Sandy Hook incident investigation report released

I couldn't find the original thread via search. The final SAO report on the Dec. 14, 2012 Sandy Hook shooting [PDF] has been released.

Quote:

On the morning of December 14, 2012, the shooter parked his 2010 Honda Civic next to a “No Parking” zone outside of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Shortly after 9:30 a.m. he approached the front entrance to the school. He was armed with a Bushmaster Model XM15-E2S rifle (also Bushmaster rifle), a Glock 20, 10 mm pistol and a Sig Sauer P226, 9 mm pistol and a large supply of ammunition. The doors to the school were locked, as they customarily were at this time, the school day having already begun. The shooter proceeded to shoot his way into the school building through the plate glass window to the right of the front lobby doors. The main office staff reported hearing noises and glass breaking at approximately 9:35 a.m. and saw the shooter, a white male with a hat and sunglasses, come into the school building with a rifle type gun. The shooter walked normally, did not say anything and appeared to be breathing normally. He was seen shooting the rifle down the hallway. Just down the hallway from the main office, in the direction that the shooter was to be seen firing, a 9:30 a.m. Planning and Placement Team (PPT) meeting was being held in room 9, a conference room. It was attended by Principal Dawn Hochsprung and School Psychologist Mary Sherlach, together with a parent and other school staff. Shortly after the meeting started, the attendees heard loud banging. The principal and school psychologist then left the room followed shortly after by a staff member. After leaving the room, Mrs. Hochsprung yelled “Stay put!” As the staff member left the room, the staff member heard gunshots and saw Mrs. Hochsprung and Mrs. Sherlach fall down in front of the staff member. The staff member felt a gunshot hit the staff member’s leg. Once down, the staff member was struck again by additional gunfire, but laid still in the hallway. Not seeing anyone in the hallway, the staff member crawled back into room 9 and held the door shut. A call to 911 was made and in the ensuing moments the telephone in room 9 was also used to turn on the school wide intercom system. This appears to have been done inadvertently, but provided notice to other portions of the building. At the same time the shooter was firing in the hallway, another staff member was at the far east end of the hallway near classroom 1. The staff member was struck by a bullet in the foot and retreated into a classroom. Both Dawn Hochsprung, age 47, and Mary Sherlach, age 56, died as a result of being shot. Both wounded staff members shot in the hallway were later evacuated to the hospital and survived. After shooting and killing the two adults and wounding the two others, the shooter entered the main office. The office staff had taken shelter in the office. They heard sounds of the office door opening, footsteps walking inside the office and then back toward the office door. Staff members heard the door open a second time and then heard more gunfire from outside the office. They called 911. Where the shooter specifically went next is unclear. The evidence and witness statements establish the shooter went down the hallway in an easterly direction ultimately entering first grade classrooms 8 and 10. The order is not definitively known. While in classrooms 8 and 10, the shooter shot and killed four adults and twenty children with the Bushmaster rifle. Twelve children survived, one from classroom 8 and eleven from classroom 10. The shooter finally killed himself in classroom 10 with one gunshot to his head from a Glock 20, 10 mm pistol. This is believed to have occurred at 9:40:03.

The did not reach any conclusion as to motive.



The report listed items of interest belonging to the shooter found after the incident subsequent to search:

Quote:

- A Christmas check from the mother to the shooter to purchase a CZ 83 firearm; - A New York Times article from February 18, 2008, regarding the school shooting at Northern Illinois University; - Three photographs of what appear to be a dead human, covered in blood and wrapped in plastic; - The book Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy, Jossey-Bass, 2007, by Donald B. Kraybill, Steven Nolt and David Weaver-Zercher; and - Photocopied newspaper articles from 1891 pertaining to the shooting of school children While the vast majority of persons interviewed had no explanation for the shooter’s actions, a review of electronic evidence or digital media that appeared to belong to the shooter, revealed that the shooter had a preoccupation with mass shootings, in particular the Columbine shootings and a strong interest in firearms. For example, there was a spreadsheet with mass murders over the years listing information about each shooting. The review of the electronic evidence also found many things that are on a typical hard drive or memory card that would probably have no relevance to the investigation either because of creation date or subject matter. That being said, the following selected topics or items were found within the digital evidence seized: - Bookmarks pertaining to firearms, military, politics, mass murder, video games, music, books, Army Ranger, computers and programs, ammunition, candy, economic books - Web page design folders - Two videos showing suicide by gunshot - Commercial movies depicting mass shootings - The computer game titled “School Shooting” where the player controls a character who enters a school and shoots at students - Screen shots (172) of the online game “Combat Arms” - “Dance Dance Revolution” (DDR) game screen shots - Videos of shooter playing DDR - Images of the shooter holding a handgun to his head - Images of the shooter holding a rifle to his head - Five-second video (dramatization) depicting children being shot - Images of shooter with a rifle, shotgun and numerous magazines in his pockets - Documents on weapons and magazine capacity - A document written showing the prerequisites for a mass murder spreadsheet - A spreadsheet listing mass murders by name and information about the incident - Materials regarding the topic of pedophilia and advocating for rights for pedophiles (not child pornography) - Large amount of materials relating to Columbine shootings and documents on mass murders - Large amount of materials on firearms - Comedy videos - Music - Images of hamsters - Images of Lego creations

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