• Investigators: Adam Lanza surrounded by weapons at home; attack took less than 5 minutes

    Search warrants and other documents released by prosecutors show that shooter Adam Lanza fired 154 bullets from his rifle in less than five minutes. NBC News' Michael Isikoff has more.

    By Michael Isikoff, Tom Winter and Erin McClam, NBC News

    Adam Lanza left a home stuffed with weaponry and carried out the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in a 154-bullet barrage that took less than five minutes, investigators said Thursday in the first detailed account of his surroundings and troubled state of mind.

    Search warrants from the second-worst school shooting in American history revealed that the home Lanza shared with his mother in Newtown, Conn., was a veritable arsenal: Authorities found at least nine knives, three Samurai swords, two rifles, 1,600 rounds of ammunition and a 7-foot, wood-handled pole with a blade on one side and a spear on the other.

    Authorities also recovered a certificate in Lanza’s name from the National Rifle Association, seven of his journals, drawings that he made and books from the house, including books on living with mental illness.

    The warrants offered a thorough look at the environment in which Lanza lived before he shot his mother, Nancy, to death and drove to Sandy Hook on the morning of Dec. 14. Twenty first-graders and six teachers and staff were killed before Lanza shot himself to death with the 155th bullet.

    An FBI report based on interviews with people who knew him said that Lanza rarely left home, considered himself a shut-in and was an avid gamer who played “Call of Duty,” a first-person shooter game. Lanza considered the elementary school his “life,” the papers said.

    Among other items seized from the home were a holiday card containing a check from his mother to buy a firearm, an article from The New York Times about a 2008 school shooting at Northern Illinois University and three photographs of what appeared to be a dead person covered with plastic and blood.

    List of Lanza's arsenal, item by item

    Read the warrants, search them

    The books included “Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s” and “Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Mind of an Autistic Savant.”

    At the school, Lanza fired the 154 rounds from a Bushmaster .223-model rifle and the final bullet from a Glock 10mm handgun to take his own life, said Stephen Sedensky, the chief prosecutor investigating the shooting. Police recovered 10 30-round magazines for the Bushmaster that Lanza took to the school. Three of the magazines had a full 30 rounds still in them.

    Among school shootings in the United States, the death toll from Newtown is second only to the 32 people killed at Virginia Tech in 2007.

    The attack touched off a nationwide debate about gun control. The fate of proposed changes to national gun laws, including expanded background checks and limits on high-capacity magazines, remains unclear.

    President Barack Obama spoke Thursday at the White House to make the case again for tougher gun laws. He appeared with parents of Sandy Hook victims and of other gun crimes but did not specifically reference the newly released Newtown warrants.

    “The entire country was shocked,” the president said. “And the entire country pledged that we would do something about it and this time would be different. Shame on us if we’ve forgotten. I haven’t forgotten those kids. Shame on us if we’ve forgotten.”

    Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, citing the warrants, also called for stricter gun laws.

    “We knew that these weapons were legally purchased under our current laws,” Malloy said. “I don’t know what more we can need to know before we take decisive action to prevent gun violence. The time to act is now.”

    The warrants spelled out a vast inventory of weapons and other gun paraphernalia recovered from the Lanza home.

    Among the items found were paper targets, gun manuals, earplugs, holsters, almost 40 types of ammunition, nine types of magazines, a bayonet, knives with blades as long as a foot and Samurai swords with blades as long as 2 feet 4 inches.

    Authorities also found a starter’s pistol, a BB gun, an NRA guide to pistol shooting and an NRA certificate in Nancy Lanza’s name.

    In a statement, the NRA said it had no record of a “member relationship” for the Lanzas, nor for someone with the same last name and their first initials.

    “Reporting to the contrary is reckless, false and defamatory,” the statement said.


    On Wednesday, a judge granted a request from prosecutors to withhold some information in the records, including a witness name, credit card information, telephone numbers and serial numbers.

    Besides the Bushmaster and the Glock, authorities found a Sig-Sauer 9mm semiautomatic pistol in the school. In the car outside, police found a shotgun.

    All those weapons were legally owned by the mother, authorities have said. Enough public blame and anger has been directed at her that she was left out of many of the memorials and shrines to the Newtown victims.

    There have been reports that Lanza was obsessed with other mass killers, including Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in a shooting and bomb attack in Norway two years ago.

    A law enforcement official told NBC News last month that Lanza had collected material on previous mass shootings, although the source said there was no indication that it played a role in the school massacre.

    Police told NBC News in February that investigators were still a long way from determining Lanza’s motive. Police said then that they hoped to have a report on the shooting finished by June.

    Search warrants:

    Dec. 14 (first) | Dec. 14 (second) | Dec. 14 (third) | Dec. 15 | Dec. 16

    President Barack Obama delivers remarks Thursday at the White House regarding gun reform in America.

