Crime & Safety

NH-Based Family Members of CT Shooter Offer Statement

Statement read by Sheriff Downing said family "shares the grief of a community and nation."

New Hampshire-based family members of the shooter in Friday's tragic school shooting in Newtown, CT, expressed their "heartfelt sorrow" in a statement read Saturday evening at a press conference in Kingston.

 The video of the press conference can be found on WMUR's website.

Champion's sister, and Lanza's mother, Nancy, was also killed Friday.

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In the statement read by Rockingham County Sheriff Mike Downing, the Champion family said they "share the grief of a community and nation as we struggle to comprehend the tremendous loss that we all share."

The family said they wished to "reach out to the community of Newtown and express our heartfelt sorrow for the incomprehensible and profound loss of innocence that has affected so many."

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They also asked for privacy during their "time of anguish and loss."

Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams said they would do "anything they can to help" the Connecticut investigation.

Kingston Police Chief Donald Briggs said he knew Nancy Lanza as a "very, very kind, considerate, loving young lady" who lived in Kingston for a good part of her life. Briggs said Lanza's mother spent many years as a school nurse in Kingston.


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