The Sandy Hook elementary school massacre remains one of the deadliest shootings the United States has seen, in terms of the fatality rate, claiming the lives of 26 people. The gunman, Adam Lanza, broke into the school in Newtown, Connecticut after murdering his mother at their home. 

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Lanza was responsible for fatally shooting 20 children and 6 adults, before taking the gun to himself, killing himself at the spot. 

Who was Adam Lanza? 

Adam Lanza was born on April 22, 1992 in New Hampshire. The orchestrator of one of the deadliest school shootings in the United States, Lanza was described as a young man “with deteriorating mental health” and someone who was always “fascinated with mass shootings”, two years after he conducted the massacre. 

On the fateful day of December 14, 2012, Lanza shot dead his own mother, 52 years old at the time, with a Savage Mark II rifle, before he proceeded to Sandy Hook elementary school, which was situated 8 kilometers away from his residence. 

Lanza arrived at the school at 9:30 a.m. The school, which had 700 students at the time, had installed a new security system to prevent the premises from any attacks. Lanza barged into the school building, where he was confronted by the Principal Dawn Hochsprung. 

Lanza fatally shot the principal. Amidst the ongoing commotion, school psychologist Mary Sherlach and assistant principal Natalie Hammond went outside to check what was going on. Lanza shot the former dead while critically injuring the latter. 

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Lanza processed for the classrooms, and killed 14 children in one class along with the two teachers. Upon entering the class of the teacher namely Victoria Soto, who attempted to misdirect him to conceal the children, Lanza killed Soto, along with 6 other children who tried to flee their hiding spots. 

Lanza put the end to this brutal shooting by taking his own life at the end. This incident changed the discourse around gun violence and the surge of mass shootings in America.