    This story was originally published on Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:23 AM EDT

  • Guns, knives, ammo and gear: Adam Lanza's arsenal, item by item

    Search warrants released Thursday laid bare the extent of Newtown school massacre suspect Adam Lanza's arsenal. Here is a catalog of the weaponry found at the school where 20 children and six staffers were killed and at the home he shared with his mother, who was also murdered:

    At the school:

    1 Bushmaster .223 caliber model XM15 rifle with a 30-round magazine

    1 Glock 10mm handgun

    1 9mm Sig Sauer P226 handgun

    1 Saiga 12 shotgun with two magazines containing 70 rounds

    6 30-round magazines, three of them emptied

    At the home:

    Guns:

    1 Enfield bolt-action .323 rifle

    1 Savage Mark II .22 caliber rifle with magazine, 3 live rounds, 1 spent cartridge

    1 black marksman BB gun

    Ammunition:

    5 Winchester 12-gauge shotgun shells cut open, with buckshot

    1 white plastic bag with 30 Winchester 12-gauge shotgun shells

    1 can with .22 caliber and .45 caliber bullets

    8 boxes of Winchester Windcat .22 caliber bullets, 50 rounds per box

    20 "Estate" 12-gauge shotgun shells

    4 boxes of SB buckshot 12-gauge, 10 round per box

    1 box of Lightfield 12-gauge slugs

    1 box of 20 Prvi Partizan 303 British rifle cartridges

    1 box of 20 Federal 303 British rifle cartridges

    2 boxes of .22 long rifle Blazer rounds, 50 each box

    1 box with numerous rounds of Winchester .45 caliber bullets

    2 boxes of 50 rounds of PPU .45 caliber automatic

    1 box of 20 rounds for Remington .223 caliber

    3 boxes of Blazer 40 S&W, 50 rounds each

    2 boxes of Winchester 5.56 mm, 20 rounds each

    1 box of Magtech 45ACP with 30 rounds

    1 empty Box of SSA 5.56 mm

    1 box of Fiocchi .45 auto with 48 rounds

    80 rounds of CCI .22 long rifle

    6 boxes of PMC .223 rem, 20 rounds each

    6 Winchester 9 pellet buckshot shells, 12-gauge

    2 Remington 12-gauge slugs

    3 Winchester .223 rifle rounds

    31 .22 caliber rounds

    2 boxes of Underwood 10 mm auto, each with 50 rounds

    130 rounds of Lawman 9mm Luger

    2 spent shell casings for Glock 10mm

    1 empty box of Gold Dot 9mm Luger

    2 empty boxes of Winchester 9mm Luger

    1 box of Underwood 10mm auto with 34 rounds

    1 box of 29 miscellaneous 9mm rounds

    1 spent .22 shell casing

    1 small plastic bag containing numerous .22 caliber bullets

    1 tan bag with numerous Blazer .45 caliber bullets

    1 box of Blazer .22 long rifle with 50 rounds

    1 box PPU 303 British cartridges with 9 rounds

    2 Winchester 9mm rounds

    2 brass-colored shell casings

    1 small caliber bullet (live round) labeled C

    Magazines:

    1 Promag 20-round 12-gauge drum magazine

    1 MD Arms 20-round 12 gauge drum magazine

    3 AGP Arms 12-gauge shotgun magazines

    1 Surefire GunMag magazine with 8 rounds of Winchester 12-gauge, 9-pellet buckshot

    2 AGP Arms 12-gauge shotgun magazines, taped together, each with 10 rounds of Winchester 9-pellet buckshot

    2 empty Ram Line magazines for Ruger 10-22

    1 AGP Arms Gen 2 12-gauge shotgun magazine with 10 rounds of Winchester 12-gauge, 9-pellet buckshot

    1 clear plastic Ramline magazine for an AR 15

    1 magazine with 10 rounds of .223 bullets

    Knives:

    Metal bayonet

    1 6-foot-10-inch wood-handled two-sided pole with a blade on one side and a spear on the other

    1 Samurai sword with a 28-inch blade and sheath

    1 Samurai sword with a 21-inch blade and a sheath

    1 Samurai sword with a 13-inch blade and sheath

    1 knife with a 12-inch blade and sheath

    1 wooden-handle knife with a 7.5-inch blade and sheath

    1 wooden-handle knife with a 10-inch blade

    1 knife with a 5.5-inch blade and sheath

    1 black-handled knife with a 7-inch blade and sheath

    1 black rubber-handled knife with 9.5-inch blade and sheath

    1 white and brown-handled knife with 5-inch blade and sheath

    1 brown wood-handled knife with a 10.25-inch blade

    1 Panther brown-handled folding knife with a 3.75 inch blade

    1 small blue folding knife

    Gear:

    1 Volcanic .22 starter pistol wth 5 live rounds and 1 expended round

    Leightning L3 ear protection

    Peltor ear plugs

    Simmons binoculars

    Uncle Mike's Sidekick nylon holster

    Box for vest accessories

    Leather dual magazine holder

    Black leather handgun holster

    High Sierra fanny pack

    Numerous paper targets

    1 cardboard targets

    1 Bushnell sport view rifle scope

    Plastic bag of miscellaneous parts

    Safariland holster paperwork

    Glock handgun manual

    MD-20 20-round shotgun magazine manual

    MD Arms V-Plug guide

    Bushmaster XM15 and C15 instruction manual

    Savage Arms bolt-action rifle manual

    Glock paperwork

    Miscellaneous:

    Adam Lanza's National Rifle Association certificate

    Nancy Lanza's NRA certificate

    Three photographs with images of what appears to be a deceased human covered with plastic and what appears to be blood

    Holiday card with a check from Nancy Lanza to Adam Lanza for purchase of C183 firearm

    1 digital print of a child and various firearms

    1 military-style uniform

    Handwritten notes with addresses of local gun shops

    Receipts and emails documenting firearm and ammunition supplies

    Blue folder labeled “guns” with receipts and paperwork

    Paperwork titled "Connecticut Gun Exchange Glock 20SF 10mm" dated 12-21-11

    Sandy Hook report card for Adam Lanza

    New York Times article on a 2008 shooting at Northern Illinois Unversity

    Books: “Look me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s;” “Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Mind of an Autistic Savant;” “NRA Guide to Basics of Pistol Shooting;” “Train Your Brain to Get Happy”

    1 Seagate Barracuda 500gb hard drive, damaged

    1 custom-built desktop computer, no hard drive

    1 Microsoft Xbox with partially obliterated serial number

    One cotton swab of blood-like substance

    1 tan sheet with blood-like substance

    1 tan fitted sheet with blood-like substance

    1 striped towel with blood-like substance

     

    Related: 

    Lanza fired 155 bullets in less than five minutes, prosecutor says

    Search warrants: Read them, search them

     

    This story was originally published on Thu Mar 28, 2013 11:19 AM EDT

  • Search warrants in Newtown school massacre might reveal more on motive

    Lucas Jackson / Reuters file

    Nancy Lanza's home in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 18.

