Tyler,TX — Adam Lanza, the gunman who opened fire and responsible for 27 deaths was reported to have been suffering from a personality disorder known as aspergers.

Aspergers is a mental disorder that falls under the autism spectrum and is hereditary.

KETK visited the Treatment and Learning Center for Autism to find out what could possibly have been going through Lanza's mind.

"There are people who are violent because they  don't understand or they are unable, they never been taught how to control their behavior," says Whitney Clements, Board Certified Behavior Analyst.

Clements tells KETK, every person who has aspergers deals with it differently.

Common signs of are lack of social awareness and understanding, repeated and obsessive behavior, and not understanding the impact of their actions..

Linking aspergers to violence is sensitive for many people.

"I hate that the two are linked together that aspergers and violence are now like officially going to be the media linked together and there's going to be the added stigma to people who don't need anything else added to them," says Rachel Hall, Classroom Trainer for autism.

Clements tell KETK, treatment and paying attention to signs can help, and therapy and daily practices of social interaction are tools needed to treat aspergers.

"My thought is really sadness that he wasn't able to understand whatever it was that did trigger or upset him so greatly that he had never been given the tools to control that," says Whitney Clements, Board Certified Behavior Analyst.