A state trooper will be meeting with state lawmakers next week after Connecticut House Republican Leader Larry Cafero Wednesday called on Police to release preliminary details on the Sandy Hook shooting investigation.
State Rep. Cafero, of Norwalk, released a statement in response to a report that State Police Colonel Danny Stebbins exchanged information on the investigation with law enforcement officials at a conference in New Orleans last week.
On Monday, New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica reported details from that conference relayed to him by a law enforcement source who was there. According to the report, State Police found an elaborate 7-foot-tall, 4-foot-wide spreadsheet documenting other mass shootings at the home of Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza. Investigators believe Lanza was keeping a score sheet of sorts.
Lanza killed 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School Dec. 14.
The Daily News reported the information came from a talk Col. Stebbins gave during the International Association of Police Chiefs and Colonels.
State police released a statement about the report.
"The recent seminar during which the Newtown case was discussed was designed for law enforcement professionals only. Law enforcement sensitive information was discussed dealing with tactical operational approaches employed by first responders on the day of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School," said Lt. Paul Vance, of the Connecticut State Police.
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Rep. Cafero said Col. Stebbins has an obligation to provide the same details presented during that conference to the public as well.
"As legislative leaders who are working every day to come forth with legislation I believe the state police are now obligated to brief us, given that much of what was exchanged at the New Orleans conference wound up in the press," Cafero said in a statement. "We don't have the benefit of potentially critical information that was obtained somehow by the media."
Rep. Cafero said even an interim report would benefit legislators.
"One of the major concerns that I believe many of us had from the outset was that we would be putting this legislation together without ever having seen the police report on what took place. That is a huge issue," Cafero said.
Senate Minority Leader John McKinney said Col. Stebbins has told legislators he will meet with them next week.
Investigators are also facing criticism from media outlets that want search warrants related to the shooting to be unsealed. Several outlets, including the Associated Press, filed a motion in Danbury Superior Court on Wednesday seeking to intervene to oppose any move to extend the sealing of the search warrants.
Prosecutor Stephen Sedensky III successfully argued in December for keeping search warrants related to Lanza's house and the car he drove to the school sealed for 90 days, saying the disclosure would jeopardize an ongoing investigation. He said at the time that arrests were not anticipated but had not been ruled out.
