Connecticut Massacre Victims Remembered; Investigation Focusing on Why
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Visibly moved, the governor of this state of Connecticut, Dan Malloy, briefing reporters on what is going on. He, like the president of the United States on Friday, choked back tears. This is a very sad day of raw emotion here in Newtown, Connecticut, as families begin burying the children killed in the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School right down the road from where we are right now. We're watching all of this unfold, and the pain is clearly, clearly evident. While every day here in Newtown is sad, today, it's especially, it's especially sad. This afternoon, the first funerals were held for victims of the elementary school massacre. Connecticut's governor, you just saw him here. He attended one of the services today, and he summed it up this way, and I'm quoting him -- "You see little coffins and your heart starts to ache." As this town and the nation tries to come to grips with this huge, huge tragedy, the investigation is focusing in on the question why. Some of the answers may come from a computer found in the home where the gunman, Adam Lanza, lived with his mother. CNN's national correspondent Deborah Feyerick is keeping track of the latest developments. She's joining us now live with more. What are you learning, Deb?</s>DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we can tell you law enforcement sources are telling us that the computer is being analyzed. That it was found smashed inside the home, and investigators right now gathered up the piece, putting it together, trying to check all the forensics on it, who he may have been in contact with, e-mails, Web sites, anything that may give them some insight into what he was thinking in the days and the moments leading up to this crime. We want to tell you that around 3:00, two unmarked police cars traveled up the long driveway and you can see, this is as close as we've gotten to the home since this all happened. Three people did enter that home. We believe they're investigators. I can also tell you, wolf, something equally sad. And that is on our way here, we noticed there were marked squad cars in the driveways of some of the nearby homes. We've been told by Connecticut police that any home directly affected by this tragedy would have those cars in their driveways. So we're trying to confirm whether, in fact, the homes nearby the Lanzas may have been affected. CNN has also confirmed that Nancy Lanza, the mom, who was shot and killed by her own son, shot in the head, by her own gun, that, in fact, she had confided to friends that this was their last winter here, that they were planning on moving, that she thought about possibly going to Washington state, possibly enrolling her son in a college there. We've been able to trace a little bit of his academic history, Wolf. We can tell you, right now, there is no known connection to the Sandy Hook Elementary School. He first appears in public records as a freshman in high school back in 2007, and at that time, we spoke to a security director, who said that Adam Lanza immediately was identified as a child that needed to be watched. Not because he was a threat to other people, that he was so gawky and so awkward that security officials felt that others may be a threat to him. So not only did they keep an eye on him, but also he was, at that time, assigned a school psychologist. He left that school in about 2008. He enrolled in classes at a nearby university, just about 15 minutes from here. He was taking computer science, macro economics, American history. This is a 16-year-old kid, mind you, he was taking those classes. In 2009, he just fell of the grid, never went back to the school. He took up shooting as a hobby. The ATF telling us he was spotted at a local gun range. And even his mom saying to a friend that it was a hobby, that he enjoyed and he wanted to pursue -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Deborah Feyerick, thanks very much. People across the nation have become fascinated by the stories of the 20 children, the six women, all educators, who died at the school, and they're reaching out to Newtown, sending gifts for the makeshift memorials that are springing up all over this town. CNN's Brooke Baldwin is here. She caught up with a first responder, delivering Christmas wreaths from Oregon. And as Brooke discovered, has quite a story to tell us. Brooke, the story is powerful. And it's a symptom, a symbol of what has going on here. You and I have walked around this town.</s>BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.</s>BLITZER: People just want to show some emotion.</s>BALDWIN: It's pretty incredible. You know, it's been difficult to talk to some of the first responders. You can see it in their eyes what they saw but they don't exactly want to share it to you and we're respecting that. But I just happened upon in the town square where I see box after box after box and I said to them, I said, excuse me, what are you delivering, hanging up, and it was a wreath, 26 wreaths from a perfect stranger, a wreath farm all the way across the country in Portland, Oregon. Here's what he shared with me.</s>BALDWIN: How many wreaths are there?</s>JEFFREY THOMAS, FIREFIGHTER: Twenty-six.</s>BALDWIN: So, where did -- did they get sent to the firehouse?</s>THOMAS: They were sent to the firehouse through</s>UPS. BALDWIN: Did you know they were coming?</s>THOMAS: No, no, they were -- the truck pulled up and she says, "I have a delivery of 26 wreaths." So, we unloaded them all and we figured we'd come up with a place to put them, try to keep them all together. Got shipped all the way from Oregon.</s>BALDWIN: How long have you been here?</s>THOMAS: Since Friday.</s>BALDWIN: Where are you based out of?</s>THOMAS: The Sandy Hook firehouse.</s>BALDWIN: How long have you been at the firehouse?</s>THOMAS: We're going home at night to sleep but --</s>BALDWIN: Years? How many years?</s>THOMAS: Since high school. I'm 38.</s>BALDWIN: Since high school and you're 38?</s>THOMAS: Yes.</s>BALDWIN: Did you ever in a million years think you'd be experiencing this in your little town?</s>THOMAS: Nobody in this town would think that. Yes.</s>BALDWIN: Where were you when you heard?</s>THOMAS: Working. Working across town. We saw the helicopters.</s>BALDWIN: When you saw the helicopters, what did you think it was?</s>THOMAS: Not on a scale it was, one or two. We heard, you know, the principal at first and -- as time went on, we got the reports, and just didn't believe it, and we came down the road, it was just all surreal. Seeing all the cars, all this. It's tough. Yes.</s>BALDWIN: Where did you go once you saw the cars, straight to the firehouse?</s>THOMAS: Yes, straight to the firehouse. From there, we just --</s>BALDWIN: Help us around the world understand what you, as a first responder, are going through.</s>THOMAS: Sadness, anger, guilt in some aspects.</s>BALDWIN: Why guilt? What could you have done?</s>THOMAS: Exactly. We were having counseling, as a group.</s>BALDWIN: Just, finally, what do you make of the wreaths, just people you don't know sending you al these wreaths to put up in your town?</s>THOMAS: I mean, it's --</s>BALDWIN: What would you say to the people of Portland, Oregon?</s>THOMAS: Thank you. It makes us feel warm to know -- this is amazing that people that far away care about us.</s>BALDWIN: A lot of these people have been in that firehouse. It was the same firehouse in which a lot of those parents were waiting Friday morning to learn the fates of their sons and daughters, and to get out and hang these 26 wreaths in the middle of the town square and just those two simple words, "thank you," you can just tell it meant the world to these guys.</s>BLITZER: I just myself walked up to that firehouse and I saw those little trees, saw the toys, the flowers, everything. People are --</s>BALDWIN: The stuffed animals --</s>BLITZER: I walked in, I spent some time, a little time with some of the first responders there who were -- we're going to show it to our viewers later. But, you know, they all said the same thing they said to you. They never expected that they would be -- and that's sort of the command center. It's a crime scene because that firehouse is right down the street from the elementary school.</s>BALDWIN: From elementary school.</s>BLITZER: And that's where they're reviewing everything, they're checking everything, and I was going to meet with one of the lead commanders over there, but they were busy returning personal effects of some of those who were killed to their parents and just, you know?</s>BALDWIN: It's a tough scene at the firehouse.</s>BLITZER: Very tough.</s>BALDWIN: Thanks, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: We never expected to be covering something like this either.</s>BALDWIN: I never want to cover something like this again.</s>BLITZER: Yes, neither do I. Students at the Sandy Hook Elementary School won't be returning to their school. Stand by. We have the latest on the plans for all the survivors, they're changing schools. Stay with us.