What Do Sandy Hook Investigators Have to Hide?
October 25, 2013
More than 10 months after Adam Lanza massacred 26 students and faculty and committed
suicide at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, questions
still abound in the midst of conspiracy theories and prolonged
speculation. The October 21 edition of The Hartford Courant, which has been following the story closely since the mass murder last December 14, ran an editorial
complaining about State Attorney Stephen Sedensky’s delay in releasing
the full investigative report, originally expected by the end of June.
In the meantime, says the Courant, details continue to leak, feeding “the sick conspiracy mill and prolong[ing] the pain.”
But the editorial admits Sedensky’s
stonewall is prompting a host of relevant questions. What have
investigators found that prevents publication? Can investigators explain
what prompted Adam Lanza’s murderous actions?
Along with the delayed report, other
circumstances add to general mistrust. Why is the school building being
demolished, access to the site closed to the public, and even photos and
videos banned? The Courant continues:
Also raising suspicions are the confidentiality agreements
that workers at the elementary school are being required to sign. They
are tearing down the school to make way for a new one, a move The Courant
supports. But pledging workers to secrecy about what they see is
excessive and unlikely to succeed. At this rate the school may be razed before the report is out. What if the document raises questions about the building?
Then there is the subject of the 911 calls. On September 30, the Los Angeles Times reported that Sedensky is appealing the Connecticut Freedom of Information
Commission’s order to release the 911 recordings from the school
shooting. Sedensky petitions for “sensitivity toward victims’ families.”
Yet the Times notes, “The secrecy is striking in light of the
quick release of information — from 911 recordings to pictures and
video — in other notorious crimes.”
Perhaps most important are the results of Lanza’s toxicology tests, conducted by the Connecticut medical examiner in the weeks after the shooting to check
for the presence of drugs in his system. The medical examiner released
Lanza’s autopsy findings, which showed nothing of note, less than one
month after the rampage, but what of the drug test results?
In May, the Huffington Post reported that Lanza’s toxicology tests showed no evidence of alcohol or drugs, illegal or prescription. However, the Post was not reporting official test results. Instead, this news
was revealed by an “official close to the investigation” who spoke on
condition of anonymity because he was “not authorized to publicly
disclose the information.” The report also stated that warrants revealed
no evidence of drugs or medications at the Lanza home, though
authorities found “medical, psychiatric and prescription records” there.
Unsurprisingly, the contents of these documents remain undisclosed.
However, it appears Huffington’s source may have been mistaken. The parent advocacy group AbleChild has been battling for months to obtain Lanza’s psychiatric drug history. During a recent Freedom of Information Act hearing in the case AbleChild vs. Chief Medical Examiner,
Connecticut attorney Patrick B. Kwanashie argued against releasing the
toxicology test records because they could “cause a lot of people to
stop taking their medications — stop cooperating with their treating
physicians just because of the heinousness of what Adam Lanza did.”
Kwanashie opined that AbleChild is
requesting the information for illegitimate reasons. “Even if you can
conclusively establish that Adam Lanza — his murderous actions — were
caused by antidepressants, you can’t logically from that conclude that
you know others would commit the same actions as a result of taking
antidepressants.”
On the contrary, AbleChild argues that release of the results will promote informed
consent and public health. Patricia Weathers, co-founder of AbleChild,
lamented, “This opposition comes despite the fact that 31 school
shootings and/or school-related acts of violence have been committed by
those taking or withdrawing from psychiatric drugs resulting in 162
wounded and 72 killed,” with no federal investigation into the link
between psychiatric drugs and such violence. If psychiatric drugs are
indeed strongly linked to such violence, this could challenge the
federal government’s narrative that guns are the problem and more gun
control is the solution. Perhaps this explains the stonewalling of the
investigation.
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