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Town Seeks Normalcy; New Details About Adam and Nancy Lanza; Interview with Elizabeth Esty; Creating a New Normal

Aired December 18, 2012 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield live in Newtown, Connecticut, the scene of a remarkable outpouring of love, emotion and tragedy, all at the same time.

This is an important day for this community. It is the day that their students go back to school after one of the worst school shootings in the history of this country.

The school district, yes, it is sending its children back, but the school in question, no. The kids from Sandy Hook Elementary are not going back to class today. They won't be going back to class for a while, but they will indeed return to a school, a school called Chalk Hill School.

It's in the neighboring town of Monroe. Right now, as we speak, it is being readied for those children and they will return as others have returned on a two-hour delay today.

All of this as this town buries yet another of its dead, a 6-year-old girl, Jessica Rekos. Her family will lay her to rest today and, just so you know a little bit more about that little child, she loved horses, she wanted a cowboy hat and cowboy boots for Christmas. Her parents spoke with ABC News about their little angel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTA REKOS, JESSICA'S MOTHER: She was a ball of fire. She ruled the roost. She ...

RICHARD REKOS, JESSICA'S FATHER: Our little CEO, we called her. You know, she was the boss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: And, as they remember their child, there are so many funerals that have yet to take place in this town, not only for the children, but the teachers, as well.

At this time, though, there is the business of getting these children back to some kind of normalcy and, for so many people, that means school.

Sandra Endo has been covering that angle of the story here in Newtown and she joins me now.

So, Sandra, give me a bit of a break down on how the school district got things up to speed so quickly and how they're prepared for getting the children back into school, safely, securely and mentally.

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ashleigh, it's certainly a big day for students, parents, teachers here in Newtown.

We saw buses rolling all morning long and, by this hour, classes have resumed. As you mentioned, there was a two-hour delay for all schools, but 5,400 school students in this district have returned back to school today, the first time since Friday's tragedy.

And they really took Monday to push the reset button, obviously, students needing a break trying to absorb everything that's happened here in this town, but for students and teachers and faculty, they've also had a chance to talk to grievance counselors and to figure out how best to approach returning back to school.

And, of course, experts are saying it is important for students to get back to a routine, get back to a sense of normalcy. They say this could be the first step to healing. And we know that trained professionals, guidance counselors, grievance counselors, police officers will all be on hand at these schools.

Principals have told parents to make sure they talk to their children before entering a classroom because it is an uncontrolled setting. You don't know what other students may say. They don't want your child to learn about this tragedy from other students, as well.

So, clearly, they're opening the lines of communication and we also know that teachers will be talking about what happened here in Newtown at Sandy Hook Elementary school to their students in an age appropriate manner.

So, they really thought out the process here and they're hoping that a lot of these students could get back to a sense of routine and a sense of normalcy in order to heal, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: And, Sandra, I just want to make sure that our viewers are aware of the protocol that's really taken form on its own here.

These are children and we don't take pictures of children without their parents' permission and, with the sheer magnitude of the number of kids who returning to school -- I mean, Sandra, just passing behind you, there have been school buses.

I've seen school buses. I've seen parents walking their kids to school. How has the media responded to the need for respect of these people's privacy and normalcy despite the fact that nothing can be really normal?

ENDO: Absolutely. We're taking every precaution covering this story and this tremendous tragedy that has rocked this town and the entire nation, Ashleigh. We are not going nearby schools. We are not showing kids' faces. Obviously, we see the pain and agony in so many people's faces as they come here to this makeshift memorial in the middle of town to really pay respects and condolences to the lives lost in Friday's tragedy.

And we have talked to parents and students who are willing to talk to us. I have gotten the sense of anxious and anxiety, actually, of returning back to school today and some parents and students have talked to me, saying they're a little nervous, a little scared, but clearly, they want to get back to seeing their friends, as well, and have that sense of community, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Yeah.

All right, Sandra Endo reporting for us live in front of one of the many of the makeshift memorials that have popped up all around town and they grow by the minute, as well.

And just a little bit later in the program, I'm going to take you over to Monroe, the neighboring town, and Chalk Hill Elementary School. Well, it was Chalk Hill Middle School and it's about to become an elementary school again.

I'm going to give you a little bit of the lay of the land as to how they're going to transform that building to make it as similar as they can to the environment that the little children left behind at Sandy Hook.

In the meantime, there is this parallel bit of business to get onto and that is the criminal investigation that is massive, it is ongoing and much of it focuses on that young man who perpetrated this horrible violence.

So much of it, they hope to get from the computer, the family computers inside the home of Adam Lanza and his mother.

