Book: Adam Lanza Obsessed With Online Killing, Serial Killers, The Military
In his new book, Newtown: An American Tragedy, Matthew Lysiak details the unhealthy obsessions of shooter Adam Lanza. He spent much time playing military games online where he could “kill” people. His obsession with the military may have been related to learning he would never become a Marine.
In his alternative online universe, the skinny and frail teenager chose to create an imposing bulky muscle-bound soldier dressed in desert camouflage and also a light vest, goggles, and a black beret. He chose equally imposing weapons for his missions: the M16A3, a military variant of the Bushmaster AR.15 assault rifle, and the G23 pistol, which strongly resembles a Glock 10-millimeter handgun. Adam’s battlefield of choice was called the “Death Room,” a seemingly abandoned secret facility with a multitude of tightly spaced areas.
Adam quickly immersed himself in this virtual world, logging thousands of kills over hundreds of hours of playing time. His Combat Arms online profile showed he played 4,901 matches or games, clocking more than 500 hours in front of the screen and tallying 83,496 kills, including 22,725 “head shots.”…
As Adam’s mastery of violent video games and high-powered weapons developed, another fixation began to reveal itself. Between August 2009 and February 2010, Adam spent hours poring over entries about mass killers on Wikipedia. Still under the alias “Kaynbred,” Adam went into the communal encyclopedia, obsessively correcting small details of the killers’ lives.…he became more and more obsessed with the military. The basement, which [his mother] Nancy had remodeled into a game room for Adam, now looked more like a military compound. Nearly every inch of the Sheetrock walls were covered with posters of weaponry and old tanks from World War II. Pictures of submarines, military equipment, and depictions of battle were proudly displayed.