    By Gil Aegerter and Tom Winter, NBC News

    Search warrant documents in the Sandy Hook massacre are expected to be released early Thursday and could shed more light on gunman Adam Lanza’s state of mind and motive in carrying out the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.


    The records were sealed in the immediate aftermath of Lanza’s Dec. 14 shooting rampage through the Newtown, Conn., elementary school, and Connecticut Superior Court Judge John F. Blawie extended the order for 90 days on Dec. 27 (here in .pdf). It covered the applications, affidavits and returns for five search warrants for the home in Sandy Hook where Lanza lived with his mother, Nancy, and for the black 2010 four-door Honda Civic sedan that he parked in front of Sandy Hook Elementary School.

    Rhonda Stearley-Hebert, communications manager for the Connecticut Judicial Branch, said Wednesday that the documents would be available Thursday morning. A statement from prosecutors working on the case also was expected to be made public.

    On Wednesday afternoon, Blawie granted a motion from the state's attorney to redact some information in the records, including a witness name, a credit card number, telephone numbers and several paragraphs of one item. Serial numbers for several unidentified items also will be redacted. The sealing orders will be lifted at midnight Wednesday, and the documents were to be released by email at 9:01 a.m. Thursday.

    Authorities say Lanza shot his 52-year-old mother to death at the home they shared on the morning of Dec. 14, then drove about five miles to the school, where he killed 20 first-graders and six teachers and staff members before fatally shooting himself. Two other teachers were wounded. The death toll is second only to the 32 killed in the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre among U.S. school shootings.

    Lanza, 20, used a Bushmaster .223-caliber XM15-E2S rifle with a 30-round magazine to shoot the victims at the school, authorities have said. In addition to the Bushmaster, authorities found a Glock 10mm semiautomatic pistol and a Sig-Sauer 9mm semiautomatic pistol in the school – one of which Lanza used to kill himself. In the Civic parked outside, police found an Izhmash Canta-12 12-gauge shotgun, which looks similar to a Kalashnikov rifle; it was not used at the school.

    All those weapons were legally owned by Nancy Lanza, authorities have said. There have been reports that several more guns were found in her home, though NBC News has not confirmed that.

    On Wednesday, the Lanza home looked untouched since the shooting -- a large Christmas wreath still at the door and holly wrapped in perfect form around the columns.

    Authorities have kept tight control over information in the case, including any evidence that might give clues to Adam Lanza’s motivation.

    Alaine Griffin and Josh Kovner from the Hartford Courant teamed up with PBS's "Frontline" for a special report on Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter. After finding news articles in his bedroom, they believe Lanza could have been inspired by the deadly Norway attacks, and they also note that his mom Nancy wanted him to be more independent.

    There have been reports that he was obsessed with mass killers, including Norway’s Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in a shooting and bomb attack in 2011. A law enforcement official told NBC News last month that Lanza had collected material on previous mass shootings, although the source said there was no indication that it played a role in the school massacre. Some reports also have suggested that investigators believe violent video games might have helped propel Lanza to violence, though authorities have not confirmed that. Like many young adults, Lanza was known to play a variety of video games, some violent and some not.

    Connecticut State Police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance told NBC’S TODAY in February that investigators “are a long way” from determining Lanza’s motive. Vance said investigators hope to have their report on the shooting completed by early June.

    Access to information has become an issue with state lawmakers working on bipartisan gun-control legislation stemming from the massacre.

    Lawmakers complained last week after the New York Daily News reported that a state police commander had disclosed evidence about the case at a law enforcement seminar in New Orleans. State House Republican Rep. Larry Cafero said lawmakers should be getting more information for their deliberations, and in response, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney had agreed to release more information this week.

    Mark Dupuis, spokesman for the state Division of Criminal Justice, said Wednesday that the release would include the search warrant documents and a statement from prosecutors.

    Adam Joseph, communications director for the state Senate Democrats, told NBC News on Wednesday morning that lawmakers still did not have a final agreement on the legislation and were waiting to see the search warrants before scheduling a vote, which could come as early as next week.

    Slideshow: Newtown school massacre

    Brendan Smialowski / AFP - Getty Images

    A nation mourns after the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history left 20 children and six staff members dead at Sandy Hook Elementary.

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  • After Newtown, states slow to embrace new gun laws

    By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Months after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, new state-level restrictions on guns have been slow in coming, and they’ve mostly been concentrated in a handful of states that already have tough gun laws.


    Meanwhile, lawmakers in at least a half-dozen other states have gone the other way, proposing and in some instances passing bills that would expand where and when a person can be in possession of a firearm.

    But for residents in the vast majority of states, gun ownership looks unlikely to change much absent federal legislation. 

    A person can still buy a pistol at a Nevada gun show without a background check or carry a rifle inside the New Hampshire state house, just as he or she could before Adam Lanza brought a Bushmaster .223 rifle into a Newtown, Conn., elementary school and opened fire.

