Sandy Hook Shooting: Debate Over Victim Count at 26 or 27

(Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

Adam Lanza shot and killed 27 people before turning the gun on himself Friday in Newtown, Conn., but most tributes and conversations in the days following have focused specifically on the number 26.

Many of those tributes have failed to count Lanza's mother, Nancy, as a victim of her son's crimes. According to police, Nancy was shot in the face in her home by Adam on the day of the school shootings. Adam Lanza then went to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he shot 26 others, including 20 children.

Twenty-six flares were sent into the sky at the NFL football game between the New England Patriots against the San Francisco 49ers Sunday night, in honor of those killed inside Sandy Hook school.

And Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy has asked churches to ring 26 bells during a moment of silence around the state and country this Friday.

But for many people, the exclusion of Nancy Lanza as a victim of the shooting in many counts and speeches has seemed inappropriate or wrong.

Nancy Lanza, 52, is believed to have owned the guns that Adam Lanza used in the attack.