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Suspected shooter Adam Lanza is shown in this image from 2005. (Twitter photo/@ABC)
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - A law enforcement official says that the 20-year-old suspect in the Connecticut school shootings killed his mother at their home Friday and then drove his mother's car to the school where he went on a deadly rampage.

Adam Lanza's mother, Nancy, was a teacher at the school, said the law enforcement official.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Adam Lanza's older brother, Ryan, 24, of Hoboken, N.J., was questioned by law enforcement in New Jersey and was extremely cooperative, said a second law enforcement official who was briefed on the investigation. Ryan Lanza is not believed to have any involvement and is not under arrest or in custody, but investigators were still searching his computers and phone records, said the second official.

Ryan Lanza told law enforcement that his brother was believed to suffer from a personality disorder and be "somewhat autistic" and lived with the mother in Connecticut, the second official added.

Earlier, a law enforcement official mistakenly transposed the brothers' first names.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they official were not authorized to speak publicly about the developing investigation.

The first official said Adam Lanza is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

According to the first official, the suspect drove to the scene of the shootings in his mother's car. Three guns were found at the scene- a Glock and a Sig Sauer, both pistols- and a .223-caliber rifle. The rifle was recovered from the back of a car at the school. The two pistols were recovered from inside the school.

Meanwhile, former Jersey Journal staff writer Brett Wilshe said he has spoken with Ryan Lanza of Hoboken, who told Wilshe the shooter may have had Ryan Lanza's identification.

Ryan Lanza has a Facebook page that posted updates Friday afternoon that read that "it wasn't me" and "I was at work."

One of the officials said earlier Friday that a girlfriend of one of the Lanza brothers and another friend were missing in New Jersey. Subsequently, the third official said police had talked with the girlfriend. One of the friends had to be reached in California, so it took some time.

___

Associated Press writers Adam Goldman in Washington and Samantha Henry in Newark, N.J., contributed to this report.


(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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  • Abuse
    wrote...
    Hey, let's make guns even more accessible ~
    because I'm thinking about what the NRA tries to teach stupid people like me who are NOT armed - "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." (the only flaw in this dictum is that people can't kill people with a gun, if they don't have a gun). Way too much carnage in this country, and too much heartbreak. Another raging copycat is thinking up his own personal revenge to society right now, lining up his weapons. How about psychological testing for gun buyers?
  • Abuse
    yrreta wrote...
    Take away guns
    and they use knives, take away knives, they use rocks, take away rocks, they use hands...What does all this have in common? They all need a human to make them work. So yes, guns don't kill people, people kill people....with guns, knives, IUD's, rocks, fists, spears, hands, feet, the list is endless. Hey, I got it, let's just ban life altogether, then no one can kill anyone.
  • Abuse
    yrreta wrote...
    I like how the media
    describes in detail the weapons used. This will give the gun control advocates something to focus on for being banned, instead of the innocent victims. The suspect also drove to the shooting in his mother's car. What was the make of the car so maybe we can ban that car to make unstable people have to take the bus to their next crime. Oh, wait, then we would have to ban buses....
  • Abuse
    orichalcem wrote...
    @ previous commentor...
    It wasn't the gun owner that did the shooting, it was their children. Nevertheless, this trend didn't exist 20 years ago. What's happening now is true human nature is finally emerging here in the US. Massacres happen all the time in other countries, The only reason they happen in schools (and theaters and malls obviously) here is because the shooters know these people are likely not armed and are easy targets. At its primal core, (civilized) humanity is still incredibly evil. Take away their guns - they'll make bombs. Events like this can't be prevented, only prepared for.
  • Abuse
    ZingerRinger wrote...
    We should ban...
    Schools, malls, movie theaters, grocery store parking lots. If we take away the places people go to, we can eliminate these mass shootings! Please dear leader, save us from ourselves!
  • Abuse
    Steve wrote...
    It's the off the wall baseless
    comments like michos for example that shows uneducated side to gun control one that lacks sense. No gun law will stop someone from killing. CT guns laws prevented the killer from buying day before. These kind of people don't know their a## from their elbow and prefer a less free society, one controlled b by big government. They lack understand of this country and our constitution.
  • Abuse
    Patriot wrote...
    Leave to Micho to exploit a tragedy
    nothing's to low for that one.
    **ICE Tip-line 1-866-DHS-2ICE**
  • Abuse
    Patriot wrote...
    Gun violence bad, Union violence good
    .
    **ICE Tip-line 1-866-DHS-2ICE**
  • Abuse
    Michoacan wrote...
    Patriot joins
    Steve and the NRA in defending the rights of the deranged to have immediate and unlimited access to all of the firepower needed to slaughter classrooms full of tiny tots.
  • Abuse
    Michoacan wrote...
    Patriot, Steve and the NRA
    tell the mothers and fathers of tiny tots that there is absolutely nothing that can be done in a free society to protect their beloved children in their classrooms from the deranged. They argue that classrooms full of slaughtered five year olds is the price we must pay for our Second Amendment freedoms.