Sadly, though, those computers don't appear to be in very good shape and ou8r Deborah Feyerick has been covering that angle. She joins us now from outside of that home.

Give me a bit of a feel for what the investigators found when they went through that home, Deb.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, all the mysteries of what was going on inside Adam Lanza's home -- house -- inside his mind, excuse me -- everything that was going on inside Adam Lanza's mind, the mystery is locked inside this home. This is where he killed his mother, shot in the head before going on his rampage.

You know, we can tell you that investigators were able to find computers or at least one computer, but it was smashed. They're trying to piece together the shards to hopefully see what kind of e- mails he was sending, what kind of websites he was going, all the sort of digital footprint that may allow them to understand specifically what he was thinking about. And we do have a couple of pieces of new information that I want to share with all of you, Ashleigh. You know, first of all, just to set the scene here, this home on this hill, school buses going past this morning with children who are going back to school and clearly the absence of some children who should have been on those buses.

Two children who died in that massacre actually live less than half a mile from this particular home, so that's the kind of community we're talking about, but we are learning that a friend who was doing work inside the home about eight months ago told me that he noticed there was a gun lockbox that Nancy Lanza kept in the basement. That is where it's believed that she kept all of the guns, the firearms, she possessed.

She grew up in New Hampshire, liked shooting, was sort of a country girl. So, to have a lockbox there with the guns -- we don't know whether they were inside at the time.

Also, Nancy initially took her son to these shooting ranges because she didn't want to leave him alone for large periods of time. That is when he may have begun to be interested in this whole concept of shooting, firing.

We do know that Nancy Lanza was really trying hard, Ashleigh, to really try to mainstream her son. It was very clear that he had problems. A school security officer appointed, you know, specific officers to keep an eye on him because they felt he was very vulnerable.

He was very fragile and they didn't want him to become a target of other children within the school. He was seeing a psychologist when he was a freshman, that also school appointed.

In going through the divorce document, we're sort of looking and analyzing, trying to make sense of all of this, we found out that, in fact, while the father was responsible for all the medical care, the mother was responsible for all psychiatric and psychological expenses that had been un-reimbursed. She was also responsible for any prescription medications that he may have been in.

So, clearly, they're looking at all of this to kind of find out what kind of medications he was on and whether, in fact, he may have been getting that treatment.

One more thing, Ashleigh, before I wrap and that is we've seen this outpouring that you talk about there in Newtown. For the first time somebody came and laid flowers here at the home of Nancy Lanza. She was a woman who was very much liked. She was struggling, but she was at least trying to do the right thing by her son, by herself, by her family.

Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: You know, I'm glad you said that, Deb, because oftentimes in the sadness that has enveloped this enveloped this community, there is a lot of focus on those that died at the school and teachers and children and rightfully so, but you've got to remember that she was a murder victim here, as you said, shot in her own bed and that family is grieving, as well.

And I'm sure that Adam Lanza's father is going through his own personal hell as two of his family members are now dead.

Deb Feyerick for us, thank you, live outside of the Lanza home.

And you should also know that the ATF has told CNN that Adam Lanza had attended several different gun ranges with his mother in the past several years. He had taken up shooting as a hobby.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Just the overwhelming details of what transpired in Newtown, Connecticut, has gripped this nation in a way that other horrible tragedies perhaps has not.

There were 20 children who were slaughtered at point-blank range and six grown-ups in that school who were slaughtered at point-blank range with an assault weapon that many people feel should not be legal. Other people feel should be a freedom.

But there may be a slight shift in attitude, perhaps even more than just a slight shift in attitude. There are some polling numbers that are coming out lately. The latest one from CBS News showing that a majority of Americans have shifted their opinions.

Fifty-seven percent think that gun laws should be more strict, 30 percent saying it should be kept the same.

Nonetheless, some prominent Democratic lawmakers who are NRA supporters have shifted their opinions, as well, and now many are saying that it is time to bring back the ban on assault weapons.

Democratic Congresswoman-Elect Elizabeth Esty represents Connecticut, or will be representing Connecticut's fifth congressional district when she is sworn in and it includes Newtown. Congresswoman, thank you so much for being with us.

Clearly, you just saw those numbers, the CBS News poll that has come out and those are very recent. And there is this notion that there is a groundswell, a shift, and I don't know that that's true yet. These are numbers just immediately following a tragic incident that has been blanketing the news.

How are lawmakers responding? Not to suggest you're at Capitol Hill yet, but you're on your way and what's your sense of what's happening down there?

