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[Update] Ryan Lanza Impostor Tricks NY Post In Facebook Chat
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 23, 2012
Modified Dec 23, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 23, 2012
Modified Dec 23, 2012
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Update: It seems the Facebook chat scoop was too good to be true: the NY Post has updated their story about Ryan Lanza saying they had been tricked. "A spokesman for the Lanza family says an imposter is behind Ryan Lanza's Facebook page and that Ryan did not post the messages in this story." We've updated the story to reflect this change.
The Post reported earlier today that for the first time since he was erroneously identified as the suspect in the devastating Newtown school shootings, Ryan Lanza allegedly spoke out about the death of his mother, Nancy Lanza, and brother, actual shooter Adam Lanza. “I am a victim,” the person allegedly posing as 24-year-old Ryan told the Post in a Facebook chat. “I loss [sic] my mom and brother.”
The Post claimed that Ryan popped back up on Facebook this weekend, posting tributes to both his brother and mother on a page that has since been discredited. Under a picture of a younger Adam, the person wrote: “R.I.P...I will miss you bro. I will always love you as long as I live.” Under a photo of his mother, he wrote: “I miss you mom. I love you so much. You will be always in my heart." He also left a message for the 20 children and six teachers who were killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: “You all will be truly be missed,” he wrote. “God Bless.”
Another person posted on this fake Facebook wall that his brother deserved to “rot in hell” and was the “scum of the earth.” The impostor responded: “I am so tired of people blaming me for something my brother did. I love Adam, his [sic] my brother,” he wrote. “But you have no right to call my brother names when he isn’t here no more. Just let my brother rest in peace. Please. Respect that.” This person explained to the Post: “He is calling my brother a monster when he don’t even know him,” Lanza said.
The last three funerals for victims of the mass shooting happened this weekend as well: Josephine Gay, 7, and Ana Marquez-Greene, 6, were eulogized in Connecticut, while 6-year-old Emilie Parker was buried in Utah. “It does not make sense,” Robert E. Weiss said during his homily at Josephine’s funeral Mass at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church. He added that the children did not die in vain: “If these 20 cannot change the world, then no one can,” he said.
Police Chief Michael Kehoe also sat down with CBS to describe the "carnage" he witnessed as one of the first responders inside Sandy Hook: "It was devastating, absolutely devastating. I had no words, I felt a little bit of anger towards the person who had done this." He said he also felt regret that he couldn't have been there to stop the murders: "Well you feel a sense of guilt that you weren't there quick enough to do that. But I also know that our response stopped the threat where he was, and he could not proceed any further," said Kehoe.
Tagged
school shooting
tragedy
guns
newtown shooting
newtown
sandy hook elementary school
adam lanza
ryan lanza
death
connecticut
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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