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New photo of Newtown shooter Adam Lanza released with college records

Undated student ID photo of Adam Lanza from Western Connecticut State University.
Undated student ID photo of Adam Lanza from Western Connecticut State University.Western Connecticut State University

A new photo of Sandy Hook massacre gunman Adam Lanza has emerged: a college ID snapshot that shows him staring wide-eyed into the camera as though scared out of his wits.

The picture, one of just a few that have been made public since the Dec. 14 shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, was part of Lanza's records from Western Connecticut State University, where he took classes in 2008 and 2009.

There is nothing in the documents that would foreshadow the monstrous attack, just a few odd notes.

When he took a placement exam in May 2008, Lanza refused to answer some background questions — including his gender.

Asked whether he had a "documented disabling condition" that could impact his test scores, he said no — although his mother had told people he had Asperger's disease, which is low on the autism spectrum.

Lanza was just 16 at the time, but he scored high on the test — in the 90th percentile. The records also show he registered for a precalculus class, but it's unclear if he ever took it.

He did take three computer science courses, earning an A and an A-minus in two of them, and American history, where he received an A-minus.

He got a C in a a class called "Introduction to Ethical Theory."

No grade was entered for "Introduction to German," and that prompted a post-massacre email on Dec. 17 from the registrar to the German professor, asking for her to submit one. The response was macabre.

"Do you realize that this Lanza Adam is the young man who was from Newtown and shot himself and so many others?" the teacher replied. "I do not think he still needs a grade."

Lanza withdrew from classes at Western Connecticut, and he was not enrolled in any school when he went on his rampage at Sandy Hook, killing 20 children, six staffers and himself after murdering his mother in her bed.

Search warrants released last week revealed that Lanza had an arsenal of guns, knives, samurai swords and ammunition at his disposal.

NBC News producer Tom Winter contributed to this report.