The body of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza was claimed by his father last week, a family spokesman confirmed Monday, according to CNN. Adam Lanza's estranged father, Peter Lanza, claimed his body Thursday, spokesman Errol Cockfield said. The family declined to comment on where the body would be buried.
The morning of Dec. 14, 20-year-old Adam Lanza reportedly shot his mother Nancy four times as she lay in bed, packed at least three of her guns, and then drove her car to the Connecticut K-4 elementary school, opening fire in two classrooms around 9:30 a.m., fatally shooting 20 children and six adults, police said. Police are still searching for a motive; witnesses said the shooter didn't utter a word. The attack was the second-deadliest shooting ever by a single gunman in U.S. history.
According to police, the three guns used in the shooting were legally purchased and registered to his mother. Lanza reportedly primarily used a military-style Bushmaster .223 assault rifle during the shootings.
Authorities reportedly questioned Lanza's older brother, 24-year-old Ryan Lanza, of Hoboken, N.J., for hours the day of the shooting Dec. 14 and searched his computers and phone records, but he told law enforcement he had not been in touch with his brother since about 2010. Police say he is not a suspect in the case.
According to authorities, Adam Lanza hadn't spoken to his brother or father in almost two years. He had no criminal record, authorities said.
Lanza reportedly suffered from Asperger's syndrome, a developmental disorder, which is a mild form of Autism, and was unable to physically feel pain. Numerous experts on the disorder have spoken out recently attempting to dissuade reports of the disorder's connection to tragic events.
In the final days before the tragedy in Newtown, Nancy Lanza had grown increasingly more concerned with Adam, pushing him occasionally to move out and be sociable, but "he didn't want to leave," according an anonymous friend who spoke to the New York Daily News. "He didn't understand why she wanted him to go out into the world. She told me she couldn't reach him - and she was worried."
Adam Lanza's DNA is currently being studied by geneticists, a spokeswoman for the University of Connecticut Health Center said last week, according to CNN. State medical examiner's office spokeswoman Carolyn Pennington said there is no specific genetic marker the team is looking for, and lab results and a complete analysis of the DNA "are not expected for several weeks ... probably the end of January."
Shortly after news broke of the Dec. 14 tragedy, Peter Lanza released as statement saying that his family was "grieving along with all those who have been affected by this enormous tragedy."
"Our hearts go out to the families and friends who lost loved ones and to all those who were injured," the father said. "We are in a state of disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can. We, too, are asking why."
There have been 15 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2012 alone, according to the Huffington Post.
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