain chemistry, folks, not parenting style. And oftentimes "help" doesn't really help much. Do you blame the parents when, despite treatment, a child dies of leukemia?
She chose a really great hobby for him...shooting. Stupid Stupid Stupid.
As a parent of a mental case child, she had no business introducing him to weapons of any kind. She had no business teaching how to shoot. Her responsibility was to make sure he never had any acces to those guns whatsoever. Had she kept up her responsibility we wouldnt be having these conversations. The guns were legally purchased but he obtained them illegally. The perpetrators of this tragedy are dead! She made a huge mistake and paid for it with her life as well.
The 2nd ammendment is 2nd for a reason. It is such a vital part of our country and the founders knew this. I can take from you whatever I want to, but if you are armed, then I cannot simply just take it away. Govt is the same way, You take away the right to have firearms and disarm the citizens, how long do you think it will be before they come and take more freedoms away? Armed citizens are the deterrent to a tyrannical Govt. So the 2nd ammendment is so much more than just about guns...Its what all the other ammendments depend on.
one thing i do know for certain...... if we ever get hit with an EMP, people who don't have guns will be wishing they had one, and plenty of ammo for it.
agreed, they will be needing some instrument to feed themselves, and when the tame animals from the park are gone and they find themselves stumbling about in the wilderness, and their target sees them or catches their zombie like odor, they will be wishing they had something to reach out and touch their next meal. And if you ever hunted and missed on the first shot, that semi auto comes in real handy. sometimes works out better for the target too
the reason i brought up the subject of EMP's is that i just discovered that, although we started a program to shield ourselves somewhat back in the reagan years, we discontinued that project after the soviet union collapsed. ----- which means we are totally vulnerable to that type of attack, and the inherent problems related to the aftermath of the attack.
Zoo animals will never use an EMP. It will never happen! Believe it or not folks, zoo animals don't have that kind of technology.
Edit : Wait...what?
I mean no disrespect for the dead and I'm sure she was a nice woman, but I hold Nancy Lanza largely responsible for this tragedy. She deluded herself that she could handle her son's problems (OK, that might be a pretty normal response to an obviously challenged child) but she also joined the American worship of guns. I'm sorry but having a socially and perhaps mentally challenged child and teaching him how to use guns strikes me as ultimately disastrous. An assault rifle in a Connecticut bedroom community? Really!? I' ve heard this defended as she was a divorced woman living alone but I know lots of divorced women living alone who live in places much more scary than Newtown, Connecticut who did not feel the need to collect weapons that were designed to kill. This was a train wreck waiting to happen and the children of Sandy Hook Elementary School paid the price.