What is the complete story of Ryan Lanza and what he told during the investigation? Ryan Lanza, the brother of the actual killer, Adam Lanza, was identified as the perpetrator of the massacre by multiple news outlets. After a police source misidentified Adam, his Facebook profile pictures were removed by Fox, CBS, Gawker, and BuzzFeed*. When Ryan’s body was discovered, Adam had Ryan’s ID on him, which caused the initial confusion. Ryan took to Facebook to defend himself. Still, his updates were only visible to friends.
As the nation sought clues as to what might have prompted a young man to fatally shoot his mother and 20 young children at the Connecticut elementary school where she was a teacher, the focus shifted Friday to the gunman’s family, whose low profile in upper-middle-class suburbs betrayed no easy answers.
The scrutiny spread to Hoboken, where the shooter’s 24-year-old elder brother, mistakenly identified as the gunman by police for hours on Friday, got into custody for questioning outside his apartment. By Friday night, police had not explained Adam Lanza’s 20-year-old rampage in Newtown, Conn’s quiet, upscale community.
According to an unnamed law enforcement official briefed on the investigation, his older brother, Ryan Lanza, was extremely cooperative during questioning by authorities in New Jersey late Friday. Considering another official, Ryan Lanza has no involvement and is not in custody, but investigators are still searching his computers and phone records.
According to a third official, Ryan Lanza told police that his brother had a personality disorder and lived with his mother in Connecticut.
“Ryan is a soft, sweet kid,” said Brett Wilshe, 26, of New Brunswick, a friend of Ryan’s two Hoboken roommates. “He’s very laid-back and enjoys theatre, film, and the arts.”
Ryan Lanza works as an accountant, according to Wilshe, who adds that he never mentioned his family when they socialized once a month in groups.
Wilshe said he messaged Ryan Lanza on Facebook around 1:15 p.m. Friday after reports identified him as the shooter.
“I said if he was fine, and he wrote back that he had just found out it was his brother,” Wilshe explained. “He had just learned that his mother and brother had died, and that his brother was responsible for the second-deadliest school shooting in history.” “I don’t believe hell compares to what he’s going through.”
Michael Carr, a construction worker on Ryan Lanza’s Hoboken street, said he saw police approach and handcuff a young man who matched the 24-year-description old’s Friday afternoon.
“When the cops approached him, we saw him get down on his knees,” he explained. “He was cool.”
There were more than 14,000 comments on Ryan Lanza’s Facebook profile picture by Friday evening, hours after the misidentification remained in online stories, with several of them calling him a “killer.”
According to court records, his mother, Nancy Lanza, who suffered murder, filed for divorce from Peter J. Lanza in late 2008. In September 2009, the divorce was towards completion. Peter Lanza is now remarried to a librarian at the University of Connecticut and lives in Stamford, Connecticut. He also appeared surprised when a reporter informed him of the tragedy on Friday afternoon.
Maggie Gordon, a Hearst Connecticut Media Group reporter, said she ran into Peter Lanza as he returned to his home around 1:30 p.m. Friday, just minutes after police had left.
“I assumed he’d heard about the tragedy,” she explained, but she quickly realized she was the one who had to break the news to him when she told him his former address was linked to the Newtown school shooting.
“I saw him think about it,” she explained. “He appeared to have been punched in the gut, as if someone had knocked the wind out of him.”
Gordon stated that Peter Lanza, who was in his car then, rolled up his window and entered his home without further comment. She also claimed that by 7:30 p.m., Peter Lanza’s street, Bartina Lane, was present with vehicles from media outlets, the FBI, and local and state police.
Several Newtown neighbors said they knew very little about the family.
Sandeep Kapur said he didn’t know them and hadn’t heard of any disturbances at the Lanza house in the three years.
He described the neighborhood as a subdivision of well-kept, 15-year-old homes on lots of an acre or more, where many work at companies such as GE, Pepsi, and IBM. According to Kapur, a project manager at an information technology firm, some of his neighbors are doctors, and his next-door neighbor is a bank CEO.
“Driving through this neighbourhood gives you a really warm feeling,” he said.
As the evening progressed, a crowd gathered in front of Ryan Lanza’s apartment on Grand Street in Hoboken.
Michael Yavelberg, 40, got in shock by slaughtering so many innocent children.
Matt Rogers, a 21-year-old Stevens Institute student, received a phone call from his father. His father lives in Naugatuck, Conn., not far from Newtown. He described Newtown as one of those small rural towns where almost nothing of note happens — part of its allure.
Rogers’ voice became choked with emotion as he remembered all the children who had died. “There is nothing sadder than this. Nothing. This is incredible.”
Vicki Aligo, the owner of Vicki Jewelers across the street, said she got shock to learn that the Connecticut school shooter may have lived in the same neighborhood where she has sold jewelry for the last five years. Her comments came before police admitted that they had mistakenly identified the Hoboken man as the shooter.
The news of the massacre hit Aligo hard, working as a special-education preschool teacher at the nearby Wallace School.
“I was crying on the way here,” Aligo admitted. When she arrived at the store to open it, she noticed five police officers securing the scene with yellow tape. Then she discovered why.
“I’m stunned,” she admitted. Aligo stated that she would give up her own life to save the life of one of her children.
“Oh, my God, I’d just stand between them.” Because you’re not getting them, you get me first.”
“That’s what you do,” she pointed out. It was all about the story when investigators talked to Ryan Lanza.