    “There has been activity in other states that one might not ordinarily think of -- Colorado, for example,” said Jon Vernick, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. But there remain “the Idahos of the world, where really little has changed since Newtown.”

    Gun-control advocates had high hopes that the Newtown tragedy would serve as a galvanizing moment for the country. Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said at the time that he hoped it would be a “catalyst to demand the sensible change.”

    While recent mass shootings do appear to have moved public opinion – a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found American support for stricter gun laws at its highest level in a decade – there has not been a rush at the state level to embrace sweeping new gun laws.

    And most of the dozen or so states where significant new restrictions have been proposed already have a “C+” rating or above from the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, putting them among the nation’s top states for gun control.

    “Most of the viable proposals on the federal level and in most states would have very little impact on self-defense,” said UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh. “But pretty much all the gun control proposals out there are not going to be terribly effective at combating criminals.”

    In New Jersey, several lawmakers began calling for new gun laws in the immediate aftermath of the Newtown shooting, even though the state already has an A- rating from the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Legislators voted a raft of bills through the Democrat-controlled state assembly on Feb. 22, including a ban on .50 caliber weapons and a 10-round magazine limit. Those bills may still be held up by a hesitant Senate and Republican governor.

    “We’re going to take a hard look at the bills the Assembly did,” New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney said in an interview with Philadelphia radio station 106.9FM. “Some might be changed, some might not go through at all.”

    At the same time, lawmakers in Wyoming, South Dakota, Kansas, Tennessee, Texas, and Arizona all moved to loosen their controls on firearms, in many cases thumbing their nose at prospective federal legislation.

    An Arkansas bill allowing holders of concealed-carry permits to bring their gun into churches was signed into law by Governor Mike Beebe, a Democrat, on Feb. 11.

    First sponsored by state Senator Bryan King, the Church Protection Act passed the state’s Republican-controlled Senate by an overwhelming majority. In Kentucky, the state Senate voted 34 to 3 on Feb. 25 to approve a bill outlawing the enforcement of federal gun laws that do not yet exist.

    The most aggressive gun-control legislative action so far has come in New York, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo championed one of the nation’s toughest bans on assault weapons, the first to come in the wake of Newtown. But the state already boasted gun laws that were among the nation’s toughest.

    Even in states seared by recent tragedies, lawmakers have found their progress slowed.

    After Connecticut lawmakers failed to coalesce around any of the gun laws offered in the days after Newtown, Democratic Gov. Dan Malloy introduced his own proposal and vowed to shove it through.

    Lawmakers are trying to forge a bipartisan consensus but they are finding it difficult. “I would hope that we would have a broadly supported bipartisan bill, but I think it’s more important that we have a strong bill that meets the need,” said Sen. Majority Leader Martin Looney, a Democrat.

    In Colorado, home of the Aurora theater shooting, House lawmakers advanced gun-control bills after some last-minute lobbying from Joe Biden, drawing the wrath of Republicans.

    The bills would mandate universal background checks, ban magazines with more than 15 rounds, and allow college campuses to prohibit concealed carry. With the Senate planning to vote soon, the magazine maker Magpul Industries threatened to abandon its plant 28 miles from Denver if the proposed magazine limit is put into law.

    “Colorado is in a unique position in that we have suffered these tragedies firsthand, so there is a drumbeat in Colorado,” said Colorado Senate President John Morse, a Democrat. “I think the governor will be in support of all of these bills once we get them to his desk.”

    Passing a bill expanding gun rights can be complicated, too, as Wyoming State Representative Kendell Kroeker, a Republican, found out.

    He got a bill passed in the state House of Representatives that would have made it illegal for anyone to enforce any new federal law that placed restrictions on guns, ammunition, or other firearms accessories within the borders of the state.

    That bill died amid questions of its constitutionality, Kroeker said. But the response from his constituents was “overwhelmingly positive,” he added.

    Whether gun ownership changes for most Americans may come down to actions taken on the national level, as hesitant state lawmakers wait for a cue from Washington. The Senate Judiciary Committee put a one-week hold on prospective federal gun bills on Thursday.

    Related:

    Gun stores running low on weapons as sales surge

    Anger, violent thoughts: Are you too sick to own a gun?

  • FBI: Connecticut woman threatened 'suicidal mass murder' at college

    Rich Scinto / New Haven Register via AP

    Amanda Bowden stands with her public defender as she is arraigned at Superior Court in Milford, Conn., on Wednesday.

    By Bob Connors, NBCConnecticut.com

    The FBI has arrested an Connecticut woman accused of threatening to carry out a mass shooting at a community college.

    Amanda Bowden, 19, of East Haven, Conn., was taken into custody Tuesday.

    Bowden is accused of threatening to commit a Newtown-style mass shooting at Gateway Community College in New Haven, Conn.

    "As alleged, this defendent made a series of threats that described in great detail her intention to carry out a suicidal mass murder at a community college in New Haven," said U.S. Attorney David Fein.

    According to federal authorities, Bowden made several threats by text message with a witness cooperating with investigators between Feb. 4 and Feb 16. She also had text message and verbal conversations with an undercover officer, discussing her plans to commit a mass shooting and bombing at Gateway, authorities said.

    Bowden claimed to have guns and claimed that she had constructed at least two napalm-based bombs at her home in East Haven, according to Fein.

    The FBI and New Haven police chief Dean Esserman notified Gateway Community College President Dorsey Kendrick about the threats on Feb. 5, according to a school spokesperson.

