Newtown grieves as first victims buried

While there were fewer victims in Newtown, the tender age of so many of those killed has provoked a more emotional and, it appears, political response.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Connecticut State Police Lt J Paul Vance said the Sandy Hook school would remain closed indefinitely so investigators can conduct a thorough forensic examination.

Moving trucks were seen transferring desks and chairs and other furniture to another school for Sandy Hook students to attend.

While it has been previously reported that only one adult at the school who had been shot survived, Vance said that two adults working at the school were wounded, and that they would prove crucial in helping police piece together what happened during the massacre.

Vance said police had recovered a computer and cellphones from the home Nancy Lanza shared with her 20-year-old son, which he said would help investigators.

“We will go back to the date of his birth,” Vance said of Adam Lanza, whose motive remains a mystery.

Friends of Nancy Lanza, who had legally purchased at least five guns, including the rifle and two semi-automatic pistols that Adam Lanza brought to the school, said she had been considering moving with her troubled son to Washington state. They said she had identified a school there that could help him.

Socially awkward

Money was apparently no object. Records released yesterday showed that Nancy Lanza was receiving annual alimony payments totalling $289,000 from her former husband, Peter, a tax executive. The couple divorced in 2009, apparently amicably.

Adam Lanza was said to suffer from Asperger’s syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism. He was described as academically bright but socially awkward. He did not have a criminal record.

Friends of his mother said she took him to a local gun range to teach him how to use a gun responsibly, and to engage in what friends described as mother-son bonding. Adam Lanza used his mother’s guns to kill her before setting off to attack the school.

While the police searched for answers, politicians searched for solutions.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, said she would introduce a Bill that would ban the sale and possession of magazine clips that hold more than 10 bullets.

Senator Richard Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois and chairman of a subcommittee on constitutional rights, pledged to hold hearings on the Second Amendment, which guarantees the right to bear arms.

While the NRA and gun enthusiasts view the Second Amendment as almost sacred, gun-control advocates say it is an 18th-century relic that needs to be changed to reflect modern reality.