Adam Lanza Planned Shooting: Rigged Gun for Maximum Killings in Newtown, Connecticut Massacre
Adam Lanza meticulously planned his shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut last week, as it now emerges he had rigged his rifle to allow him to cause maximum killings.
As more details emerge about the shooter it appears as though Lanza was addicted to violent video games that he would play at the large suburban home he shared with his mother.
Investigators are still trying to find a motive for the horrific killings committed by Lanza last Friday, and it is now said a special team of criminal psychologists are focusing on his relationship with his mom, Nancy Lanza.
It has now been revealed that Lanza taped two cartridge magazines to his .223 calibre rifle so he could reload as quickly as possible and continue his killing spree, according to The Telegraph. Wayne Carver, the Connecticut medical examiner, has said the technique is known as "jungle taping," and has suggested that this explains how he managed to kill 26 victims at the school in a matter of minutes.
Last Friday morning Lanza shot his mother four times as she lay in bed at their home, before traveling by car to Sandy Hook Elementary School where he broke in by firing a volley of bullets through a secured door. He then massacred a first grade class full of six and seven year olds before moving on to another classroom. In total he killed 20 children and six adults at the school in one of the worst school massacres in U.S. History.
As he heard police arriving and closing in on him, he shot himself, taking his own life.
Dannel Malloy, Connecticut governor, has said that if police had not arrived at the scene so quickly, then he undoubtedly would have killed many more in the school. He had enough ammunition to carry out a much larger massacre.
It has also emerged that the bullets used by Lanza were specifically chosen to penetrate deep tissue to increase the damage to the victim. It is believed he used "frangible ammunition" which fragments on impact. These kind of bullets usually cause significant injuries that are often beyond what medical staff can provide much help to.
The shooter is also confirmed to have fired at least three 30 bullet magazines – all the victims shot had multiple gunshot wounds, with some children allegedly shot as many as 11 times.
FBI agents have also confirmed that Lanza destroyed his computer hard-drive prior to going on the killing spree, in an attempt to hide information contained on it. This, another indication that this was a premeditated shooting attack by Lanza, and that he had planned it all out in advance.
Electronics experts are said to be trying to recover information from the damaged hard drive in efforts to find out a motive for his killings, as well as who he interacted with and what searches he carried out in advance of the attacks.
In new revelations about how the shootings took place, it appears as though school headmistress Dawn Hochsprung, and school psychologist Mary Scherlach, were the first victims – shot in the entrance of the school as they attempted to stop him entering.
He then made his way to a first grade classroom where teacher Kaitlin Roig had already barricaded the children in the bathroom. However, Lanza killed both teachers in the classroom, before killing all 14 children one by one. Reports are now suggesting the children were all huddled together, clearly terrified at the events unfolding.
After massacring that first classroom, Lanza entered a second classroom where teacher Victoria Soto had hidden some children in a classroom cupboard. Soto is said to have tried to distract Lanza by telling him the children were in another classroom. However, Lanza shot Soto and her teaching assistant as well as six other children who attempted to run from him.
As police then moved in, Lanza ended the carnage by killing himself.
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