    "Chief Esserman and GCC security had been contacted by the FBI, and were told that there was no imminent danger as a result of the post, but an investigation was underway," said Evelyn Gard. "The chief requested that Dr. Kendrick and GCC security keep the matter confidential until the investigation was complete."

    More news from NBCConnecticut.com

    Bowden was arrested on state charges Tuesday. Federal agents searched Bowden's home in East Haven after her arrest and did not find any firearms or explosives, according to authorities.

    Bowden appeared in Milford Superior Court on state threatening charges Wednesday and was then taken into federal custody and moved to Bridgeport Federal Court, where she appeared on a charge of false information and hoaxes.

    She remains in custody pending a hearing on March 1.

    Related:

    Full coverage of Newtown school shooting 

    This story was originally published on Thu Feb 21, 2013 3:01 AM EST

  • Police: 'Mere speculation' that Adam Lanza was motivated by obsession with other mass killers

    Alaine Griffin and Josh Kovner from the Hartford Courant teamed up with PBS's "Frontline" for a special report on Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter. After finding news articles in his bedroom, they believe Lanza could have been inspired by the deadly Norway attacks, and they also note that his mom Nancy wanted him to be more independent.

    By Pete Williams, NBC News

    Reports that Sandy Hook school shooter Adam Lanza aspired to one-up Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik are “mere speculation” given the ongoing nature of the investigation, said Connecticut State Police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance.


    On Monday night, CBS News attributed to “law enforcement sources” a theory that Lanza saw himself as being in competition with Anders Behring Breivik, the man who killed 77 people in Norway two years ago, many of them teenagers at a summer camp. The story said Lanza wanted to kill even more people and went to the school because it was an easy target.

    But Vance said investigators “are a long way” from determining what motivated Lanza. “Determining a motive is a huge undertaking,” he said, “especially given that Lanza is dead.”

    Another law enforcement official told NBC News that Lanza had collected material on previous mass shootings. “But there was nothing that outlined his plans or said that he was trying to outdo a previous shooting,” the official said.

    CBS News has appended an editor’s note to the online version of its story saying that after the piece ran Vance “told CBS News that the investigation into the motive for the Newtown shooting has not been completed and therefore any statements about the shooter’s intent are mere speculation.”

    The FBI lab is trying to extract data from Lanza’s damaged hard drive, which could shed light on possible motives, but so far that effort has produced nothing of value, an official told NBC News.

    The Hartford Courant, which partnered with PBS FRONTLINE on an in-depth investigation into the lives of Adam and Nancy Lanza, published an article on Monday citing unnamed law enforcement sources who also described Lanza’s possible interest in Brevik as little more than a theory at this point.

    Related: Adam Lanza photos, details emerge in new reports

    “The sources emphasized that an interest in Breivik is just one theory,” the paper reported. “Sources said Connecticut law enforcement officials traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to brief unidentified federal authorities on the status of the investigation and discussed the possible Breivik connection.”

    Breivik carried out a series of deadly attacks in Norway in July of 2011, setting off a car bomb in the city of Oslo, then attacked a youth summer camp on the island of Utoya. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison, the maximum sentenced allowed under Norwegian law, but it is expected that he will spend the rest of his life in jail.

    Adam Lanza

    The Breivik theory is one part of the ongoing investigation to find out what drove the reclusive 20-year-old Lanza to kill 27 people in December, Hartford Courant reporter Josh Kovner told NBC’s TODAY.

    “They’re trying to get information, did he have a secret life, did he have a secret identity, what was he angling toward,” Kovner said. “And then if you find articles about the worst mass murderer in history in the guy’s game room, you’re going to start to wonder.”

    The paper also sought to learn more about the young man’s mother, who was his first victim on December 14 and whose guns were used in the killings.

    “We had heard so much about her being this paranoid Doomsday prepper who was stockpiling food, waiting for this economic collapse, and we learned through our reporting that she had done a number of things to get Adam in the right place,” Alaine Griffin, another reporter for the Hartford Courant, said on TODAY. “There were all these different educational shifts in and out of school. So we learned that she actually was trying to do the right thing by Adam.”

    Connecticut state police hope to have their report on the shooting completed by early June, Vance told NBC News.

    This story was originally published on Tue Feb 19, 2013 8:55 AM EST

  • Lutheran pastor apologizes for taking part in Sandy Hook service

    Pastor Rob Morris of Newtown's Christ the King Lutheran Church provided the closing benediction at an interfaith event following the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 16.

    By Edith Honan, Reuters

    Published at 6:33 a.m. ET: A Connecticut Lutheran pastor has apologized for participating in an interfaith prayer vigil for the 26 children and adults killed at a Newtown elementary school in December because his church bars its clergy from worshipping with other faiths.

    The December prayer vigil was attended by President Barack Obama, leaders from Christian, Muslim and Jewish faiths, and relatives of the 20 first graders who were gunned down in their classrooms two days earlier after a gunman entered their school.

    The Dec. 14 shooting shook the nation and led to calls for improved school security, gun control and better mental health care.

    Watch the entire interfaith vigil for Connecticut shooting victims, including President Obama's speech. Pastor Rob Morris gives the closing benediction, beginning 73 minutes, 10 seconds into the video.

    The pastor, Rob Morris of Newtown's Christ the King Lutheran Church, provided the closing benediction at the interfaith event on Dec. 16.

    Earlier this month, the president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Pastor Matthew Harrison, wrote a letter to church members saying he had requested an apology from Morris for his participation in "joint worship with other religions."

