The final reports are in from the Newtown shooting from police – where Adam Lanza went into Sandy Hook Elementary School, and before killing 20 children and six adults with a semi-automatic rifle, he shot dead his own mother at the family home before turning the gun on himself, and committing suicide.

The report defines Adam Lanza 20, is said to have suffered from mental health issues.

In a published summary of police findings about the Sandy Hook shooting – they discovered that Lanza had “an obsession” with the 1999 Columbine massacre, during which two teenagers killed 12 students and a teacher.

The Newtown shooting report also discloses the killer’s upbringing. An Adam Lanza baby photo showed him as a toddler, posed by his parents surrounded by guns and ammunition. The toddler holds a handgun, gnawing on it as if it were a teething toy.

He was also brought up as a very young boy, to admire not fear guns, of any kind.

One of Lanza’s former teachers said his creative writing was “so graphic that it could not be shared”. The student would “write 10 pages obsessing over battles, destruction and war”.

There was also evidence that Lanza’s mother had just discussed with a friend, Adam’s disabilities, the day prior to the shooting.

Reuben F. Bradford , commissioner of the state’s Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, described the investigation as “unparalleled in the 110-year history of the Connecticut State Police.”

In a letter accompanying the report, Bradford also alluded to the opposition by many Newtown residents and state officials to the release of the information. Several victims’ families, and some officials, have said such information should remain sealed out of consideration for survivors.

Bradford said he hoped the details in the report, “though painful, will allow those who have been affected by it to continue in their personal process of healing and will provide helpful information that can be put to use to prevent such tragedies in the future.”

It was the Newtown shooting that prompted a renewed US campaign for stricter firearms controls. When innocent children die at the hands of a gunman, there isn’t anything more devastating.

Image via Connecticut State Police Report