Sandy Hook Killer's Home Contained Large Arsenal of Weapons

By Stephen M. Silverman

03/28/2013 at 11:40 AM EDT

Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Google/AP

Sadness and shock still continue to build over the Dec. 14 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn.

After a three-month investigation, the state prosecutor overseeing the case said Thursday that Adam Lanza, 20, murdered 26 people within five minutes of storming into the school before turning a gun on himself. Wednesday night state police night briefed families of the victims on what was recovered from Lanza's home and car, among other findings.

Among the chilling inventory, reports The New York Times were a large array of ammunition and weapons that included rifles, knives and samurai swords, as well as damaged computer equipment, journals and a newspaper clipping of a school shooting at Northern Illinois University.

On that tragic day in December, Lanza killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, in the home the two shared in Newtown before he drove to the elementary school and gunned down 20 first graders and six staff members, including teachers and beloved school principal Dawn Hoschsprung, before killing himself as police officers arrived.

According to police, Lanza used a Bushmaster XM15-E2S semiautomatic rifle with several 30-round magazines in the school shooting spree and carried two semiautomatic handguns, one of which he used on himself. Also found by police, says The Times, was a 12-gauge shotgun in his car.

In the Lanza home, police found Nancy Lanza in bed, shot in her forehead, with a rifle nearby. Hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a host of weapons were also stashed in the house, along with several violent video games.

According to the Connecticut Post , a few mothers cried during Wednesday's two-hour briefing, though the majority of the parents remained still. State police troopers escorted them away afterwards.

The Wednesday briefing came before Thursday's release of redacted search-warrant documents meant to shed light on Lanza and his actions. At the same time, reports the Post, state legislators, hoping to wrap up closed-door negotiations on gun-control legislation, pushed for further disclosures on the Sandy Hook investigation, which is expected to be completed in June, at the earliest.