Sandy Hook: Father wishes Lanza had not been born

The father of Sandy Hook school massacre gunman Adam Lanza has said that what his son did couldn’t “get any more evil” and he wished he had not been born.
Adam Lanza is said to have struggled with his mental health. Picture: APAdam Lanza is said to have struggled with his mental health. Picture: AP
Adam Lanza is said to have struggled with his mental health. Picture: AP

Peter Lanza said he believed his son would have killed him, too, if he had had the chance. And he said he often contemplated what he could have done differently in his relationship with Adam, although he believed the killings could not have been predicted.

“Any variation on what I did and how my relationship was had to be good, because no outcome could be worse,” Mr Lanza told New Yorker magazine.

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“You can’t get any more evil… How much do I beat up on myself about the fact that he’s my son? A lot.”

He said he had not seen his son for two years before Adam killed 20 first-graders and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in December 2012. Adam killed himself as police arrived. He also fatally shot his mother, Nancy, in their Newtown home before going to the school.

Mr Lanza said Adam was 13 when a psychiatrist diagnosed him with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism not associated with violence. But he believes the syndrome “veiled a contaminant” that was not in fact Asperger’s. “I was thinking it could mask schizophrenia,” he said.

Mr Lanza said his son struggled with mental health issues as he got older. “It was crystal clear something was wrong,” he said. “The social awkwardness, the uncomfortable anxiety, unable to sleep, stress, unable to concentrate, having a hard time learning, the awkward walk, reduced eye contact. You could see the changes occurring.”