    "There is sometimes a real tension between wanting to bear witness to Christ and at the same time avoiding situations which may give the impression that our differences with respect to who God is, who Jesus is, how he deals with us, and how we get to heaven, really don't matter in the end," Harrison wrote.

    "There will be times in this crazy world when, for what we believe are all the right reasons, we may step over the scriptural line," he wrote.

    Harrison said he had accepted Morris' apology.

    This is not the first time a Lutheran leader has been chastised for participating in a community service in the wake of a local tragedy.

    'False teaching'
    David Benke, a Lutheran pastor in New York, was suspended for praying at an interfaith vigil in 2001, 12 days after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Benke, who had refused to apologize for the incident, was reinstated in 2003.

    In his own letter to his church, Morris wrote that it was not his intent to endorse "false teaching" and apologized to those who believed he had.

    "I did not believe my participation to be an act of joint worship, but one of mercy and care to a community shocked and grieving an unspeakably horrific event," he wrote. "I apologize where I have caused offense by pushing Christian freedom too far, and I request you charitably receive my apology."

    Related:

    Full coverage of the Sandy Hook shooting from NBC News

    Fierce debate after Newtown school shootings: Where was God?

    People of Newtown pray and grieve together

     

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Newtown residents weigh in on future of Sandy Hook Elementary

    Julio Cortez / AP

    This aerial photo shows Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., the site of the Dec. 14 shooting that left 20 children and six staffers dead. As residents weigh in on the future of the building, students are attending school at a different facility.

    By Debra Bogstie , NBCConnecticut.com

    Town leaders in Newtown, Conn., continue to hear from residents about what should become of the building where 20 children and six educators lost their lives in a mass shooting in December.

    More than 100 people gathered inside Newtown High School on Friday for the second public hearing on the topic. Some in the crowd voiced their opinions on what they believe should happen to the Sandy Hook Elementary School building. Others watched and listened.

    "I think that building should be a memorial. I don't think it should ever be a school again," said Josie Schmidt, a Newtown resident who is also a retired school teacher.

    "I know what happened there. I see it. You cannot ask anyone to go back in there," said Todd Keeping, a Newtown resident and Monroe police officer who was at the school in the days after the tragedy.

    Besides hearing from the public, town officials are also meeting privately with families of the victims and survivors. They're also meeting with teachers and staff.


    "The decision-makers should be the families. I think we all are entitled to our opinions, but I think what they say should go," said Taylor Ansbro of Newtown.

    Also on NBCConnecticut.com: Stamford gun buyback includes video game collection

    One staff member, library clerk Mary Ann Jacob, spoke during the meeting and said she was inside the school when the shooting happened. "I'll be there wherever it is, because it's important to me to help the rest of the children in this community heal," Jacob said.

    A recommendation on what to do with the building could come by spring, town officials said.

    "We are Sandy Hook School and we choose love," said Jacob, to heavy applause from the audience.

    For now, Sandy Hook children are learning at the former Chalk Hill school in Monroe, Conn., where they're expected to remain through the next school year, according to First Selectman Patricia Llodra.

    As they weigh options for the future, splitting the children up into different schools around Newtown is not one that's under consideration, said Llodra and other officials.

    Also on NBCConnecticut.com: Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian make Sandy Hook promise

  • Gun stores running low on weapons as sales surge, owners say

    Brian Blanco / Reuters

    Gun shop customers shop for weapons as they listen to live streaming video of an announcement about gun control by U.S. President Barack Obama at the Bullet Hole gun shop in Sarasota, Fla., on Wednesday.

    By Matthew DeLuca and Bill Briggs, NBC News

    The shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., last month touched off a wave of gun buying -- and President Barack Obama's gun-control speech this week appears to have done little to slow it down.


    Documents obtained by NBC News from the state of Connecticut through a Freedom of Information Act request show a spike in gun sales in the hours and days after the deaths of 20 schoolchildren and six staffers at Sandy Hook Elementary.

    Interviews with gun store owners in four states after Obama's speech show that passion among buyers has not decreased over the month since Newtown; if anything, Obama's speech appeared to set off a new frenzy of buying, with some stores running low on guns.

    “We were just swamped in here as soon as he got off the news,” manager Bill Loane of Pasadena Pawn & Gun in Maryland said of the reaction to Obama’s gun proposals. “People were just pouring through the door.”

    As the first news was breaking in Connecticut a month ago, buyers were having the same reaction. Between 11 a.m. and noon Dec. 14, firearms retailers in the state were busy performing 105 background checks – nearly double the amount logged in the same lunchtime hour a week earlier.

    A total of 725 background checks were performed that day, up from 585 a week before. The trend continued in the days ahead, resulting in a 55 percent week-over-week increase in checks.

    Across the country, background checks were also surging: 900,000 more background checks were reported in December 2012 than in the same month of 2011. In total, over 3.1 million more background checks were recorded in 2012 than in 2011.

    And the trend appeared to continue this week.

    “My phone's been ringing off the hook this morning,” Loane said. “I got here 9:30 and it’s been nonstop.”

    He said his store used to sell five or six AR-15-style rifles a month before the shooting in Newtown. He sold 55 in December. He sold 12 to 14 handguns on Wednesday and a half-dozen rifles.

    Customers have been coming into Fairground Trader in Massachusetts looking for “anything and everything” since the Newtown school shooting, said store owner Tom Downey. Most of his inventory is sold out now, but his phone keeps ringing.

    “I had a lot of phone calls yesterday looking for stuff I don’t have,” Downey said. “I’d say that people are on the phone just dialing every gun shop around asking questions.”

