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| Sandy Hook Killer’s Home Contained Large Cache of Weapons | Sandy Hook Killer’s Home Contained Large Cache of Weapons |
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| An extensive assortment of ammunition and weapons, including rifles, knives and samurai swords; damaged computer equipment; journals, a newspaper clip of a school shooting at Northern Illinois University and a report card from the time Adam Lanza attended Sandy Hook Elementary School. | An extensive assortment of ammunition and weapons, including rifles, knives and samurai swords; damaged computer equipment; journals, a newspaper clip of a school shooting at Northern Illinois University and a report card from the time Adam Lanza attended Sandy Hook Elementary School. |
| Those were among a chilling inventory of items the police found in the home where Mr. Lanza plotted one of the deadliest school shootings in the nation’s history, according to search warrants of the home unsealed on Thursday for the first time since the Newtown, Conn., massacre in December. | |
| Mr. Lanza, 20, killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, on Dec. 14 in the spacious yellow home they shared in Newtown. He then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 first graders and 6 educators before killing himself as police officers arrived. | |
| The search warrants, which a judge agreed to partly redact at the request of prosecutors, shed a glimmer of light on Mr. Lanza’s inner world that, more than three months after the tragedy, has largely remained a mystery. | |
| Since the shootings, vague portraits of the gunman and his mother have emerged, showing a young loner who spent hours in a darkened basement room playing violent video games, and a woman who had collected numerous weapons, including powerful handguns and a semiautomatic rifle that she and her son enjoyed shooting. | Since the shootings, vague portraits of the gunman and his mother have emerged, showing a young loner who spent hours in a darkened basement room playing violent video games, and a woman who had collected numerous weapons, including powerful handguns and a semiautomatic rifle that she and her son enjoyed shooting. |
| The police say Mr. Lanza used a Bushmaster XM15-E2S semiautomatic rifle with several 30-round magazines in the attack at the school and also carried two semiautomatic handguns, one of which he used to kill himself. The police also found a 12-gauge shotgun in the car he drove to the school. Officials have said he fired more than 150 rounds in the school. | The police say Mr. Lanza used a Bushmaster XM15-E2S semiautomatic rifle with several 30-round magazines in the attack at the school and also carried two semiautomatic handguns, one of which he used to kill himself. The police also found a 12-gauge shotgun in the car he drove to the school. Officials have said he fired more than 150 rounds in the school. |
| The police also discovered numerous books related to autism, including one titled “Born on a Blue Day – Inside the Mind of an Autistic Savant.” Another was called “Train Your Brain to Get Happy.” | |
| Neighbors and classmates of Mr. Lanza have said he had an autism variant known as Asperger syndrome, though investigators have never confirmed that he had such a diagnosis. Even so, his association with the disorder has raised alarms among parents of children with the diagnosis, who have expressed concerns that the public might believe that those with autism are prone to violence. | |
| Experts say individuals with autism spectrum disorders are often bullied in school and the workplace, and frequently suffer from depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. But the experts also say there is no evidence that they are more likely than any other group to commit violent crimes. | Experts say individuals with autism spectrum disorders are often bullied in school and the workplace, and frequently suffer from depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. But the experts also say there is no evidence that they are more likely than any other group to commit violent crimes. |
| As the police combed through the Lanzas’ home after the shooting, they discovered Ms. Lanza lying dead in a bed in a second-floor bedroom with a gunshot wound to her forehead and a rifle nearby. | As the police combed through the Lanzas’ home after the shooting, they discovered Ms. Lanza lying dead in a bed in a second-floor bedroom with a gunshot wound to her forehead and a rifle nearby. |
| They also found hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a host of weapons in a brown safe and in bedroom closets. The warrants list at least four weapons, including the one found in the car Mr. Lanza drove to Sandy Hook. | They also found hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a host of weapons in a brown safe and in bedroom closets. The warrants list at least four weapons, including the one found in the car Mr. Lanza drove to Sandy Hook. |
| The police also found a certificate from the National Rifle Association bearing the name Adam Lanza, a receipt from a shooting range in Oklahoma, an N.R.A. guide to the basics of pistol shooting and training manuals on the use of a variety of firearms, including a Bushmaster. | The police also found a certificate from the National Rifle Association bearing the name Adam Lanza, a receipt from a shooting range in Oklahoma, an N.R.A. guide to the basics of pistol shooting and training manuals on the use of a variety of firearms, including a Bushmaster. |
