Sandy Hook Killer Adam Lanza’s Home Gifted To Newtown Two Years After Massacre
Almost two years after the Sandy Hook shootings, the house that gunman Adam Lanza lived in with his mother is now owned by the town of Newtown, Connecticut. Lanza, who committed suicide at the school after killing 20 children and six adults, killed his mother in the house that has been vacant since the tragedy that happened on December 14, 2012.
~~!~~ BE BRAVE BE STRONG SANDY HOOK THOUGH THERE MAY BE SOME EMPTY CHAIRS “LOVE STILL SITS THERE ~~!~~ pic.twitter.com/Ms4gmc5MZX
— billy vincent berman (@berman_billy) November 30, 2014
The Newtown Bee reports that Hudson City Savings Bank held the outstanding mortgage on the property, and decided to gift the house and land to Newtown after “months of discussion.” Nancy Lanza reportedly had a mortgage of more than $402,000 on the home that was built in 1998. The current market value is said to be $520,000.
What the town will do with the house Adam Lanza lived in is still unknown. The Hartford Courant states that several families of the victims have asked that the house to be torn down because it constantly “reminds them of the massacre.”
Several property transfers took place before Newtown took ownership of the home on 36 Yogananda Street. The Hartford Courant reports that the home was part of Nancy Lanza’s estate. Her other son, Ryan Lanza, was the sole heir to the property, and sold the 3,100-square-foot house to Norwalk attorney Kenneth Gruder’s company, 36 Yogananda LLC, in August. Gruder than sold the house to the Hudson City Savings Bank of New Jersey in September, and ownership was then transferred to Newtown on December 3.
The home where the Sandy Hook school shooter lived now belongs to Newtown: http://t.co/QFJhk0751Y pic.twitter.com/UdfOlsl1G6
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 4, 2014
The New York Daily News reports Hudson City Savings Bank‘s senior vice president, Bill LaCalamito hoped that gifting the house would help the town.
“We wanted to do what was right for the community. We told the town, ‘You’ve been through enough. Tell us what you want us to do.'”
The house sits on 2.1 acres of land, and has been empty since the shootings. The front door has been covered with plywood since the police removed computers, journals, guns, and thousands of rounds of ammunition from the home after the shootings.
Prior to his killing spree at the Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother while she slept in her room on the second floor of the house that is now owned by the town that is still grieving over the loss of life.
[Image: NY Post]