    Joe Raedle / Getty Images file

    A Bushmaster XM-15 .223-caliber rifle like this was used in the school massacre in Newtown, Conn. This style of rifle, modeled after the Colt AR-15, has been highly sought after since the attack, gun store owners say.

    Sellers say they’ve had to turn away people looking to buy what has become a marquee item – the AR-15-style assault rifle.

    The AR-15-style rifle, which is among the most popular firearm models in America, came to wider attention after Adam Lanza used one in Newtown. Fearing a ban, Loane said, his customers are paying unprecedented prices for the few guns still available.

    “I just sold a lower model one the other day for $2,195 over the phone,” Loane said of a gun that a few months ago might have gone for about $1,200. “The guy had to have it. He didn’t even see the gun.”

    David Stone said his Dong’s Sporting & Reloading Goods in Tulsa, Okla., was packed wall-to-wall all day on Wednesday. Stone said buyers barely paused during what he described as a “buying frenzy” to listen to the president speak over a local reporter’s iPhone.

    “We’re having people call on the phone,” Stone said. “I’m the only store in Oklahoma from what customers are telling me that has AR-15s.”

    Clive Courty said the racks at his GunFun Firearms store in Quincy, Ill., have been nearly fully cleared out over the last three weeks. He’s seen the largest surge in interest for “semi-auto, military-style looking” guns, he said.

    “I’ve just got some basic rifles and shotguns and basically a handful of handguns, revolvers, a few semi-autos left,” Courty said. “Ammunition’s very low. I’ve got orders for just about everything, but don’t expect them.”

    With distributors telling them they don’t know when supply will stabilize, some store owners say they may be in trouble if they don’t get more guns in stock soon.

    “It’s a great thing for our business for the minute, but it’s really interrupted things,” Downey said. “It’s probably in the long term going to hurt me. If you don’t have anything to sell, the bills go on.”

    President Obama promised to "put everything I've got" into passing a series of proposals intended to crack down on gun violence, as Republicans and the NRA are already signaling it will be an uphill battle for the administration. NBC's Peter Alexander reports.

    Related stories:

  • Obama appeals for ordinary Americans to take on gun lobby

    In an emotional press conference, President Obama unveiled his "concrete steps" to keep kids safe, asking that Congress restore a ban on military-style assault weapons, make it easier for mental health professionals to report threats of violence and put a limit on ammunition. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.

    By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

    President Barack Obama has appealed to ordinary Americans to lobby members of Congress over gun control to counter the power of the pro-gun lobby.

    In an opinion article written for the Connecticut Post, Obama urged people to ask their politicians “why getting an A-grade from the gun lobby is more important than giving parents some peace of mind when they drop their child off for first grade.”

    On Wednesday, Obama laid out a plan to require criminal background checks on all gun sales, ban “military-style” assault weapons, limit magazines to 10 rounds, and strengthen penalties for gun trafficking.

    The proposals have proved highly controversial with several sheriffs across the country vowing not to enforce restrictions that could be imposed by Congress or by executive order.

    And, in Texas, a lawmaker has authored the Firearm Protection Act, which he says would “make any federal law banning semiautomatic firearms or limiting the size of gun magazines unenforceable within the state's boundaries.”

    In his Connecticut Post article, Obama admitted of his gun-control plans that “none of this will be easy.”

    “Already we're seeing pundits, politicians, and special interest lobbyists warning of a tyrannical, all-out assault on liberty -- not because it's true, but because it gins up fear, or higher ratings, or more revenue for themselves,” the president wrote.

    “The truth is, there's only one voice powerful enough to make this happen: yours. If you think we've suffered too much pain to allow this to continue, put down the paper, turn off the computer, and get your Members of Congress on record,” he wrote.

    “Ask them if they support universal background checks or renewing a ban on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. And if they say no, ask them why not,” he added.

    On his proposed ban on assault weapons, Obama said that “weapons designed for theaters of war have no place in movie theaters.”

    He insisited most Americans agreed with this and reached out to gun owners.

    “This is the land of the free, and it always will be. As Americans, we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights that no man or government can take away from us. But we also recognize that along with those rights come responsibilities. Along with our freedom to live our lives as we will comes an obligation to allow others to do the same,” Obama said.

    “Like most Americans, I believe the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. There are millions of responsible, law-abiding gun owners in this country who cherish their right to bear arms for hunting, or sport; protection, or collection,” he added.

    “But I also believe most gun owners agree that we can respect the Second Amendment while keeping an irresponsible, law-breaking few from doing harm. I believe most of them agree that if America worked harder to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, there would be fewer atrocities like the one in Connecticut. And that's what these commonsense reforms are designed to do.”

  • Some sheriffs vow not to enforce Obama's gun plan; anti-violence groups praise measures

    Jackson County Sheriff's Office

    Denny Peyman, sheriff of Jackson County, Ky., vows not to enforce gun-control measures he believes are unconstitutional.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Denny Peyman didn't watch President Barack Obama's gun-control announcement Wednesday. But the Jackson County, Ky., sheriff said he already knows how the proposals will affect the way he does his job: not one whit.

    Peyman is one of several sheriffs across the country who are vowing not to enforce new firearms restrictions that could be imposed by Congress or by executive order.

    "Kentucky is a sovereign state," Peyman told NBC News. "The federal government is coming in and saying, 'This is what you're going to do.' We're not going to do it."

    The White House's wish list includes an assault-weapons ban. Peyman said if it comes to pass, he won't be part of any crackdown.

    "Let's say I know there's a thousand assault weapons in my county ... I'm not going to be a witch hunter and go door to door checking," he said.

