Possible motive in shooting

[Laurie4b]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/18/fear-being-committed-may-have-caused-connecticut-madman-to-snap/

[TechWife]

I find it sad that gossip is being reported as news.

[Rivka]

What a worthless and irresponsible pile of junk journalism. Some random guy who happens to live in the town spins out a big theory based on what he's "heard" or "been told," not what he knows firsthand, and this is somehow news? ...Not just news, but a huge exclusive story?

 

Think of all the things we have been told already that haven't panned out. Then just stop speculating and wait for some kind of authoritative report. This is nonsense.

[Rivka]

Media Too Quick to Fill In Gaps in Story of School Shooting

[Laurie4b]

Sorry to have raised so much ire. The article did also cite senior law enforcement as confirming the story. Since many (including here) were speculating about what the mom should have done, didn't do, etc, this article gives a more favorable picture as someone who was trying to get help for her son, as opposed to someone who was irresponsible , in denial, etc.

 

I read Fox, CNN, & the BBC every day. They each have things they will tend to spotlight. Fox doesn't actually differ significantly from the other two on what stories they cover. I have sometimes read things on Fox days before they show up on CNN--and vice versa. Sometimes one will have a slant the other two don't. No news source is without bias of some sort.

[annandatje]

What a worthless and irresponsible pile of junk journalism. Some random guy who happens to live in the town spins out a big theory based on what he's "heard" or "been told," not what he knows firsthand, and this is somehow news? ...Not just news, but a huge exclusive story?

 

Think of all the things we have been told already that haven't panned out. Then just stop speculating and wait for some kind of authoritative report. This is nonsense.

 

This is the very kind of baloney that convinced me long ago to wait until weeks, months, or even year or more to read competent journalistic coverage of an event.

[Elizabeth in MN]

Until there is an official statement from the POLICE who are actually doing THEIR JOBS I won't listen to IDLE GOSSIP.

[Spy Car]

I hate to "dog-pile," but there have been so many reporting errors during this tragedy that I wish speculations about motive would be something media outlets would temper until a real understanding of what may have precipitated these killings is well-established, and not just conjecture or insta-news.

 

I'm pretty sure this is a national consensus in this heartbreaking time.

 

Bill

[kalanamak]

This is a classic example of the human mind at work: we want cause and effect, we want story without gaps, we want to know what not to do in the future. It is a significant part of what has made us so powerful as a species.

 

I do know of a young man who was going to be committed. I went to school with his brother. He said he was willing. His mother, a social worker, and a police man came up the walk that morning to drive him there, and he sprang up when he saw them and jabbed his dad, once, in the chest with a 5 inch French folding knife. He nicked the aorta and the man died before the ambulance got there. He also stabbed himself several times in the abdomen, but lived.

[TechWife]

The article did also cite senior law enforcement as confirming the story.

 

Law enforcement agencies have official, named spokesmen. In high profile cases, often the spokesman is the lead investigator or police chief instead of a public relations officer. In low profile cases, there is a public relations officer. These are the only people who release the official facts relating to an investigation. They release only the facts that the department has chosen to release and they often do not release all of the facts. They also release them at the time that the department decides is appropriate, which may be never. The "senior law enforcement official" descriptor is truly non-definitive. He or she could be senior over one person, not necessarily have seniority or rank in the department. His or her involvement in the investigation could be limited to traffic control or to keeping the coffee pots full. Because this person isn't named, we have no idea. This is not a valid source.

 

No news source is without bias of some sort.

While I agree with your statement in general, I cannot apply it to this specific article. This is gossip, not news.

[Rivka]

Sorry to have raised so much ire. The article did also cite senior law enforcement as confirming the story.

 

No it doesn't. If you read it closely, it says that "A senior law enforcement official involved in the investigation confirmed that Lanza's anger at his mother over plans for “his future mental health treatment†is being looked at as a possible motive for the deadly shooting." "Confirmed" means that the reporter asked them if they were looking at that specific thing as a motive, and the law enforcement guy - who isn't supposed to be speaking about the case, or he'd be named - said it was a possibility. He didn't confirm that it was the motive. He didn't independently mention the idea to the reporter.

 

There's no confirmation that his mother was seeking conservatorship, that she planned to have him committed, that she was friends with the principal and psychologist who died, that he thought she loved kids at the school more than she loved him, that the murdered children had a personal connection to Nancy Lanza, or, really, anything else that this self-aggrandizing Flashman guy claimed. What is there is plenty of indication that he didn't even know any of these people himself - he's talking about what he's heard, and then speculating about how people probably felt. Can you imagine how many rumors must be floating around in Newtown right now?

