Connecticut School Shooting

What drove Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza to murder 26 people in cold blood? The answer could lie in his DNA ... and now, geneticists are trying to uncover the microscopic mystery.

The study will take place at the University of Connecticut, where a team of geneticists is reportedly set to examine Lanza's DNA. The team is expected to investigate whether a special mutation is responsible for setting off the troubled 20-year-old on December 14.

UConn's department of genetics is working hand-in-hand with CT's Chief Medical Examiner during the study -- though a rep for the medical examiner's office admits ... they're not really sure what they're looking for.

Ke$ha is either lying now ... or was lying then ... 'cause weeks before she said she was "forced" to sing the lyrics to "Die Young," she BRAGGED about penning the song during a radio interview.

The singer appeared on 95.5 WPLJ in New York back in November -- weeks before the Newtown massacre -- and took full credit for writing the song, saying:

"I definitely make sure that every word rings true to me because I would never want to misrepresent myself to millions of people around the world ... I wrote and rewrote and rewrote that song ten times."

Shocking, considering Ke$ha completely contradicted herself on Twitter yesterday after several radio stations around the country stopped playing the song in light of the Newtown tragedy. Ke$ha had written, "I did NOT want to sing those lyrics and I was FORCED TO."

The lyrics to "Die Young" include the line: "Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young. We're gonna die young. We're gonna die young."

So, what's the truth? We reached out to Ke$ha -- but haven't heard back.

Judd Apatow meant no harm in his script for "This Is 40" when one of the characters jokingly plays a "murder game" with his kids. Judd tells us, he wrote the script 2 years ago, long before the Connecticut tragedy.

The scene in question involves the Albert Brooks' character, who is broke and looking for ways to save money. The character, Larry, prepares to spray his triplets with a hose and says, "Line up! Line up for murder! Come on! Who wants to be killed?"

One of the kids screams, "I do!" Larry responds, "Okay, we're eliminating one, we're cheaper already," and then Larry sprays the child.

The next kid says, "Murder me!" Larry responds, "Boom, dead. You're dead," adding, "All right, the kids are murdered. That will save us some money."

Judd tells us, the scene "is spoken by a sarcastic father kidding with his children. In light of recent events, I understand if some people might make an unfortunate association or put it in a context in which it was not intended."

We've learned the scene is staying in the movie, which opens Friday.

Foster the People's hit song "Pumped Up Kicks" -- whose lyrics depict a violent school shooting -- won't be getting ANY airplay whatsoever in the wake of the Newtown massacre ... at least on L.A.'s #1 hit music station.

Sources at KIIS-FM tell TMZ, the station has completely pulled "Pumped Up Kicks" from its rotation after the shooting at a Connecticut elementary school last week.

Foster the People frontman Mark Foster has said the song was written about a psychotic, homicidal youth to help bring awareness to gun violence in schools -- and was partly inspired by the Columbine tragedy.

Here's the song's chorus -- All the other kids with the pumped up kicks, / You better run, better run, outrun my gun. / All the other kids with the pumped up kicks, / You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

As we reported, Ke$ha's song "Die Young" has also plummeted from the charts due to its inopportune lyrics.

Ke$ha has just -- shockingly -- come out and said she never wanted to sing the controversial lyrics in "Die Young" -- even though she's listed as one of the writers of the song.

TMZ broke the story ... Ke$ha's hit song has been yanked from a huge number of radio playlists since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

Ke$ha just tweeted, she understands why her song is now inappropriate, adding, "I had my very own issues with "die young" for this reason. I did NOT want to sing those lyrics and I was FORCED TO."

The lyrics include this: "Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young. We're gonna die young. We're gonna die young."

A bunch of people lashed out at Ke$ha on Twitter, slamming her for the song in the wake of the tragedy.

Ke$ha's new hit "Die Young" has fallen on deaf ears ... after radio stations around the country yanked the song from their rotation after the Newtown tragedy ... TMZ has learned.

"Die Young" clocked in at #3 on the radio playlists on Friday (the day of the shooting) ... reaching 167 million listeners nationwide, this according to Mediabase, a company that tracks radio airplay.

By Saturday, the day after the shooting ... airplay dropped by 3 million listeners ... a sign that stations were slowly pulling the song off the air.

By Monday ... "Die Young" took a huge hit on the radio ... dropping down to 148 million listeners ... a 19 million drop from what had been a pretty steady rotation before the shooting.

One music expert tells us ... a drop of this magnitude is extremely rare. The last time a song plummeted this quickly is when the Dixie Chicks were banned from country radio ... after insulting President Bush.

We reached out to Ke$ha for comment -- so far , no word back.

