Ryan Lanza was at his job in Manhattan on Friday when news outlets began to report that he had massacred 20 school children in Newtown.
The reports said Lanza, a 24-year-old Quinnipiac University graduate, had murdered someone in his Hoboken apartment and then drove to Newtown, Conn., where he used a .223 caliber rifle to kill 27 people before turning the gun on himself.
The dead included his mother, Nancy, a kindergarten teacher.
Lanza's thoughts quickly went to his developmentally disabled younger brother, Adam, who he began to fear may have been responsible for the violence at Sandy Hook elementary school, friends said.
As media reports continued to name Ryan Lanza as the shooter and plastered his face across world, he took to Facebook and told friends he was not the man responsible for the brutal slaying.
"Oh my god, I think my mother is dead," he wrote, a friend told Patch.
Ryan Lanza and his roommate were being questioned Friday night at Hoboken Police headquarters. Neither have been charged with any crime, Hoboken Police Captain Jim Fitzsimmons said.
"Ryan is in shock," a close friend, Brett Wilshe, told Patch.
Lanza works at a financial company in the city, Ernst & Young, and lives in a five-story brick building on Grand Street, known as "The Metropolitan."
Media outlets quickly scrambled to "The Metropolitan," where Hoboken police gathered with FBI agents. Initial reports said that someone was killed at the apartment and that Lanza's girlfriend was missing. As curiosity grew from onlookers and media members, police draped yellow police tape around the perimeter, closing both sides of Grand Street just after 2:30 p.m.
No bodies were found inside the building, Fitzsimmons said.
Lanza was planning to head to Connecticut after hearing about the shooting, friends told Patch.
Those who know the Hobokenite, described as "nice" and committed to his friends, were also shocked by the news.
"At first you're devastated that 30 people were shot to death," friend Katie Colaneri told Patch. "And then you find out it's someone that you know, that you've met, that you've hugged. And you don't know whether to feel angry or sad. You find out your friend is alive but caught up in this mess. It's incredible."
"He's not a guy capable of shooting up a school," another friend of Ryan's told Patch Friday afternoon.
What about this arrest detailed by a witness at the scene (see link below)? Who is he? What is his occupation? Why was he at the school? What did he say while detained? Who issued his "get-out-of-jail-free" card? Why is the media ignoring it? http://bit.ly/W9rNyE Families of the deceased, you are the only ones with the voice and the standing to ask the question. Ask it on live TV so you cannot be edited out. The 20 year old autistic kid didn't kill 26 people in two minutes. Demand that they find out who did.
One thing we do know - it was not his brother Ryan. He was at work when it happened.
The shooter was developmentally disabled. The weapons were purchased legally. Parts of our world are going crazy. And now it sounds as though you're talking crazy!!!
So many people are turning away from our Lord, Jesus Christ. They are looking to there only understanding given to them by Satan!!! He (Satan) is working triple time to get as many souls away from God as he can, because he knows his time is soon coming to an end!!!! There is so much evil in this world now just as it was in biblical times, but we need to know that God is still in control and while we don't know the reason why things like this happen, we must believe that victory will be ours (True believers) who's Heart longs for our Lord!!! We as Christian's need to become united in our trust, hope and belief, and help in the Lord, Jesus Christ, for He is the only one that will begin us through. My prayers are with all the families who lost their loved ones, and all the others who will live with this lost, may God comfort you all, give the strength to carry on. It will not be easy, but trust in the Lord. May Gods blessings be with us all, may his love and peace, his grace be with us now, oh dear Lord especially now!!!
the mother had way to many guns in the house. only 1 was neeeded for self defense and the others were not hunting gear. so how are they justified? we need stricter gun control. There would be no dead or less dead if there was.
I'm with Alex T on this one. This is not the forum for your ideas. Please find someplace else to espouse you theories.
You've made more than enough posts about Gene Rosen and how everyone in the town of Newtown is, in your words, "nuts"!!