Newtown, Conn. school shooter Adam Lanza may have been motivated by an obsession over Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik and violent video games, law enforcement sources briefed on the killings are saying.
Lanza, who killed his mother at her home and then 20 young children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, saw himself in competition with Breivik, who killed 77 people in July 2011, the sources told
CBS News.
Breivik's total included eight dead from a bombing in downtown Oslo and 69 more, mostly teens, at a summer camp located on a nearby island.
The sources told CBS that Lanza wanted to top Breivik's totals and targeted the school because it was the “easiest target” with the “largest cluster of people.” Breivik concluded his killings by surrendering to police. But Lanza killed himself as police closed in on the school.
In response to the CBS report, Lt. J. Paul Vance of the Connecticut State Police said Lanza's motive has not yet been determined and that any statements about Lanza's intent “are mere speculation.”
Other sources, however, claim that Lanza, in addition to his fascination with Breivik, was also likely acting out the fantasies of a video game when he killed the Sandy Hook teachers and children, and considered the deaths as some kind of “score,” CBS reported.
The sources also told CBS that investigators recovered a “trove” of video games from the basement of Lanza's home, where he spent hours alone in a private gaming room. They said evidence also was found showing Lanza's obsession with Breivik.
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