The divorce papers of Adam Lanza's parents reveal nothing that would indicate their son had mental issues.

TMZ has obtained the divorce docs between Peter and Nancy Lanza. The docs were filed in 2008 and the divorce became final the next year.

One thing's for sure ... the family was financially well off. Peter agreed to pay Nancy $240,000 a year in spousal support for 2010. The yearly spousal support was to increase each year. In 2012 Nancy was to receive $289,800.

There is no mention or indication of any mental health issues involving Adam. There is a boilerplate reference, "The wife shall pay for unreimbursed medical, surgical, hospital, optical and psychiatric, psychological, and nursing expenses..." It continues, "Each parent shall be entitled to complete information from any physician, dentist, psychologist, consultant, or any specialist attending the children."

It's important to note ... the provisions (above) are standard and do not reflect specifically on this divorce.

And, in the docs, Peter agreed to buy Adam a car. Adam reportedly drove his mom's car to Sandy Hook Elementary school before going on his rampage.

The name "Sandy" is not likely to appear on many birth certificates for at least several years -- given 2 enormous recent tragedies with Sandy front and center -- but the reality is the name hasn't been popular for decades.

The evidence is compelling and also pretty obvious -- parents shy away from giving their children names associated with death and destruction, and in 2012, with Hurricane Sandy and the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary, the name conjures up those images.

Take Katrina -- immediately before the storm hit, the name was listed as the 281st most popular baby name for girls. The year following the hurricane it dropped to 379th and in 2010 it plunged further to 865.

But here's the thing with Sandy. It's a name whose popularity peaked in the 60s, and has failed to make the list of top 1,000 baby names since 2005. Sandra ranked somewhat higher, but still a relatively unpopular 614 last year.

Mass murderer Adam Lanza learned everything he knew about firearms ... from his mother.

Adam's mom, Nancy Lanza -- who was Adam's first victim -- was an avid gun collector who reportedly bragged to friends and neighbors about her weapons and took her son to several firing ranges to teach him how to shoot ... in the months leading up to his deadly assault.

One of Nancy's neighbors, Dan Holmes, told the NY Post ... Nancy was a gun enthusiast ... an avid collector ... often taking her kids to the gun range, infusing them with her obsession with firearms.

Police investigating the horrific mass murder in Connecticut on Friday have uncovered "very good evidence" as they work towards finding a motive for why Adam Lanza opened fire in a public school yesterday, killing 20 children and six adults.

State police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said investigators were collecting evidence both at Sandy Hook Elementary School and at the home of Lanza's mother, but would not elaborate on what that evidence was.

He explained, "The detectives will certainly analyze everything and put a complete picture together of the evidence that they did obtain, and we're hopeful that it will paint a complete picture as to how and why this entire unfortunate incidence occurred."

Vance also revealed that Lanza was not simply let into the school, nor did he sneak in undetected -- but rather he "forced his way into the school." He went on to say the investigation would not be completed for a few days.

All of the victims have been identified and authorities will release the list of names later today.

Dan Holmes, Lanza's mother's former landscaper, told reporters that she was a gun enthusiast who took her sons to the shooting range.

The horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut has put some fundamental issues in rack focus. So we gotta ask ...

Hordes of reporters have descended on the home of Ryan Lanza in New Jersey, hoping to speak to members of his family after the horrific school shooting in Connecticut this morning -- but there's one problem ... it's the wrong Ryan.

Ryan's mother Nannette tells TMZ, her son -- 26-year-old Ryan John Lanza -- is a corrections officer-in-training at the Camden County Correctional Academy.

The Ryan Lanza that was initially identified as the possible school shooter -- who gunned down 26 people at the school, including 20 small children -- is 24 years old. (Police have since identified Ryan's brother Adam as the real shooter.)

Nannette says her phone's been ringing off the hook for several hours -- accumulating as many as 21 voicemail messages per hour -- and reporters are still sitting outside her house.

Numerous TV news outlets and websites are scrambling after they named a man and showed his picture, claiming he was the shooter in the Connecticut school massacre, but it seems they had the wrong guy.

The outlets claimed Ryan Lanza killed at least 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, including at least 20 children. Some of the outlets also splashed his pic on the screen.

Problem is ... it looks like Ryan Lanza isn't the shooter. Someone began posting messages on Ryan's Facebook page denying he's the shooter, even saying "F**k you CNN. It wasn't me." FYI ... CNN didn't post the pic -- it was iReportCNN, a user-generated forum.

NBC reported they may have gotten the name wrong because the shooter had an ID in his pocket that made them believe Ryan Lanza was the culprit.

Law enforcement sources now tell AP the shooter is Ryan's brother, Adam.