In Newtown, Nancy Lanza a subject of sympathy for some, anger for others

NEWTOWN, Conn. — Twenty-six. Not 27.

When many people in Newtown count the victims in last week’s massacre, they tally 20 children in Sandy Hook Elementary School, plus six adult faculty and staff members. Few count shooter Adam Lanza’s first victim: his mother, Nancy. Police said that before he attacked the schoolhouse, Adam Lanza pumped four bullets into his mother’s head as she lay in bed.

Video

In the wake of the Newtown school massacre, government leaders are looking at depictions of violence in American media. Post reporter Max Fisher has a few charts that suggest a surprising correlation — or lack thereof — between video games and gun violence.

Related stories

On gun control, Obama’s record shows a lack of political will — until now

Philip Rucker and Sari Horwitz

Until the Newtown attack, the issue was deemed politically untouchable.

History of gun control is cautionary tale for those who seek regulations

Scott Higham, Sari Horwitz, David S. Fallis and Joel Achenbach

The fights ahead will be protracted and brutal — and any legislation may well be riddled with loopholes.

Frustrating search for motive

Marc Fisher, Robert O’Harrow and Peter Finn

With Newtown attack, Adam Lanza gave little away.

Obama wants action on guns within a year, calls for fundamental change

Peter Whoriskey and Sean Sullivan

In interview on NBC, he reaffirmed intent to address guns, said day of killings was worst of his presidency.

History of gun-control legislation

A look at legislation since 1934 regulating guns in the United States.

Haunted by Sandy Hook

CLOSE TO HOME | Beyond our love, we can guarantee our children so little.

Remembering the victims

A look at the 27 people killed by a gunman in Newtown.

As this heartbroken town tries to process Friday’s horror, there is considerable anger toward Lanza’s mother. Her name is noticeably absent from many of the impromptu shrines, memorials and condolence notes placed around town.

At the foot of the street leading to Sandy Hook Elementary, 26 Christmas trees stand to honor the dead at the school, each bearing the name of a victim, but no Nancy Lanza.

Outside the Newtown Convenience and Deli in the town center, 26 small plastic Christmas trees with twinkling blue and purple lights stand next to a sign that says, “In loving memory of the Sandy Hook victims.”

The University of Connecticut honored the shooting victims Monday with a ceremony before a men’s basketball game, with 26 students standing at center court holding lighted candles.

“I am feeling that there is more anger toward the mother than there is toward the son,” said Lisa Sheridan, a Newtown parent.

“Why would a woman who had a son like this, who clearly had serious issues, keep assault rifles in the house and teach him how to shoot them?” she said. “To deal with that, there’s a feeling here that we’re just going to focus on the 26 innocent people who died at the school.”

Emotions in Newtown are painfully raw. A half-dozen more funerals and remembrances were held Wednesday, creating almost nonstop funeral processions. Black hearses and limousines drove through the streets, led by police escorts. Nearly 50 police motorcycles, from departments all over the state, were parked outside St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, waiting to escort the next funeral.

Firefighters and police in formal dress uniforms lined the church driveway as a funeral procession arrived. A man in jeans and a flannel shirt watched from a nearby Starbucks parking lot, wearing a green-and-white ribbon in honor of the Sandy Hook colors.

Men in black suits filed out of the funeral, many of them wearing white shirts and green ties. Women wept as they walked out of funeral services for yet another child.

Nancy Lanza apparently broke no laws and suffered a violent, tragic death. People who knew her — those who played in her regular dice game and those who saw her at her regular restaurant — said she was devoted to her son and kind and generous to others. They see her as a victim like any of the others.

But for some, how to refer to her — and what to think of her — is a subject of much conversation. While some call her the first victim, many think she bears at least some of the blame.

“Maybe somewhere there is a deep thought that the shooter’s mother could be responsible for leaving the guns available,” said Himansu Patel, the Newtown Convenience and Deli owner, who decided to leave Nancy Lanza out of his memorial to the victims.