Former Lanza House In Newtown, Conn. To Be Torn Down
NEWTOWN, Conn. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Officials in Newtown, Connecticut have voted to tear down the home where Adam Lanza lived before he carried out the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The vote Wednesday evening by the Newtown Legislative Council approves a proposal by the board of selectmen to raze the 3,100-square-foot home and keep the land as open space.
Inside the large yellow house with green shutters is where Lanza shot his mother to death Dec. 14, 2012, before killing 20 first-graders and six educators at nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School. He then committed suicide.
Neighbors have been pleading with town officials to tear down the house, with one resident saying it's ``a constant reminder of the evil that resided there.''
Amy DeLoughy, whose house sits across the street, wrote to the council that her children's bus stop had to be moved because it was too scary for the kids to wait near the house.
Ian and Nicole Hockley, whose 6-year-old son, Dylan, died in the shooting, have said they moved out of the neighborhood because seeing that house across the way was too painful for them.
Now, First Selectwoman Pat Llodra said she expects the Lanza house will be razed once winter is over. The 2-acre property was given to the town in December by a bank that acquired it from the Lanza family.
The Lanza family moved from southern New Hampshire and bought the new house in 1998. It has been sitting vacant since the shooting.
Everything inside, including rugs and lighting fixtures, have been removed and incinerated so nothing could become memorabilia.
But neighbors say it has become a destination for macabre tourists ``who still drive by and pause and take photos on a regular basis,'' Ackart wrote.
The town has also begun reviewing ideas for a permanent memorial, and construction work has begun on the new Sandy Hook Elementary School, to replace the school building that was also razed last year.
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