Peter Lanza, the father of Adam Lanza, the man who killed his mother before going to the Sandy Hook Elementary school where he slaughtered 26 before taking his own life, spoke publicly in an interview with the New Yorker Magazine.

The elder Lanza, who works as a vice president of taxes at GE Energy Financial Services, said to the New Yorker that his son was diagnosed with Asberger’s Syndrome at the age of 13. He discribed his son during his early years as “just a normal little weird kid.”

But, as the years went on, Adam’s mental health issues worsened, and by 2006, Adam was diagnosed with profound autism spectrum disorder, and symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder according to documents from the Connecticut State Police. Their investigations would also find that Adam had written violent stories as a young child and in later years had also become very interested in mass murders.

Peter Lanza said, that as Adam began middle school, that “It was crystal clear something was wrong,” he said. “The social awkwardness, the uncomfortable anxiety, unable to sleep, stress, unable to concentrate, having a hard time learning, the awkward walk, reduced eye contact. You could see the changes occurring.”

Peter separated from Adam’s mother in 2001 and the divorce would be final in 2009, when Adam was 17. Peter would see Adam for the last time in 2010. By that time, Nancy would tell Peter that his son no longer wanted to see him.

Peter also told the New Yorker doubted that Adam had felt any affection for his parents as he grew older, saying, “With hindsight, I know Adam would have killed me in a heartbeat, if he had the chance.” The Connecticut State Attorney said in a December report that and at one point when asked by his mother if he would feel sad if something happened to her, Adam replied simply, “No.” Peter told the New Yorker that he felt that his son shot his mother four times, once for her, Peter, Adam’s brother and himself.

The elder Lanza said that up until the mass killings, his ex-wife, Nancy didn’t detect any potential for violence. He told his interviewer that “She slept with her bedroom door unlocked and kept guns in the house, which she would not have done if she were frightened.” Peter said that prior to the killings, he doesn’t think that the killings could have been predicted.

But, the State Attorney report pointed out that a teacher at Adam’s middle school noted disturbing violence in his writing and Adam was described by the teacher as “intelligent but not normal, with anti-social issues.”

But, according to Peter, Adam had been taken to many, various doctors for diagnosis of his condition and none of those doctors ever mentioned any propensity for violence.

By 2011, Nancy believed that Adam was doing better and even told Peter that Adam was considering going back to school. But, the state attorney’s report said that during that time, people working on the property were warned not to enter the house and not to ring the doorbell.

By 2012, Nancy told Peter that Adam had stopped going out of the house and hadn’t used his vehicle in so long the battery went dead from unuse. Peter said that Adam would not answer his emails anymore. To this, Nancy said that Adam had stopped using email and instead talked to Nancy face to face. But, Peter noted that this was untrue and that Adam only communicated with his mother through emails and no longer communicated with her in regular comversation.

It was on December 14th, 2012 that Adam Lanza went to the Snady Hook Elementary School after shooting his mother. Once there, Lanza shot an additional 26 students and six staff members before turning the gun on himself and shooting himself in the head. No reason for the unspeakable violence has ever come to light.

At his interview, Peter told the New Yorker reporter that he had gotten defensive with his last name saying, “I do not like to even say it. I thought about changing it, but I feel like that would be distancing myself and I cannot distance myself. I don’t let it define me, but I felt like changing the name is sort of pretending it didn’t happen and that’s not right.”

“You can’t get any more evil,” Peter said, “How much do I beat up on myself about the fact that he’s my son? A lot.”

The full New Yorker article can be read here.