FBI Documents Say Sandy Hook Shooter ‘Did Not Snap,’ was previously contacted by CIA

Lanza had planned school attack as early as March 2011, recently released data show

WSJ. com

The shooter in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre “did not snap” and had methodically planned the attack from as early as March 2011, according to newly released Federal Bureau of Investigation documents.

The FBI on Tuesday released hundreds of pages of documents related to the criminal investigation, providing new insight into the weeks leading up to the Dec. 14, 2012, attack in which 20-year-old Adam Lanza, of Newtown, Conn., killed 20 children and six adults.

The documents revealed that investigators found that Lanza experienced a deteriorating relationship with his mother, Nancy Lanza, in the days leading to the shooting. Ms. Lanza said her son, who had become a vegan, hadn’t left his room for three months before the shooting and would only communicate by email, according to a person interviewed by the FBI. Lanza also told his mother he wanted to move to Seattle “where it was dark and gloomy,” according to the documents.

Before going on a rampage at the school, Lanza shot and killed his mother at home. He shot and killed himself at the school after the massacre.

Ms. Lanza also told a person that her son hacked a government computer system when he was in the ninth grade, according to an FBI interview. Ms. Lanza told that person that his hacking prompted a visit by either the FBI or the Central Intelligence Agency, according to the documents.

“Nancy had to convince the authorities that her son was just very intelligent and was challenging himself to see if he could hack into a government system,” the documents said. “The authorities told Nancy that if her son was smart he could have a job with them someday.”

The FBI declined to comment on the documents released Tuesday.

The FBI met with the families of victims in July 2014 to tell them about its findings. According to an agenda of the meeting, the FBI told the families that Lanza had a complex background “featuring many problematic bio-psycho-social issues. Historical, clinical, and contextual factors contributed to the shooter’s extremely rigid world view,” the document said.

“The shooter did not ‘snap,’ but instead engaged in careful, methodical planning and preparation,” according the FBI. In the weeks before the shooting, a “significant challenge and stressor in his life” was his troubled relationship with his mother, the documents said.

“There is evidence to suggest that the shooter had an interest in children that could be categorized as pedophilia,” the documents said without elaborating. “There is no evidence that he ever acted out on this interest.”

FBI investigators also told victims’ families that Lanza was fascinated with past shootings and researched them thoroughly, and had similar characteristics of other active shooters.

One person interviewed by the FBI claimed to regularly communicate via email with Lanza. “Lanza devoted almost all of his internet activity to researching and discussing mass murders and spree killings,” according to the FBI notes from that interview.

“Lanza seemed to have no friends or people he could turn to for support or assistance and did not appear to have any enjoyment of life,” according to interview notes.