ELIZABETH ESTY (D), CONNECTICUT CONGRESSWOMAN-ELECT: Well, what I'm hearing and I'm hearing from colleagues around the country and from friends around the country and, most importantly, from parents right here in Newtown that something has to be done.

And I do think there are tipping points. I'm a mother of three. I have been a room parent in a first-grade classroom. And I think the image of these young children, of six-year-olds, a week before the holidays is so heartbreaking that it is breaking through the sense we can't do anything.

And I think that's a question of political will.

BANFIELD: Well, it may be breaking through the sense for some. As I just mentioned, there are at least two Democratic lawmakers very supportive of the NRA and the Second Amendment freedoms who are shifting their focus and their feeling.

But do you sense that that is going to be the same for most Republican lawmakers who, almost to the letter of the D and the R, support -- don't support stricter gun control measures?

Do you see that that is going to plead to the Republican side of the aisle?

ESTY: I think what we're going to see is whether there's a national conversation, which I want to be a part of, to advocate for this community because part of that healing process is moving forward in a way to prevent any other community from experiencing what's been happened -- what has happened to this community here which is a treasured community and these, as you said, 20 young, innocent children, four teachers, a principal and a school psychologist who laid down their lives to protect their students.

We should not be having this in our classrooms.

BANFIELD: No, there is a national conversation, I think, without question. We're having it right now, you and I. It's been going on for several days. It's just how cantankerous that conversation is going to become.

We have Governor Rick Perry today suggesting that teachers need to be armed, so it is almost a -- there's a digging in of convictions, no matter where you fall on either side of this debate.

But is -- are things going to change? Will there be a change? Is this horror that was visited upon your community going to make a difference in terms of who falls on what side of the debate or will people become more entrenched?

ESTY: I certainly hope this will be an opportunity to move forward positively with laws that work, with a conversation about a culture of violence in this country and a real addressing mental health issues, which I think we are hearing, for the first time in a long time, a recognition particularly among young people that this is an issue that we have not dealt with very well as a country and we need to protect those children and to protect everyone's children.

So, I am hopeful. I wouldn't have run for Congress if I weren't hopeful that we could solve these problems, we can find common ground and we're going to need to forge that common ground with the support of the public and I think we are going to see a groundswell of public support. I'm hearing and feeling that. BANFIELD: Well, it'll be interesting to see, you know, what happens in the new session. And good luck to you as you head into your new job in the new year.

And thank you for being with us. And I'm so sorry we met under these circumstances.

ESTY: Thank you very much.

BANFIELD: And I should also let you know that, as the congresswoman speaks to me -- this is her district -- businesses are taking action, as well.

We learned today that Dick's Sporting Goods is suspending the sales of modern sporting rifles in all of its chains and the congresswoman and I both know that there's one very close to this community that has decided to put away its guns. They are not displaying the guns in the community that's near here.

And, also, the private equity firm, Cerberus, is selling off the maker of the Bushmaster rifle that was used in the shooting that took so many lives here in Newtown, Connecticut.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: One of the first things you'll notice as you drive into this beautiful town of Newtown, Connecticut, is some of the old buildings and the lovely, gently rolling hillside and then this extraordinary traffic.

The school buses are now rolling once again as these kids get ready to head back to school in the Newtown district today.

It is not normally like this. The traffic is comprised of people from surrounding counties, contractors who are coming in to help with this emergency, maybe rebuilding in some of the schools, et cetera, and then, also, an enormous number of media.

Another thing you notice as you come into town, right away, on the left-hand side, is this makeshift memorial that sprung up several days ago and is growing exponentially, people bringing teddy bears and candles and artwork and messages and origami and flowers and you name it, just about everything.

And you see a lot of people with tears as they drop off what they brought. Obviously, some of the traffic with people from the surrounding communities.

The next thing you notice is this, all of this media. People have come from all over the world to cover this story and they are set up right in the town square, right in the center of town, a place that is not used to seeing satellite trucks and this kind of media attention and, boy, are they getting used to it now.

Another thing that you will find amidst all the traffic, take a look up here. Police and orange cones and road-closed signs. That is the road that leads up to the Sandy Hook Elementary School. They are obviously limiting most of the traffic, not allowed to go up there at this time. That's the other area where there is a massive, massive memorial. I showed that to you yesterday.

But one of the things that we do hear from people, while everybody around the country and, indeed, around the world wants to share and wants to know and wants to be a part of this grieving and they are doing that through us and the window we provide, the people who live here really would like us to leave. They want to return to some kind of normalcy and that begs that question.

