Adam Lanza, the man who allegedly committed one of the worst shootings in U.S. history, was 20 years old. He entered the Sandy Hook Elementary School carrying two handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, police said. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
Undated photo confirmed by government officials to be Adam Lanza, who apparently killed himself after killing more than two dozen others, including 20 school children.
By Miguel Llanos, NBC News
The gunman who slaughtered more than two dozen people, most of them children, at an elementary school Friday in Newtown, Conn., was identified by authorities as Adam Lanza.
Lanza, 20, is believed to have killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. His body also was found at the school. A body believed to be that of his mother, Nancy Lanza, was found at their home in Newton, authorities said.
Former classmates described Lanza as a shy but smart student.
Tim Arnone told Reuters that he first met Lanza at Sandy Hook Elementary and attended Newtown High School with him, where the two were members of a technology club. He told Reuters that Lanza was "driven hard" to succeed academically by his parents, particularly his mother.
Nancy Lanza and her husband, Peter Lanza, divorced in 2008, according to public records. Peter Lanza could not immediately be reached for comment.
Joshua Milas, who graduated from Newtown High School in 2009, told The Associated Press that Adam Lanza was generally a happy person but that he hadn't seen him in a few years.?
"We would hang out, and he was a good kid. He was smart," Joshua Milas said. "He was probably one of the smartest kids I know."?
Law enforcement officials initially told NBC News that the gunman was Lanza's brother, Ryan, and they had?sent out a bulletin to local and federal law enforcement agencies to that effect.
But when authorities went to Ryan's home in Hoboken, N.J., to search it, they unexpectedly found him there.
Ryan told police he was not involved and that his brother has a history of mental health issues and might have had his ID at the time of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, officials said. A senior official later said that Ryan was nowhere near the shooting, was not believed to be involved, and was cooperating with the investigation.
The weapons used in the shooting were legally purchased and registered to Nancy Lanza, two law enforcement officials told NBC News.
Two 9mm handguns, one made by Glock and the other by Sig Sauer, were recovered inside the school. An AR-15-type rifle also was found at the scene, but there were conflicting reports Friday night whether it had been used in the shooting.
Lanza's aunt, Marsha Lanza, of Crystal Lake, Ill., told the AP she was close with Adam Lanza's mother and sent her a Facebook message Friday morning asking how she was doing. Nancy Lanza never responded.
Marsha Lanza described Nancy Lanza as a good mother and kind-hearted. She said her husband saw Adam Lanza as recently as June and recalled nothing out of the ordinary about him.
Nancy Lanza?s mother was too distraught to speak when reached by phone at her home in Brooksville, Fla., the AP reported.
"I just don't know, and I can't make a comment right now," Dorothy Hanson, 78, said in a shaky voice as she started to cry.
NBC News Justice Correspondent Pete Williams contributed to this report.
Authorities are investigating why the alleged gunman would have killed his mother at home and then killed so many children. NBC's Pei-Sze Cheng reports.
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