Newtown to demolish home of Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza

Officials in Newtown, Conn., voted Wednesday to demolish the home that Nancy Lanza shared with her son, Adam, before he killed 20 first-graders and six adults in a 2012 shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The 12-member Newtown Legislative Council approved a proposal by the Board of Selectmen on Wednesday evening to raze the 3,200-square-foot home and keep the land as open space, the Associated Press reported.

One neighbor said the house was “a constant reminder of the evil that resided there,” according to the AP. Some residents had called on officials to tear down the home and replace it with a park.

The prospects of that happening seemed dim until a few months ago, when Hudson City Savings Bank, which had acquired the home, offered to transfer ownership of the two-acre property to the town at no cost.

“The only agenda with the bank was to do what the community wanted to do. It’s their town, and I’m sure they know what’s best for their community,” said Randall Bell, a Laguna Beach-based consultant who specializes in damaged real estate and helped negotiate the transfer on behalf of the bank.

Ownership of the four-bedroom house was transferred to Newtown on Dec. 4, the AP reported. According to town records, the property was valued at $523,620.

Adam Lanza used his mother’s guns to kill her as she lay in bed the morning of the Sandy Hook attack, and he later killed himself inside the school.

All of the belongings and furniture in the home were incinerated shortly after the bank acquired the property, Bell said.

“It continues to be a curiosity for people to come and look at, and it’s disruptive for the people who live nearby and the families who lost their children,” said Mary Ann Jacob, chairwoman of the Newtown Legislative Council. “I think they deserve to be able to get their lives back and move on, and this is something we can do to help them.”

Jacob said before the vote that, if approved, she expected the house would be destroyed as soon as the weather allowed.

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