When we do go and when we do leave this town and when our world continues, we leave all these people with a brand new normal and something that they're going to have to figure out for themselves, what their new normal is going to be like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

I remember so well after September 11th, the term the "new normal" became so commonplace and it seems to be one of the things that these people here are going to have to adopt, the notion that they will have a new normal.

But they are going to need a lot of help to get there and there are a lot of people who will help them. In fact, Wendy Davenson is the grief counselor who is from this community and she's kind enough to join me here.

She's a licensed, certified grief counselor. Wendy, have you had a chance to speak with any families? Has anyone reached out to you yet? I know it's very early in this process.

WENDY DAVENSON, GRIEF COUNSELOR: No, not yet. The people who have reached out to me at this point in time are either some of the school staff or families whose children were friends with some of the children.

BANFIELD: This is a town of 27,000 people. I cannot imagine the amount of work that lies ahead in your field.

DAVENSON: Yes.

BANFIELD: How are you going to handle the amount of counseling that is need? How many outside counselors are going to have to come here?

DAVENSON: I think we will probably provide a lot of group services. I think what we do -- I already run a bereavement group for families who have lost children. I've been doing that for five years here. We will continue to do that. We'll probably adapt it more specifically to those who may need it right away.

A lot of people don't need grief counseling right away. They need to have a chance to just sort of settle down and let reality set in. After everybody leaves, there's going to be a huge crash.

BANFIELD: That's what I just mentioned when I was walking through town. A lot of people want us to go. I understand that. A lot of people watching want to be here and they can only be here through the media, so we feel like we have a responsibility.

But at the same time, we want to leave and we want to let people get back to normal. And, yet, when we leave, I think there will be an enormous vacuum, this quiet thud of silence and pain.

And, you know, the people of Columbine said they wanted to move away. The victims' families of Columbine said they wanted to leave Littleton, Colorado. And in the end, ultimately, all stayed together and found so much comfort and support in being a group.

Is there something to that, in knowing that there are other people around you who know exactly what you are going through?

DAVENSON: Definitely. Definitely. Once -- I think everybody's first reaction is to return home to another home.

BANFIELD: Some other home.

DAVENSON: Yes, absolutely. Somewhere else. Even after 9/11, I worked with some -- I did a lot of critical-incident stress debriefing and people wanted to go back to their native countries where here, initially, people may want to leave, but I think it will be ...

BANFIELD: Helpful.

DAVENSON: It will very helpful to band together which is why we're going to do some group work.

BANFIELD: I just have a few seconds left, but I have to ask you, for those who survived and for those people in town who know that when they go to the bank, when they go to the cafe, when they walk through town, they are going to every day encounter someone who lost someone.

How are they supposed to react? What are they supposed to do when they see these victims and family members in the years to come?

DAVENSON: I think all they need to do is to say I'm here and I'm thinking of you. Nothing else.

BANFIELD: But to bring it up? Definitely acknowledge it?

DAVENSON: Bring it up just to say, I'm here. You don't have to ask any personal questions. You don't even have to ask how you're doing.

Because they -- what they show and what they tell you is not really what's going on. What's going on is a broken heart.

But I do think that what they'll do is just to say I'm here, I'm thinking about you. That's it.

BANFIELD: Wendy Davenson, I am so sorry for what your town is going through and will continue to go through. And I wish you the best of luck in managing this crisis best you can.

DAVENSON: Well, I think we'll grow and we'll heal as we're growing.

BANFIELD: Thank you for being here today ...

DAVENSON: You're welcome.

BANFIELD: ... and for helping us to sort through how this is going to transpire, as well.

And, as Wendy mentioned, there is a lot that still needs to be done and we'd like to help, as well. If you want information on how you can pay tribute to the victims of the Newtown shooting, we invite you to go to CNN.com/impact. There are plenty -- plenty -- of suggestions on what you can do to make a difference and feel like you're involved.

We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Some business out of Washington to bring your way, there has been some movement -- I say, "some" -- some movement on the plans to avoid the fiscal cliff.

And when I say some movement, it means Plan B because Republicans are apparently readying something considered Plan B to try to avoid going off this fiscal cliff.

I bring this to you because we are counting down two weeks until the deadline. The deal has to be made before then.

The Republicans are saying that a counter-offer that came their way from President Obama on taxes and spending is, quote, "not there yet."

Our Dana Bash has been following the machinations today and she joins me live now from Capitol Hill.

So, I know that the speaker of the House spoke just last hour about his concerns and thoughts moving forward.

Are we getting anything other than rhetoric and platitudes? Are we actually finding out that there is further movement ahead?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're definitely getting a lot of rhetoric and platitudes. Maybe the better way to say it is high-stakes positioning and tactical positioning right now as we get closer to that deadline.