Reporter: Gunman's Father Was Shocked To Learn About Shooting

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

According to federal law enforcement sources, Adam Lanza, the gunman, one of his victims, was his own mother, which has led to much speculation about the Lanza family and relations within it. Well, Adam Lanza's parents were divorced. And reporter Maggie Gordon of the Stamford Advocate is now going to tell us about Mr. Lanza's father. Where did you come across him?

MAGGIE GORDON: Yes. So I walked over to the car, and I just announced who I was. I said my name is Maggie Gordon. I'm a reporter at the Advocate. And there was, like, no recognition on his face. You know, sometimes, in a situation like this, you'll get people who just - I don't want to talk to a reporter right now. And so it kind of gave me the impression that he had no idea what was going on. So he kind of looked at me like, OK, go ahead, tell me what you're going to say. And I said to him, you know, we received information that someone at this address is connected to the shooting in Newtown. And his face just changed very quickly from a nice, quiet face of a man who's been exchanging pleasantries with a stranger to - he looked like somebody had kicked him in the gut.

SIEGEL: Wow.

GORDON: You know, he just looked like the wind was knocked out of him and surprised and shocked, in horror. And, you know, he quickly rolled up the window, murmured something, like I'm not going to comment or I don't want to talk or something to that nature, and drove into his garage and closed the door. And that was really the whole exchange.

SIEGEL: Now, I guess what you had witnessed, first of all, was this operation by law enforcement officers to check every conceivable connection to this - to Adam Lanza, to the gunman. And obviously, they went not only to his brother's dwelling in Hoboken, New Jersey, but to his father's home in Stamford, Connecticut, as well. And that's what - that's, I gather, what you had seen happening before you arrived there.

GORDON: Yeah. From what I understand, what I have been told, it was - the state police had gotten in contact with the Stamford police, and that's how the Stamford police got involved. So it does seem like, you know, thorough police investigation, and they were making sure that they were covering all their bases.

SIEGEL: Maggie Gordon, thank you very much for talking with us.

GORDON: All right. thank you.

SIEGEL: That's reporter Maggie Gordon of the Stamford Advocate from Stamford, Connecticut. This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.