| Among other items police officers found were seven journals written by Mr. Lanza, along with several of his drawings. The contents of the journals and the nature of the drawings were not disclosed. Also found were three photographs of what appears to be a dead person covered with plastic and what appears to be blood, and an article from The New York Times dated Feb. 18, 2008, about a shooting at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill. In that shooting, Steven Kazmierczak killed 5 people and injured 21 on Valentine’s Day before he killed himself. | |
| The documents released include inventories from searches of the Lanzas’ home, at 36 Yogananda Street in Newtown, and the 2010 black Honda Civic Mr. Lanza drove to the school. Prosecutors redacted the names of witnesses cooperating with the police, emphasizing in particular one “citizen witness.” Identifying the witness, the Danbury state’s attorney, Stephen Sedensky III, wrote in his legal motion to redact, “could jeopardize” the person’s safety. | |
| The day of the shooting, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents interviewed a person who said Mr. Lanza rarely left his home. The person, whose name is redacted, considered Mr. Lanza to be a “shut-in and an avid gamer who plays Call of Duty, amongst other games,” a law enforcement affidavit accompanying the warrants states. | |
| Other discoveries included a holiday card to Mr. Lanza from his mother containing a check for the purchase of a “C183 (Firearm),” the documents say. The date and amount of the check are not listed. | |
| It is not immediately clear if the reference to C183 contained a typographical error and intended to cite a CZ83, which is a semiautomatic handgun. A C183 is a camera. | |
| Searches also turned up various medical records, which are not identified on the inventory, and with school records for Mr. Lanza. Mr. Lanza, who was said by classmates to be a smart but acutely shy student, left Newtown High School after 10th grade and for a time attended college. | |
| The unidentified witness told F.B.I. agents “that school was Adam’s ‘life,” an affidavit says. | |
| The release on Thursday of details about Mr. Lanza’s arsenal came as gun control advocates across the country were trying to focus attention on the issue, with more than 100 rallies and other event scheduled for what they said was a “day of action” intended to pressure both state and federal lawmakers. | |
| President Obama met Thursday morning at the White House with survivors of gun violence, including people who lost family members in Newtown, and he renewed his call for stricter gun laws. | |
| Mr. Obama, flanked by relatives of people killed by guns, said he had read the suggestion that the country had moved on from Newtown and the moment for change had passed. | |
| “The notion that two months or three months after something as horrific as what happened in Newtown happens and we’ve moved on to other things — that’s not who we are. That’s not who we are,” he said. “Now, I want to make sure every American is listening today. Less than a hundred days ago that happened. And the entire country was shocked, and the entire country pledged we would do something about it and that 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.” | |
| He outlined the major reforms the White House was seeking and called on people across the country, not just activists, to press their lawmakers to act. | |
| “We need everybody to remember how we felt 100 days ago,” he said. “Now is the time to turn that heartbreak into something real.” | “We need everybody to remember how we felt 100 days ago,” he said. “Now is the time to turn that heartbreak into something real.” |
| In Hartford, lawmakers have been meeting daily in an effort to write a bipartisan bill that addresses gun violence and mental health issues. | |
| Lawrence Cafero Jr., the minority leader of the Connecticut House, and others have been sharply critical of the State Police, the lead investigative agency, for refusing to turn over preliminary details of the investigation even as some information has been leaked to reporters and shared at law enforcement conventions. | Lawrence Cafero Jr., the minority leader of the Connecticut House, and others have been sharply critical of the State Police, the lead investigative agency, for refusing to turn over preliminary details of the investigation even as some information has been leaked to reporters and shared at law enforcement conventions. |
| Last week, The New York Daily News, quoting someone who had attended a convention in New Orleans, revealed that Mr. Lanza had compiled a very large spreadsheet of mass killings and the weapons used in them. | |
| The Hartford Courant previously reported that investigators had found news articles about the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik in one of two bedrooms Mr. Lanza used. Mr. Breivik killed 77 people in two attacks in July 2011, most of them teenagers who were attending a summer camp. | |
