Ryan Lanza: 'I'm A Victim' Of Sandy Hook Shooting

By Eric Brown | December 23 2012 2:57 PM

Ryan Lanza, brother of Newtown, Conn., killer Adam Lanza, has taken to Facebook as an outlet for his grief in the days since his shooting. Lanza, whose brother shot and killed 28 people, including their mother, 20 children and himself, stated that he, too, is one of the victims.

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While officials are still investigating what might have provoked 20-year-old Adam Lanza to unleash fury on Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, experts are ruling out the connection between the Asperger’s syndrom and the violence.

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Lanza, who is 24 years old and lives in Hoboken, N.J., communicated with the New York Post Saturday in a Facebook chat, expressing his grief at the loss of his mother and brother in the Newtown massacre.

“I am a victim,” Lanza told the Post, “I loss [sic] my mother and brother.”

In a public post on his Facebook wall, Lanza posted a smiling photo of his brother Adam alongside a tribute stating that he will always miss his brother.

“I will miss you bro,” Lanza wrote. “I will always love you as long as I live.”

Lanza also posted a tribute to his mother, Nancy Lanza, who was 52 when Adam shot and killed her in their home.

In the hours after the shooting, many media outlets mistakenly identified Ryan as the shooter at Sandy Hook Elementary, which he attended years before. Adam had been wearing his brother’s identification at the time of the massacre, leading police and the media to misidentify him.

Recently, a Facebook friend posted an antagonistic message on his wall, writing that Adam should “rot in hell.” Ryan took particular offense to that.

“I am so tired of people blaming me for something my brother did. I love Adam, his [sic] my brother,” he wrote. “But you have no right to call my brother names when he isn’t here no more. Just let my brother rest in peace. Please. Respect that.”