 

Maybe this will turn out to be true. Maybe it will turn out to be like the story that Nancy Lanza was a teacher in one of the murdered classes, or like the story that there was a second shooter arrested outside the school, or like the story that Ryan Lanza was the killer, or like the story that Lanza's father and the Aurora CO shooter's father were both scheduled to testify to congress about the LIBOR scandal, etc. Speculation helps no one.

[jelbe5]

I agree with comments about the mess called journalistic reporting.

 

I was disgusted to see the ex sister in law of the murdered mother of the killer talking to reporters. She lives one county away from me. Then I read another article that reported she had not seen her nephew in years. Really? Did you really need to get in your 15 minutes of fame on the coattails of tragedy and heartbreak? Why would you talk as if you knew what was going on with these individuals when in reality you really did not? Just sickening.

 

ETA the latest from the aunt (Marsha Lanza) is that she is afraid her own children will be picked on now because of their cousin. Then WHY would you go on TV news repeatedly to talk about your nephew and ex sister in law? She even said she has been trying to talk to her brother (the killers father) and has been unable to contact him. And the news reports she last saw her nephew when he was 3. This individual really shows poor judgement and/or is just attention seeking. I feel really sorry for her children.

[delaney]

I am frustrated that people seem more interested in getting to the bottom of the motive and digging out all the gory details than working on a solution. What does it matter really? He's dead. Sadly the memory of the victims will fall far shorert in people's minds than the shooter who continues to almost be ....what's the word? Idolized.no. Romanticized..no. What word am I looking for ladies? I haven't had much coffee yet.

[Crimson Wife]

If I were planning on a residential placement for my autistic child when she is an adult, I wouldn't go around discussing it with random people in my town. "Hey, how are you doing, Crimson?" "Not too good, Joe- I'm getting ready to have my autistic child committed to a group home. But how 'bout those Patriots?"

 

Yeah, I think this quoted guy is full of it.

[Cricket]

I am frustrated that people seem more interested in getting to the bottom of the motive and digging out all the gory details than working on a solution. What does it matter really? He's dead. Sadly the memory of the victims will fall far shorert in people's minds than the shooter who continues to almost be ....what's the word? Idolized.no. Romanticized..no. What word am I looking for ladies? I haven't had much coffee yet.

 

 

I agree! The victims aren't even buried and the entire focus is on the shooter and how we can prevent this, what laws we can pass. It isn't time for that yet.

[Mommy22alyns]

 

 

I agree! The victims aren't even buried and the entire focus is on the shooter and how we can prevent this, what laws we can pass. It isn't time for that yet.

 

I agree with this too. Basically the media is giving the shooter what he probably wanted in the first place - fame, notoriety, whatever. Now a whole bunch of whackjobs are going to try to figure out how they can be "famous" too. We need to give attention to the victims instead.

[Georgiana Daniels]

Sorry to have raised so much ire. The article did also cite senior law enforcement as confirming the story. Since many (including here) were speculating about what the mom should have done, didn't do, etc, this article gives a more favorable picture as someone who was trying to get help for her son, as opposed to someone who was irresponsible , in denial, etc.

 

I read Fox, CNN, & the BBC every day. They each have things they will tend to spotlight. Fox doesn't actually differ significantly from the other two on what stories they cover. I have sometimes read things on Fox days before they show up on CNN--and vice versa. Sometimes one will have a slant the other two don't. No news source is without bias of some sort.

 

I agree with not speculating, etc., but to be fair to OP, the thread is titled "Possible" rather than suggesting there is a proof-positive motive.

[Rivka]

The idea that this Flashman guy was an expert on the Lanzas' situation is being walked back. Apparently he's being questioned by the police, who are wondering where his information came from and why he brought it to the press. And his father doesn't seem to believe him:

Richard Flashman said he spoke with his son after the report surfaced.

 

“As the Fox News article indicates, the information Josh spoke to them about was hearsay and not confirmed,†the pastor said. “I suggest you do not run with the story. I am perplexed why Fox would run with it in the first place.†[...]

 

The pastor said he was not the source of his son’s information. Bell added, “It was nothing from a confirmed source.â€

[SKL]

I am frustrated that people seem more interested in getting to the bottom of the motive and digging out all the gory details than working on a solution. What does it matter really? He's dead. Sadly the memory of the victims will fall far shorert in people's minds than the shooter who continues to almost be ....what's the word? Idolized.no. Romanticized..no. What word am I looking for ladies? I haven't had much coffee yet.

 

I agree with waiting until the official investigators make a conclusion about the motive (if that ever happens). However, I do not agree that his motive "doesn't matter." I don't believe it's possible to "work on a solution" without having a clue what motivated this act.

 

The man is dead, so I don't believe that talking about him is in any way rewarding him and certainly is not glorifying him. No, I do not have any desire to hear about him other than a single statement once the motive / cause of his choice is clear. But that's because the whole thing makes me sick, not because it does anything for him.