Bikers Ride Into Baltimore To Honor Those Lost At Sandy Hook

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Riding to remember. Team 26, a group of bikers honoring the 26 lives lost in the Sandy Hook school shooting, rides into Baltimore--this as the father of the Newtown shooter speaks out for the first time.

Meghan McCorkell has more.

That group of bikers is heading to Washington, D.C. to call for a change in the country's gun laws.

A 400-mile mission of hope. Twenty-six bikers, each honoring a life lost in the Sandy Hook school shooting, pedal through the streets of Baltimore.

"We're bike messengers and we're delivering a message from all the places we've been along the way," said Team 26 member Monte Frank.

The group is riding from Newtown to Capitol Hill to call for stricter gun laws.

For some, it's a personal fight.

"My two grandsons, twin grandsons, would have gone to that school. One of them would have been in the classroom," said Gerhard Friedrich.

"It's just changed everything," said Katrina Niez. "It's just changed everything."

The ride comes to Baltimore as the father of Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza broke his silence.

"I know Adam would have killed me in a heartbeat, if he'd had the chance. I don't question that for a minute," Peter Lanza told The New Yorker.

"He thought that by telling his story he might give some comfort to some of the families that lost children," said author Andrew Solomon, who wrote the New Yorker article.

"How much do I beat up on myself about the fact that he's my son? A lot," Lanza said.

He says his son's mental health worsened as he got older.

Leaders say that needs to be part of the national debate.

"I don't think you can exclude the mental health conversation from the gun control conversation," said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

The bikers hope to reignite that conversation on Capitol Hill. They will head out of Baltimore to Washington D.C. Tuesday.

This is the second annual Sandy Hook Ride on Washington.

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