The Deadly Shooting

Previously I talked about the condition Sensory Processing Disorder-I will refer it t SPD. I mentioned a young boy on Oprah who had violent outbursts and her showing this boy was a subject of controversy. I did not feel it was necessary to indulge in a person who became a household name who had SPD at the time. Somebody who over ten years ago did the unforeseen-killing 26 students and teachers at an elementary school-is Adam Lanza.

Lanza’s case is well known and still talked about to this day. In 2012 when it happened the story remained one sided. They saw him as a demon who murdered children. The talk of gun control was mentioned but the talk of mental health and the obvious lack of the mother’s involvement was not reported. Lanza it was found was obsessed with violence, had spreadsheets showing detailed stories of criminals, and had his own personal writings that depicted disturbing themes. Lanza had not shown outward aggression to others but the fact that he would not allow anyone to enter his room, his lack of communication with family, and the obvious degrading physical health from anorexia should be noted.

Lanza refused to eat, hated overweight people, and even had stated he disliked women and described them as selfish. At the time of the murder he was only 106 pounds at his six foot frame. He was an avid gamer, he played violent video games-one based on the Columbine shooters-and nonviolent games such as Dance Dance Revolution. He was an introvert and lived on the internet barely leaving the confines of his house except to go to play video games. His mother whom some say lived for him would do loads of laundry for him as he had obsessive problems with dirt, and tried to homeschool him as he could not handle the stimuli of the classroom. The mother neglected to divulge in her son’s strange behavior and observers have said she was co-dependant of him.

Lanza’s dad had been alienated from his son. He was a person who was known to get help for his sons should they need it. Adam Lanza refused to talk to his dad after a spat that his dad tried to pry more into Adam’s life. Before Adam shot up the school, he shot his mother, afterwards he suicided. Why he had access to guns as it was known he had a mental disorder is the fault of his mother. She bought him guns and trained him how to use them. Her biggest fault was giving in to Adam with her permissive parenting. People need both security and freedom. It seems Adam had too much freedom.

Further evidence has come in recent years that Lanza had called into a radio station and discussed how domesticating an animal was like a person being a school shooter. He was referring to Travis the chimp who mauled his owner’s friend then was shot dead. Lanza no doubt was divulging in his own self that he felt like a domesticated animal. Signs of this are his writings about a ten year old having a love affair with an adult man. I won’t go into details too much about this but the long story short was the love affair was an escape from being in a home where he felt he could not connect to people. Reading some people’s comments about how Lanza was a victim of a serious type of oppression and repression of emotions has ultimately given rise to something that is lacking from the world-empathy. The other thing lacking is the absolute fact that people lack vulnerability to seek help and trust others. As with any mental health condition, detecting any changes in behavior is a must. Lanza at age 11 showed no signs of issues, yet just a year later, teachers were stating he was very abnormal and avoided eye contact. Some of his school writings were focused on graphic murders and the teacher’s I believe did not see this as what I feel it was-a cry for help. As the New Year approaches, and mental health on the rise, I do hope people can try to reach out to others in need and detect behavior changes before it leads to the final stage-nihilism.