FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2012 file photo, Alissa Parker, left, and her husband, Robbie Parker, leave the firehouse staging after receiving word that their six-year-old daughter Emilie was one of the 20 children killed in the Sandy Hook School shooting in Newtown, Conn. Alissa Parker told “CBS This Morning” in an interview that aired Thursday, March 21, 2013, that she wanted to meet with Adam Lanza's father, Peter Lanza, to tell him “something” she needed to get out of her system. It's not clear what that something was. CBS planned to show the rest of the interview with Alissa and Robbie Parker on Friday morning revealing more details about their meeting with Peter Lanza. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Parents of Newtown victim Emilie Parker don’t blame killer’s dad

The Associated Press

First Published Mar 22 2013 07:15 pm • Last Updated May 31 2013 11:37 pm

Newtown, Conn. • When Alissa and Robbie Parker met face to face recently with the father of the young man who killed their daughter and 19 other first-graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School, they weren’t angry with him and didn’t blame him for the massacre.

Instead, the Parkers said they and Peter Lanza shared their condolences for one another and talked about his son, Adam Lanza, during the emotional meeting, which lasted more than an hour.

"I don’t feel like he should be held responsible for what happened that day," Alissa Parker told "CBS This Morning" during the second part of an interview that aired Friday. "That was not ultimately his decision to do that, so how can I hold him responsible? Were there missteps in the raising of his son? Possibly."

Adam Lanza, 20, fatally shot 20 children and six educators with a military-style rifle on Dec. 14, then killed himself as police arrived. Authorities say he also killed his mother, Nancy, at their Newtown home before he went to the school. The Parkers lost their 6-year-old daughter, Emilie, in the rampage.

The Parkers wouldn’t reveal what Peter Lanza said about his son. Connecticut state police haven’t released any information about a motive, but people close to the investigation have said that Adam Lanza showed interest in other mass killings and had literature on other mass shootings at his home.

Peter Lanza, who was divorced from Nancy Lanza, has declined to comment about the meeting with the Parkers.

Asked whether she forgives Adam Lanza, Allisa Parker said it’s not her burden to bear.

"I do hold him accountable, but I feel like God will determine that," she said. "And I feel like he’s in a place where the judgment will happen, and I don’t have to. I don’t have to judge him, and I’m at peace with that."

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