last update: 10/6/2015
What usernames did Adam Lanza use?
There are three significant usernames the shooter used online:
- Kaynbred (used on wikipedia, various firearms message boards, and in the game Combat Arms. The first username to be reported.)
- Blarvink (used in the multiplayer PC game World of Warcraft, and in a few other places online, such as 2draw)
- Smiggles (used on Super Columbine Massacre RPG discussion forum [later renamed ShockedBeyondBelief] a forum dedicated to the Columbine killers, and mass shootings in general in the “misc” section, as well as on Steam)
Based on his gaming history, he also used the Steam name “Pedobear” at some point. And, based on the official report’s search warrant, he used the address genericregistryemail@gmail.com for some purpose (though whether this was just a dummy address or an account he actually had access to is not made clear).
None of these usernames appear to have any meaning or significance. This isn’t surprising; Adam Lanza wasn’t a person interested in riddles or artistic flourishes.
How do we know that “Kaynbred” was Lanza?
When police searched the Lanza home after the shooting, they found a USB hard drive that Adam Lanza had used, with various files on it. One folder contained screenshots of the game Combat Arms, an online-only first-person-shooter (FPS). In these screenshots, the username of the player’s character was Kaynbred.
Search warrants were then issued to Nexon America, the company that published Combat Arms and hosts its servers, requesting all information regarding the user Kaynbred. They complied, and presumably the information they gave police confirmed that Kaynbred was Lanza (the information is not public).
Did Adam Lanza have free access to his mother’s firearms collection?
Yes. In fact, the evidence overwhelmingly shows that all of the guns used at Sandy Hook were actually Adam’s property, and were just registered in Nancy’s name because she purchased them for him. I explain this in detail here.
Was Nancy Lanza a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary? If not, why was she reported to be at first?
She was not a teacher at SHES, and never was. Those reports were not accurate.
As for why they were inaccurate, there’s not really any way to know unless the journalists who reported provide an explanation. But it’s not too hard to figure out a likely scenario. Here’s two:
- the volume of information being passed back and forth between sources and news outlets in the hours after the shooting was so high that there was some overlap between “Nancy Lanza is dead” and “teachers are dead” and the reporters ran with unverified info in the race to report “facts” first.
- Some sources legitimately believed Nancy was a teacher at the school, because she was at the school on a daily basis in Adam’s elementary school years, to help Adam. See this post. Also:
Was the rifle Adam Lanza allegedly used in the massacre instead found in the car’s trunk?
No. The gun in the trunk was a Izmash Canta-12 12-gauge shotgun (listed on search warrants as a “Saiga-12,” which is also correct, as Izmash is the manufacturer of the Saiga line of tactical shotguns). Like all of the guns used in the shooting, it was registered to Adam’s mother Nancy.
Also, the shotgun was not found in the trunk. Police found it resting on the car’s passenger seat, and moved it to the trunk as they were securing the scene.
Did Adam Lanza play violent video games?
Yes, for example Combat Arms. But the games he was known to have played the most (Dance Dance Revolution and World of Warcraft) are not really violent at all, so this doesn’t seem like a promising avenue of inquiry in my opinion.
Some games listed in the official report:
What was Adam Lanza’s gamertag/PSN account/Steam ID?
His Steam username was usually “Smiggles”, and the remnant of his account is here.
His Xbox account probably hasn’t been found, but might have been DS9345. I explain the tenuous lead in detail here.
The Lanza family didn’t own a Playstation 3.
Whatever happened to your posts about the shooter’s Youtube account?: Upon reflection, the information in this article should have been presented as speculation, if at all. I regret the error. I have no plans to cover that account further. I do not know with any certainty if the account is the shooter or not. For those reasons I’ve taken down my writing about that account. I apologize for the mistake. -08/22/2015
Does Adam Lanza’s death certificate show that he died the day before the shooting?
No.
Was the car Adam Lanza drove to the school registered to someone named Chris Rodia?
No. Chris Rodia’s name can be heard on the police scanner recordings around the same time as the car is being discussed, but this is not a transmission related to the shooting. The black 2010 Honda Civic found outside Sandy Hook, license plate 872YEO, was registered to Nancy Lanza. Chris Rodia was across town being pulled over for a traffic violation at the same time as the shooting, and has had his name erroneously associated with the shooting ever since.
What was the primary weapon used in the shooting?
All of the murders at Sandy Hook Elementary were committed with a Bushmaster XM-15 ES2 semi-automatic rifle, firing .223 Remington cartridges from ten 30-round magazines. A total of 154 rounds were fired from this weapon.
The killer, Adam Lanza, brought along two handguns: a Glock 10mm and a Sig-Sauer P226 9mm. Two rounds were fired from the Glock 10mm, one at nothing (presumably the shooter was making sure the first round chambered successfully, as he did with the Bushmaster) and the second was fired when the gunman committed suicide by shooting himself in the back of the head. The Sig-Sauer was ever fired in the shooting. The Saiga shotgun was also never fired in the shooting.
Earlier in the day, at the Lanza home, Adam shot his mother Nancy Lanza four times in the head with a Savage Mark II .22cal rifle.
Sandy Hook Lighthouse 
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