The official says Ryan Lanza’s computers and phone records were being searched but only “in an abundance of caution.” He said Ryan told authorities he had not been in touch with his brother in recent years.
Ryan works at Ernst & Young accounting firm. Apparently, he found out about this on Facebook. Here is his FB page from earlier today, now taken down.
Adam drove to the school in his mother's car. Sounds like he killed her before going to the school. (Added: She was killed at home.)
Law enforcement says all three guns were bought legally and registered to his mother.
Update 5:00 ET: ABC news reports Adam Lanza's brother says Adam is autistic. Adam is believed to have lived with his mother. The person dead at the home is an adult. It is not clear whether Adam's mother was killed at school or at home.
Ryan Lanza, 24, brother of gunman Adam Lanza, 20, tells authorities that his younger brother is autistic, or has Asperger syndrome and a “personality disorder.” Neighbors described the younger man to ABC as “odd” and displaying characteristics associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Update 4:30: The shooter is 20 year old Adam Lanza, not his brother Ryan Lanza. Adam is dead, his mother Nancy Lanza was killed at the school or at her home, depending on reports, and brother Ryan is being questioned.
Update 3:30 pm News conference::
18 children and 6 adults and the shooter died at school. 2 children died later at hospital. Does not identify shooter. Says the shooter and an individual he lived with are dead. There is a secondary crime scene in Newton and an individual was found dead there. The shootings took place in two rooms in one section of the building. There is one shooter. With the shooter, 27 are dead -- from the school shooting and one more at the house in Newton.
He does not say whose body was found at the home. This is very confusing. See updates below for the media's varied reports, from one saying he drove his mother's car to the school, to another saying his girlfriend and another friend are missing, to mis-identification of the shooter. [More...]
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A news conference is about to begin on the Conn. elementary school shootings today. The headline reads "27 dead, mostly children." One gunman is dead. He had two guns. They are searching to see if there is a second shooter.
Update: The press conference: Shooter is deceased inside the building. Won't discuss the number dead. In other words, no information. Worthless press conference.
Via USA Today:
Over the past few years, shootings in K-12 schools have become increasingly rare. After reaching a high of 63 deaths in the 2006-2007 school year, the number of people killed in "school-associated" incidents dropped to 33 last year - lowest in two decades, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
While a few dozen children are killed each year in school, statistically speaking it remains the safest place a child will likely ever be, with the lowest chance of being killed. "When you consider the fact that there are over 50 million school children in America, the chances are over one in two million, not a high probability," said Fox. "And most cases that do occur are in high schools and less so in middle schools -- and hardly ever in elementary schools."
The news reports continue to vary widely. Some say the shooter is 20 and from New Jersey with ties to the school. Some say he used a rifle, others he used two handguns. Some say the shooter was wearing military gear. Some say most of the children killed were in a kindergarten class. Some say a second person is being questioned but he may not be a suspect. Some say 26 dead, some say 27. One report says a school psychologist was killed.
Update: The Wall St Journal has a live feed with these disparate reports: (1) CNN identifies the shooter as 24 year-old Ryan Lanza, a former Quinnipiac student who has a home in Hoboken NJ. His mother lives in Newtown. (2)Law enforcement official says Mother of Suspect in Newtown Connecticut found dead in New Jersey apartment.(3) Police searching a Newtown house in connection with Sandy Hook School shooting find the body of a woman, CBS reports, possibly shooter's mom.
Update: CNN was wrong. The shooter is not Ryan Lanza but his brother Adam Lanza.
Update: Photo of ambulance leaving residence on Yogananda St. in Newton believed to be Ryan Lanza's mother's residence, who reportedly was a teacher at the school, with a body inside, according to the Hartford Courant.
The NY Daily News reports he killed his father in New Jersey, and killed his mother in front of the kindergarten class.
29 dead, including 22 kids, in Newtown, Conn., elementary school shooting: Gunman, 24, kills mother in front of class – father’s body is found at family home in New Jersey
Later updated to 27 dead, including 18 children:
The mass murderer, packing a pair of weapons, first murdered his father in N.J. He then blasted his teacher mom, Nancy Lanza, and her students inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. — a small suburban town of about 27,000 people.
A neighbor says Lanza
"was a quiet kid."
Update: A federal law enforcement official said a .223 Bushmaster rifle was found in the back of a vehicle at the scene. Two firearms were recovered near the alleged gunman’s body: a Glock and a Sig Sauer, both handguns.
Obama will make a statement at 3:15 pm. ET. I'll put up a new thread for his statement.
Update: AP Report: Lanza's younger brother is being held for questioning. His girlfriend and another friend are missing.
Update: The last report is obviously wrong as the younger brother has now been identified as the shooter. New reports are that Adam's girlfriend is missing, the father is alive, and Ryan is being questioned. Further updates are moving to the top.
