What do you think Adam Lanza's motive could've been

with how little information we have to go on, i wanna know if you guys have any theories. i was recently told by someone that it may have been due to suppressed pedophilic urges because Adam was a known pedophile sympathizer. he also has a screenplay or something on his computer about a relationship between a man and a boy. fuckin creepy.

Haven't heard that one yet — interesting and disgusting if true.

Although, I wouldn't be surprised if it had to do with his isolated nature and general developmental challenges. I don't read up much on mass murder cases but I heard he had difficulties with that at a young age. Maybe this caused him to be even more isolated by his peers in childhood because they couldn't understand him? Then this would later manifest itself as his murderous intent when his depression and anxiety worsened? Maybe it was the root of all this?

Or maybe, since he read up on mass killers, he just wanted something that would gain more attention. What's worse and more newsworthy then shooting up a school? Shooting up an elementary school — with easier and more vulnerable targets to attack.

Or maybe it was the pedophile thing. Doubt we'll ever know.

I don't know why, but it was known that he was pretty interested in other shooters and their weapons and number of kills, and it seemed kind of like he wanted to out do them? I think I read somewhere about it being like getting a "high score" in a game, hence the elementary school children - easy and numerous targets?

I think it might relate back to the rather fatalistic and joyless way in which he saw the world (like a never-ending Matrix-like machine you get indoctrinated into and cannot escape from) and children being in that state of impressionable innocence that pushes them to assimilate into that world the older they get. The level of alienation he seemed to feel from that system we grow up in doesn't seem like it was constructive for him in the slightest, and I do believe that his mother in particular played into that alienation by allowing him to sustain that level of isolation and withdrawal he had in the months leading up to the massacre. (Communicating with her only through email seems rather excessive to me when they both lived in the same household, you know?)

I also think that there's some truth to the 'treating it like a game with a highscore'-theory. I'm not sure what to make of the pedophile-theory, but it's one that I don't think we can discount entirely. I sometimes wonder if his motive was even clear to Adam himself.

honestly I think thats what makes people so interested in this case, it's really up to interpretation. We (probably) won't ever know what went on in his head before or during the massacre and thats what draws ppl in bc it leaves room to fill in the blanks themselves

brokenboys21 wrote:honestly I think thats what makes people so interested in this case, it's really up to interpretation. We (probably) won't ever know what went on in his head before or during the massacre and thats what draws ppl in bc it leaves room to fill in the blanks themselves

i couldn't have said this better myself! i definitely think the ambiguity surrounding Adam and his motive definitely plays a part in the interest people have with this case

I think it was because everything he wanted for his future got ruined. I think his mental illness really got in the way of a lot of things and not necessarily his fault but the fact people could see he was different. He often talked about psychology as a means to oppress people and hated the whole concept of therapy and psychiatry, which is understandable considering he had such bad experiences with it. As for the pedophilia thing I have this theory that he was sexually abused as a child, hence his fascination with it while insisting he wasn't a pedophile. It could be an attempt to reconcile with it by trying to find evidence it doesn't fuck children up. This also goes back to the mental illness thing, I think he was just really in denial about it and things would've been different if he'd gotten better treatment from the start

it could be a number of things tbh but i feel like he killed his mum because he felt like a shit son imo but with the kids it could be a number of things i hope we get more info even tho it's been 5 years :/

He did have a spreadsheet he made detailing mass shootings and things, it hasn't been released apparently. I wish he hadn't smashed his hard drives because I think he is very fascinating to read about. The extreme of it all. The target, the assault weapon, his posts on forums with opinions, why children? why do it then? why kill mom? why did he have a weird email thing going on with her?
I think he was highly intelligent as it shows, but I agree with the Matrix theory view of world having something to do with it. The pedophile theory I have no idea at all. The dude in Scotland who shot all the little kids was a pedophile from what I read, which one of the reason he targeted. Maybe Adam was, maybe he wasn't. Maybe as mentioned he was abused as child and was interested in it all because of this..I dunno. His mental illness could have probably played a part. He gets my sympathy even though his horrific crime, his mind was a puzzle I guess we will never know the full truth.

I love this question. I really wish I knew, but what I'm thinking is along the lines of his future dream of being in the military being dashed due to his disorders. I think that sent him into a years long spiral into being determined to become a sort of military man to live out his dream path. First in video games, and you can read some details of how/how often he played them, it is interesting (i don't think video games cause violence, but perhaps there are people who use them for violent purposes) then with meticulous research, with a spreadsheet that is allegedly (if i remember correctly) 7 feet long, 3ft wide in 9pt font, which im dying to see. He took a special interest in shooters like Anders Breivik, who was a militant shooter, and Jared Loughner who attempted a political assassination of an AZ congresswoman. I'm leaving a lot out but i really do think he was determined to become a military fighter somehow, and perhaps was going to go to the high school as has been suggested (reportedly his car was seen driving past the high school), but was deterred because apparently there were police in the parking lot. He then went to the elementary school because he was determined to carry out an attack. I wish we had the information from his hard drives and forums. I know then we would have all the clues, but really I don't know why he targeted innocent children, except maybe to guarantee a death toll. But I don't think he wanted fame from it. I really don't claim that this theory is the answer, it's just what i believe could be one possible reason out of an infinite number.