Genetic Clues in the Newtown Massacre

Investigators are calling on scientists to comb Adam Lanza’s DNA for potential drivers of his violent behavior last week in Connecticut.

Written byBob Grant
| 1 min read

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Police at Sand Hook Elementry, after the shooting on December 14, 2012.WIKIMEDIA< VOAOfficials in Connecticut are searching for any clues that may help them piece together the motivations of Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old man who killed his mother before going on a deadly shooting spree in an elementary school last Friday (December 14), gunning down 20 young children, and 6 other adults in the idyllic New England town of Newtown. According to The Hartford Courant, H. Wayne Carver, Connecticut’s chief medical examiner, has invited a University of Connecticut geneticist to join him in the investigation of the killings. “I’m exploring with the department of genetics what might be possible, if anything is possible,” Carver told the Courant on Tuesday. “Is there any identifiable disease associated with this behavior?”

Some sources have averred that Lanza had Asperger’s syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, but that has yet to be definitively determined. Carver told the Courant that he is still awaiting toxicology reports that may further expose biological clues to Lanza’s violent act.

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Meet the Author

  • From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.

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