Metro

Father of Newtown killer meets with parents of victim

WHERE WERE YOU? Peter Lanza (left) is partly to blame for son Adam’s murderous rampage, say the parents of one of the victims. (
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The parents of an adorable 6-year-old girl gunned down in the Newtown massacre had an emotional meeting with the shooter’s father — and say he is partly to blame for his son’s emotional problems.

“I don’t ever want to give the impression that I think he’s innocent completely in all of this,” said Alissa Parker, whose daughter Emilie was one of 20 first-graders murdered by Adam Lanza at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut on Dec. 14.

“You know, he’s made mistakes,” she said of Adam’s dad, Peter Lanza. “Of course, I feel like every parent feels like they’ve made mistakes. But at the same time, ultimately, it comes down to the accountability of one person.”

Still struggling to find closure, Alissa and Robbie Parker sought out the gunman’s father to help them understand what led his 20-year-old son to murder 27 people, including his mom, Nancy, before killing himself.

They wanted to hear from Peter Lanza about his son’s medical history and relationship with his parents, they told “CBS This Morning.” “I felt strongly that I needed to tell him something, and I needed to get that out of my system,” said Alissa Parker, who came up with the idea to meet with the shooter’s father, a vice president of taxes for GE Energy Financial Services. He divorced Nancy Lanza in 2009.

“I felt very motivated to do it, and then I felt really good about it,” she added. “It was something that I needed to do.”

Robbie Parker pressed the gunman’s father to “do what he could” to give victims’ families whatever information about the shooter they needed to heal emotionally. “Knowing that he’s wanting to do that is good enough for us at this time,” the grieving father said.

Robbie Parker said his family has experienced “a little bit of everything” since losing Emilie.

“You know, you went from the absolute worst experience that you could ever imagine to have to go through as a parent . . . to being completely overwhelmed with outpouring of love and support from so many people,” he said.

The Parkers said they continue to follow any developments in the case that may explain Adam Lanza’s motive for spraying the school with hundreds of rounds from a Bushmaster assault rifle.

“The outcome is still the same, regardless if it was planned, not planned. It doesn’t change that our child’s gone,” Alissa Parker said.

A spokesman for Peter Lanza said the Parkers reached out to his client in January and the three met within the last month.

“He thought it was a very positive gesture,” Errol Cockfield Jr. told The Hartford Courant.

Peter Lanza, who picked up his son’s body a week after the incident, has said his family, too, was struggling to understand the tragedy. “Our family is grieving along with all those who have been affected by this enormous tragedy,” he said. “No words can truly express how heartbroken we are.”

Robbie Parker was the first relative of a Sandy Hook victim to address the nation publicly. One day after the massacre, the teary-eyed father held an emotional press conference and said he was praying for Adam Lanza’s family.

“My daughter Emilie would be one of the first ones giving her love and support to all of the victims, because that’s the kind of person she is,” he said then.

“As the deep pain begins to settle in our hearts, we find comfort in the incredible person Emilie was and how many people she was able to touch in her short time on Earth.

“Emilie’s laughter was infectious, and everyone who met her would agree that the world was a better place because she was in it,” he said

Also yesterday, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy said more details of the states investigation would be released by March 29.