| Some Connecticut lawmakers have complained that the information withheld by the State Police could help in the drafting of legislation. Under pressure from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and various lawmakers, the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office released additional information on Thursday from Danbury State’s Attorney Stephen J. Sedensky III, who is in charge of the investigation. Among the new details, the gun safe discovered in the Lanza home was unlocked when the police found it and there was no indication it had been broken into. Mr. Sedensky also indicated that all the weapons used in the attack were purchased by Mr. Lanza’s mother. Mr. Sedensky added that from the time Mr. Lanza shot his way into the school until he took his own life was less than five minutes | |
| The search warrants, and reports of what the police found in their searches, were initially sealed for two weeks after the shootings, but Mr. Sedensky received a 90-day extension, which expired on Wednesday. Mr. Sedensky wrote in his court motion that the search warrant affidavits contained information that “is not known to the general public and any potential suspect(s), the disclosure of which would jeopardize the investigation and chances of successfully solving any crime(s) involved.” | |
| Whether the documents prove beneficial to lawmakers as they negotiate a gun-control package remains to be seen. | Whether the documents prove beneficial to lawmakers as they negotiate a gun-control package remains to be seen. |
| The N.R.A. declined to comment about the certificates found in the Lanza home beyond issuing a statement. | |
| “There is no record of a member relationship between Newtown killer Adam Lanza, nor between Nancy Lanza, A. Lanza or N. Lanza with the National Rifle Association,'’ it said. “Reporting to the contrary is reckless, false and defamatory.” | |
| Mr. Lanza’s assault put Connecticut squarely in the center of a national debate over gun violence and firearms restrictions. But some Democrats and advocates of gun control in the state are concerned over how long the lawmakers are taking to introduce a bill, while other states like New York and Colorado have already enacted new limits on assault rifles or ammunition. | Mr. Lanza’s assault put Connecticut squarely in the center of a national debate over gun violence and firearms restrictions. But some Democrats and advocates of gun control in the state are concerned over how long the lawmakers are taking to introduce a bill, while other states like New York and Colorado have already enacted new limits on assault rifles or ammunition. |
| Time, some gun control advocates fear, is an enemy, even in a state traumatized by the killings and with widespread support, according to opinion polls, for new restrictions. But the state is also home to several gun manufacturers that have in the past successfully argued that restrictions would cost local jobs. And gun rights supporters have turned out in force at hearings and rallies to urge legislators not to use the Sandy Hook deaths to curtail what they regard as their constitutional rights. | Time, some gun control advocates fear, is an enemy, even in a state traumatized by the killings and with widespread support, according to opinion polls, for new restrictions. But the state is also home to several gun manufacturers that have in the past successfully argued that restrictions would cost local jobs. And gun rights supporters have turned out in force at hearings and rallies to urge legislators not to use the Sandy Hook deaths to curtail what they regard as their constitutional rights. |
| In the wake of the attack, legislative leaders set up a bipartisan task force to study gun control and mental health issues and hoped to introduce legislation by the end of February. When that deadline passed, they set a new goal to have a package within three months of the attack, but that deadline passed, too. | In the wake of the attack, legislative leaders set up a bipartisan task force to study gun control and mental health issues and hoped to introduce legislation by the end of February. When that deadline passed, they set a new goal to have a package within three months of the attack, but that deadline passed, too. |
| Now lawmakers hope to have a bill introduced as early as next week. Democrats and Republicans agree on many of its elements, including expanded background checks, enhanced safe-storage requirements and additional regulations on buying ammunition. People close to the negotiations say that the list of assault weapons under an existing ban could be expanded and that the bill could restrict the sale of magazines that hold more than 10 bullets. | Now lawmakers hope to have a bill introduced as early as next week. Democrats and Republicans agree on many of its elements, including expanded background checks, enhanced safe-storage requirements and additional regulations on buying ammunition. People close to the negotiations say that the list of assault weapons under an existing ban could be expanded and that the bill could restrict the sale of magazines that hold more than 10 bullets. |
| Gun-control advocates and some of the families of Newtown victims want a sterner bill that would also make it illegal to possess larger magazines, even those already owned. | Gun-control advocates and some of the families of Newtown victims want a sterner bill that would also make it illegal to possess larger magazines, even those already owned. |
| Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, in a statement, noted that Mr. Lanza chose to leave the lower capacity magazines at home when he went on his rampage in favor of magazines that could hold 30 rounds. | |
| “This is exactly why we need to ban high capacity magazines and why we need to tighten our assault weapons ban,” he said. | |
Marc Santora contributed reporting. |