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Nancy Lanza, mother to the gunman who tragically took the lives of 20 children and 6 adults, including her as the first victim was an avid gun enthusiast who liked to take her sons to the shooting range to practice their marksmanship, according to NBC News.

DETAILS: Father Of Newtown, Connecticut Shooter Adam Lanza, Releases A Statement

Dan Holmes, a local landscaper and a friend of Nancy’s says she was a collector and that he suspected Adam Lanza. Holmes says:

“She had a pretty extensive gun collection. She was a collector, she was pretty proud of that. She always mentioned that she really loved the act of shooting.”

Adam Lanza took three weapons with him to the Sandy Hook Elementary School. According to the NY Times:

Investigators have linked Ms. Lanza to five weapons: two powerful handguns, two traditional hunting rifles and a semiautomatic rifle that is similar to weapons used by troops in Afghanistan. Her son took the two handguns and the semiautomatic rifle to the school. Law enforcement officials said they believed the guns were acquired legally and were registered.

PHOTOS: The 411 On Newtown Connecticut Elementary School Gunman, Adam Lanza

The site also reports:

Ms. Lanza, 52, had gone through a divorce in 2008 and was described by friends as social and generous to strangers, but also high-strung, as if she were holding herself together. She lived in a large Colonial home here with Adam Lanza, and had struggled to help him cope with a developmental disorder that often left him reserved and withdrawn, according to relatives, friends and former classmates.

James Champion, a former police officer who lives in Kingston, N.H., said on Saturday that agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation had questioned family members on Friday night. In a statement he said:

“On behalf of Nancy’s mother and siblings, we reach out to the community of Newtown to express our heartfelt sorrow for the incomprehensible loss of innocence that has affected so many,”

On Friday, news reports suggested that Ms. Lanza had worked at the elementary school where the shooting occurred, but on Saturday the school superintendent said there was no evidence that she had ever worked there.

SOURCE: NY Times & NBC News