HOBOKEN — On a sunny Saturday morning, the day after the deadliest public school shooting in American history, a few print and TV reporters were waiting outside the home of Ryan Lanza, the suspect’s older brother.
On Friday, a man identified in news reports as 20-year-old Adam Lanza apparently shot 26 people to death at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., and killed his mother, a teacher, at home. Adam Lanza was also found dead at the school.
That same day, law enforcement sources gave the media incorrect information that Adam’s brother Ryan, who lived in Hoboken, was a suspect. The confusion occurred because Adam had been holding Ryan’s ID.
But according to local news outlets, Ryan was at work at Friday and wasn’t even aware of the shootings, and began posting on his Facebook page in response to people and the media implicating him. When he got home to Hoboken, the police questioned him and a roommate.
Rumors flew fast and furious in front of Ryan’s uptown building all of Friday, and Hoboken police, who were on the scene investigating, released a statement there. The media mostly left on Friday evening when the suspect’s true identity was discovered.
However, CNN, the New York Times, and other media returned on Saturday for the second day of coverage. One reporter asked people walking by if they know Ryan Lanza.
Meanwhile, groups of other twentysomethings who live and party in this densely populated town walked by the same corner unaware, dressed in Santa for the annual ‘Santacon’ event being held across the river in New York City.
For our prior coverage of the story, see links below.
In Hoboken on Saturday, reporters wait outside home of non-suspect in school shooting
