The father of 20-year old Adam Lanza, the alleged "shooter" in the horrific Sandy Hook school massacre, found out about what happened from a Stamford Advocate reporter yesterday afternoon.

Peter Lanza, a tax specialist at GE, was pulling into his driveway in Stamford in a Mini Cooper when reporter Maggie Gordon approached the car.

Lanza rolled down the window and asked if he could help her.

I told him I was a reporter for the Stamford Advocate, and I was surprised that no click of recognition flash across his face. So I continued, explaining that I'd been told someone at his address had been linked to the shootings in Newtown.

His expression twisted from patient, to surprise to horror; it was obvious that this moment, shortly after 1:30 p.m. Friday, was the first time he had considered his family could have been involved. He quickly declined to comment, rolled up the window, parked in the right side of the two-car garage and closed the door.

Moments later he sat at a table in the front of his three-bedroom house, a phone to his left ear and a palm to his right cheek.

Lanza and his former wife, Nancy, who was also killed yesterday, divorced several years ago after 28 years of marriage. He and Nancy Lanza shared custody of Adam, who was 17 at the time of the divorce.

Peter Lanza lives with his second wife in Stamford.

In that one moment, Lanza learned that his son killed 28 people, including 20 children, his ex-wife, and himself. It's hard to even begin to imagine what that feels like.

More from Maggie Gordon at the Advocate >