New York, Dec 16 (Reuters & NYT): In the aftermath of Friday's elementary school shooting, a shattered New England town in the US searched for clues to why a young man would commit so heinous an act.

The life of Adam Lanza will be dissected, analysed and re-analysed in the days to come as investigators dig into the background of the 20-year-old who, law enforcement sources say, returned to his elementary school and opened fire. Thus far, there are clues, but no answers. Police have not even publicly confirmed Lanza as the assailant who killed 20 young children between the ages of 5 and 10, plus six adults and himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Another adult was found dead at a nearby home, bringing the death toll to 28, but police would not confirm or deny media reports that the person was Lanza’s mother, Nancy.

Initial report said Nancy was the first victim of Lanza. Lanza was a shy and unusually intelligent student, two former classmates recall. "He was a very quiet kid," the friend said. "I remember being his only friend in elementary school. He was always a really nice kid, very polite,” a friend said. In Newtown High School, he dressed more formally than other students, often wearing khaki trousers, button-down shirts and at times a pocket protector, said Tim Arnone who first met Lanza at Sandy Hook. The two of them joined the high school's audio-visual club, also known as a tech club, and spent free periods playing video games at the school’s television station studio.

"It was definitely the nerdiest club in the school. We had our own little section in the room," Arnone, 20, told Reuters. He said Lanza was “driven hard” to succeed academically by his parents, particularly his mother. “She pushed him really hard to be smarter and work harder in school,” Arnone said.

Adam Lanza did not even appear in his high school yearbook, that of the class of 2010. His spot on the page said, “Camera shy.”

Others who graduated that year said they did not believe he had finished school.
Matt Baier, now a junior at the University of Connecticut, and other high school classmates, recalled how deeply uncomfortable Lanza was in social situations.

Several said in separate interviews that it was their understanding that he had a developmental disorder. They said they had been told that the disorder was Asperger's syndrome, which is considered to be a high functioning form of autism.

“It's not like people picked on him for it,” Baier said. “From what I saw, people just let him be and that was that.”

Law enforcement officials said on Friday that they were closely examining whether Lanza had such a disorder.

Nancy Lanza and her husband, Peter Lanza, divorced in 2008, according to public records. Peter Lanza could not immediately be reached for comment. Throughout the afternoon, Nancy Lanza's surviving son, Ryan, was named by some news outlets as the killer.

Ryan Lanza's identification had been found on the body of his brother, leading to the mistaken reports.

Dan Holmes, owner of a landscaping firm, described Nancy Lanza as an avid gun collector who once showed him a “high-end rifle” that she had purchased.

“She said she would often go target shooting with her kids,” he said. Holmes said he had just last week decorated her yard with Christmas garlands and lights. She was “very nice, very pleasant and always very appreciative of our work,” Holmes said. Police have not said what weapon or weapons were used in the school killings. A second former classmate, who declined to be identified, described Lanza as smart but without many friends.