Asperger's, guns, and divorce: What we know about Connecticut massacre suspect Adam Lanza

The nation mourns for the victims in Newtown and asks who could commit such an unthinkable crime. Slowly, a portrait of the alleged killer is emerging

This 2005 photo provided by neighbor Barbara Frey shows Adam Lanza when he was in middle school.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Barbara Frey)

In the aftermath of the horrific Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, a shocked and grieving nation is grasping for answers to an agonizingly simple question: Who could do such a thing? Who could walk into a classroom full of 6-year-olds, innocent children with their entire lives ahead of them, and murder them? Police, neighbors, and relatives of 20-year-old suspect Adam Lanza, who reportedly killed himself with a single gunshot to the head after police officers rushed into the Newtown, Conn., school, have begun piecing together a portrait of his brief and troubled life. Here's what we know:

1. He had a web of psychiatric and emotional problems

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.