Adam Lanza's DNA To Be Studied By Scientists For Mutation & Abnormalities
The Connecticut medical examiner asked scientists to analyze the DNA of Adam Lanza, the shooter responsible for killing 26 children and adults before committing suicide at an elementary school on Dec. 14, NBC News revealed Thursday.
A motive for the 20-year-old's killing spree is still unknown, though authorities entered Lanza's home following the shooting and confiscated his computer hard drive in the hopes of attaining some scope into Lanza's thought process that led up to the Friday massacre. Investigators hope studying the Connecticut native's DNA for mutations or other abnormalities could help the investigation. The Sandy Hook Elementary School also remains closed as the crime scene is being used as part of the investigation.
Connecticut's chief medical examiner, Dr. H. Wayne Carver II, called the University of Connecticut a few days before Christmas and asked for help from the university's Health Center's Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology, said UConn spokesperson Tom Breen.
"They have agreed to offer any assistance they can to help the chief medical examiner in his investigation," Breen said. "[Carver] wanted help in conducting tests relating to genetics involving the shooter in the Newtown massacre."
However, study of Lanza's DNA will not conclude in a diagnosis directly explaining his acts and at the same time could be controversial. By studying the genes of murderers, there is also a risk that those with similar genetic characteristics could be discriminated against or stigmatized, Arthur Beaudet, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, said.
Beaudet, who is also chairman of the Medicine's department of molecular and human genetics, said "there are some abnormalities that are related to aggressive behavior," and "some mutations that are known to be associated with at least aggressive behavior if not violent behavior." Researchers should be careful, though.
"I don't think any one of these mutations would explain all of (the mass shooters)," he added.
