A New York Daily News article published on Sunday finds new evidence suggesting Adam Lanza, the perpetrator of the December shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, was tremendously influenced by the culture of the violent video games he played.
“I don't know if you saw the latest in the Sandy Hook story,” Glenn said on radio this morning. “Pat sent me a story yesterday that is absolutely phenomenal to me, and it's phenomenal to me because nobody is covering it.”
The Daily News’ coverage corroborates the idea that Lanza’s attack was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but rather a well-calculated and thoroughly thought out attempt to carry out a mission similar to the video game persona he had created.
The article cites an anonymous source described as a “law enforcement veteran,” who claims authorities recovered a massive spreadsheet – a 7 foot long and 4 foot wide document written in nine-point font – from Lanza’s home. The document contained “obsessive, extensive research… about mass murders of the past, and even attempted murders.”
“It was the names and the number of people killed and the weapons that were used, even the precise make and model of the weapons. It had taken him years,” Glenn explained. “Now, they don't believe this was just a spreadsheet. They believe this was a ‘score sheet.’ This was the work of a video gamer and this was his intent, to put his own name at the top of that list. They believe he picked the elementary school – this is the police, believe he picked the elementary school because he felt it was the ‘point of least resistance’ where he could rack up the greatest number of kills.”
All of this information and more was reportedly shared by Colonel Danny Stebbins, of the Connecticut State Police, during the International Association of Police Chiefs and Colonels mid-year meeting in New Orleans last week.
The source in the Daily News article explained:
“The fascination (Lanza) had with this subject matter, the complete and total concentration. There really was no other subject matter inside his head. Just this: Kill, kill, kill.”
“It really was like he was lost in one of his own sick games. That’s what we heard. That he learned something from his game that you learn in (police) school, about how if you’re moving from room to room — the way he was in that school — you have to reload before you get to the next room. Maybe he has a 30-round magazine clip, and he’s only used half of it. But he’s willing to dump 15 rounds and have a new clip before he arrives in the next room.”
“They believe he learned the principles of this — the tactical reload — from his game. Reload before you’re completely out. Keep going. When the strap broke on his first weapon (the AR-15), he went to his handgun at the end. Classic police training. Or something you learn playing kill games.”
“The thing you need to understand is he laid this out years before, and it all is from being murder obsessed because of video games,” Glenn said. “Now, where is the President on this?”
“You're not going all Bloomberg on my video games, are you,” Stu interjected.
“No. No, I'm not,” Glenn continued. “I'm not coming to your house and confiscating, I'm not telling anybody not to make them. I'm not doing anything. I'm telling you get away from them… There's a big difference between Pong and what, like, Adam Lanza is getting into.”
“We’re not saying that all video games or, you know, or any video game will make all kids evil. Nobody's saying that,” Glenn clarified. “And I'm not saying also that you need to go shut them down or anything else.”
“You're an adult,” he concluded. “I believe in maximum liberty, maximum personal responsibility.”