    "I just happen to see someone with one?" he added. "He's hunting? He's on his own property? I'm not going to do a thing to him."

    Police chiefs from around the country, who are appointed not elected, were on hand in Washington to support the president’s announcement. But a number of sheriffs, many of whom must run for office, were vocal in their opposition.

    In Minnesota, Pine County Sheriff Robin Cole told constituents in a letter that he would "refuse" to carry out any federal law that infringed on his interpretation of the Second Amendment. Two Oregon sheriffs, Tim Meuller of Linn County and Jim Hensley of Crook County, said the same in letters to Vice President Joe Biden.

    NAGR Staff

    Dudley Brown of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners says sheriffs have been calling him to say they won't be part of any federal gun crackdown.

    Dudley Brown, founder of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, which considers the National Rifle Association too weak on gun rights, said he has gotten calls from other sheriffs around the country who say they won't cooperate with the feds.

    "We'll see how many of them have the courage to do it," he said.

    Brown said he particularly wants to take aim at Obama's move to require background checks before all private sales of guns.

    "This is an attempt to catalog every gun owner in America. It's registration," he said. "We don't believe he can do this. We know there are U.S. senators who don't believe this is legal."

    Obama's slate won praise, however, from an array of gun-control advocates and anti-violence organizations.

    "We applaud it," said Tom Yates, who co-founded Lower Merion United, a group that formed after the Sandy Hook school massacre that sparked Obama's response.

    Yates said it was apparent that passing the legislative component of the package would be a challenge, but he lauded a "comprehensive approach" that includes stepped-up law enforcement of existing laws, better education and mental health resources.

    "If you look at how much has been done over the past generation, this is the most anyone could expect to happen," he said. "It's sad it took the tragedy of Sandy Hook for it to happen."

    Dr. Gary Slutkin of Cure Violence, a nonprofit in Chicago, where more than 500 people were murdered last year, said he was gratified by the White House's order expanding research into violence and its plan to consult the health-care community for solutions.


    "We've got three independent evaluations that show you can drop shootings and killings through the public health approach," Slutkin said.

    The research-focused parts of the plan won't generate the same fiery debate as those that affect who can buy guns and ammunition and what kind.

    There was plenty of heated rhetoric on Twitter, which was flooded with opposing views, many using the hashtag #nowisthetime, a reference to Obama's catchphrase.

    Courtesy Henry Washington

    Pastor Henry Washington of Richmond, Calif., worries that Obama's gun-control proposals won't stop the killing in his community.

    "How is more red tape imposed on lawful citizenry going to save lives? And using child grief to vilify U.S. Reps is despicable," one critic tweeted.

    "Great job, Pres. Obama," a supporter posted. "There are way more for you than against you. Let's get it done."

    In Richmond, Calif., Pastor Henry Washington said he supported any move to keep guns out of the hands of the young people he counsels, but he worried it wouldn't happen fast enough or at all or attack the root of the problem.

    "By the time it touches the gun dealers, how many more lives will be cast out?" he said.

    "In Marin County just yesterday they were out of money in three hours on a gun buyback program," he said.

    "Maybe there will be a few less choppers -- that's what we call assault rifles -- that they can get on the streets. But what do we do with the ones already in hand?"

    An Oregon sheriff is vowing not to enforce new federal gun restrictions and accusing the White House and lawmakers of "attempting to exploit the death of innocent victims." KGW's Abby Gibb reports.

    Related stories

     

  • New Sandy Hook group calls for 'national conversation,' takes no position on gun control

    One month after the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a group of Newtown, Conn., citizens launched a nonprofit group — Sandy Hook Promise — in an effort to prevent similar tragedies from happening again.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A grassroots organization called Sandy Hook Promise called Monday for a "national conversation" about guns, school safety and mental health at a press conference that was full of emotion but short on specifics.


    "We do not have any views at this moment," said Tim Makris, one of 17 co-founders of the group launched after the Dec. 14  massacre in Newtown, Conn. "There's going to become a moment in time when we're going to take those positions."

    That time may be fast approaching.

    Vice President Biden has briefed President Obama on his task force's recommendations on guns and mental health, and the president gave a preview Monday, backing an assault-weapons ban and a limit on high-capacity magazines.

    Parents of four of the 20 children slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School spoke touchingly about their personal loss and their hope to prevent more mass shootings, without weighing on proposals that were already being discussed in Washington and elsewhere.

    Nicole Hockley said that a month after her 6-year-old son Dylan was killed, she still expects to feel his hand reach for hers in a parking lot, or have him crawl into bed with her.

    She said she has met with families shattered by other massacres: Columbine, Aurora and Virginia Tech.

    "I do not want to be someone sharing my experience and consoling another parent next time," she said. "I do not want there to be a next time."

    Hockley and the other speakers said they had no concrete solutions to offer -- yet. But they urged people around the nation to make the group's "promise" to talk about how to make communities safer and ensure it happens.

    "It is our responsibility to be outraged," said Jeremy Richman, father of 6-year-old victim Avielle, who has started a foundation to support scientific mental health research. "It is our responsibility to take action."

    Co-founder Tom Bittman said some leaders of the group are gun owners but that they are "not afraid of a national conversation" about firearms regulation.

    Related stories:

    Newtown police chief adds voice to call for assault weapons ban
    Guns already allowed in schools with little restriction in many states
    Newtown divides over fate of school building where 26 were killed

    Slideshow: Newtown school massacre

    The second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history left 20 children and six staff members dead at Sandy Hook Elementary.

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