Ryan Lanza Facebook hoax---According to earlier reports Ryan Lanza - Adam Lanza's older brother who was originally identified as the Sandy Hook shooter - broke his silence via Facebook this weekend by posting the comment: "I am a victim," Ryan Lanza allegedly wrote.
Now Ryan's family says the comments are a hoax. Since the Newtown massacre on Dec. 14 which took the lives of 20 children and seven adults Ryan Lanza has stayed out of the press. And it surprised observers that it was legally permissible for Adam's older brother to comment during an ongoing investigation.
The article also said another Facebook member was disgusted, responding: "rot in hell." Ryan then allegedly defended Adam. "You have no right to call my brother names when he isn't here no more. Just let my brother rest in peace.
Since the heartbreaking shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn parents have desperately been searching for clues to the mystery of the 20-year-old loner's motives - and they thought that Ryan or his dad, Peter Lanza, might be able to solve the puzzle. But both brother and father have shed little light.
Many hopes were dashed when police reported that Lanza had irreparably damaged the hard drive on his computer by smashing it with a blunt object like a hammer. Before those reports family and friends of the victims thought that Lanza might have kept a journal or written notes if he were planning the massacre.
Left without a journal or hard drive, detectives are trying to piece together other evidence, in large part from people who knew the awkward young man with a narrow face and wan complexion. One of those people is Adam Lanza's barber, stylist Bob Skuba.
As a teenager, Adam Lanza would come to Skuba's barber shop about every six weeks. But the boy, who reportedly slinked in and out of classrooms so he wouldn't have to speak to anyone, did the same thing at the barber shop. Always accompanied by his mother, Lanza would look down at the floor, silent.
Cutting Adam Lanza's hair "was a very long half an hour. It was a very uncomfortable situation," stylist Diane Harty said.
Another stylist, Jessica Phillips, said Nancy Lanza would tell Adam Lanza what to do. He would move only "when his mother told him to," Skuba said.
"I would say, 'Adam, come on.' He wouldn't move," Skuba said. "And his mother would have to say, 'Adam, come on, he's ready.' It was like I was invisible. ... He would just be looking down at the tiles ... the whole time."
The portrait that Skuba depicts follows the same trajectory as earlier accounts from classmates. Lanza enrolled in classes at Western Connecticut State University two years earlier than his classmates. Though he was intelligent, earning a G.P.A. of 3.26 at a young age, he reportedly kept to himself, continuing to be viewed as a Goth loner.
"Adam Lanza has been a weird kid since we were five years old," a neighbor of Lanza's tweeted. "As horrible as this was, I can't say I am surprised."
Now education specialists are wondering whether it was a good idea to place a socially awkward teenager into a new environment with older classmates. For years, academics have debated the pros and cons of pushing a child ahead in elementary school, high school and college before he or she is emotionally ready.
In an article on Johns Hopkins' website, Jodi Forschmiedt recalls this story when talking about the dangers of students skipping a grade. "When Allison's parents approach the school principal about promoting their daughter to third grade rather than second, he refuses," she writes.
"The principal explains that grade skipping leads to social problems and academic failure for the accelerated child. He reminds the parents that if accelerated, Allison would be the last in her class to reach puberty, the last to be able to drive. ... Many educators feel that grade skipping causes more problems than it solves. When psychologist David Elkind published The Hurried Child in 1981, academic acceleration fell even further out of favor."
To compound the problem, Lanza was also reportedly dealing with the effects of his parents' divorce. Librarian Shelley Cudiner told the Daily Mail: "He was always weird but the divorce affected him. He was arguing with his mother. He was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode."
"You definitely noticed [a problem]. He was needy, his neighbor Justin Germak, 17, said. "He struggled to be social."
Even without a clear motive, it has become apparent that the shootings were very much planned in a meticulous, calculated manner, police have said. According to recent reports, Lanza did not merely grab a gun and shoot. Instead, he prepared the .223 caliber rifle so he could re-upload quickly. By taping two cartridge magazines to the rifle in a technique called "jungle taping," he enabled himself to shoot countless times in a short period.
Even the bullets that were used were methodically chosen to penetrate far into the body to increase the damage. It is believed that Lanza used "frangible ammunition," or soft rounds "designed to break apart when they hit walls or other hard surfaces to prevent ricochets during close-quarters combat."
He fired a minimum of 30 bullet magazines, according to police. All the victims had many gunshot wounds; some children allegedly had as many as 11.
An 8-year-old student told WCBS-TV he was heading to the school's office when he spotted the gunman. "I saw some of the bullets going down the hall and then a teacher pulled me into her classroom," the boy said.
