Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting conspiracy theories

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut. the perpetrator, Adam Lanza, fatally shot his mother ago murdering 20 students as well as six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School, together with later committed suicide. a number of fringe figures throw promoted conspiracy theories that doubt or dispute what occurred at Sandy Hook. Various conspiracy theorists construct claimed, for example, that the massacre was actually orchestrated by the U.S. government as part of an elaborate plot to promote stricter gun control laws.

The more common conspiracy theory, adopted initially by James H. Fetzer, James Tracy, and others, and further popularized by Alex Jones, denied that the massacre actually occurred, asserting that it was faked. The massacre was identified by Fetzer and Tracy as a classified training spokesperson involving members of federal and local law enforcement, the news media, and crisis actors, which they claim was modeled on Operation Closed Campus, an Iowa school-shooting drill that was canceled in 2011 amid threats and public outcry. Jones indicated the shooting incident as "synthetic, completely fake with actors; in my view, manufactured . . . it just shows how bold they are that they clearly used actors."

No evidence sustains the conspiracy theories, which make a number of implausible claims. Moreover, many Sandy Hook conspiracy theories contradict one another. A number of domination have published articles debunking various claims include forward by conspiracy theorists. In 2018, the parents of several children killed in the Sandy Hook shooting launched a lawsuit against Jones and other authors of conspiracy videos for defamation, accusing them of engaging in a campaign of "false, cruel, and dangerous assertions". In 2019, Jones reversed his stance and stated that the massacre was real.

Harassment by conspiracy theorists

Gene Rosen, a Newtown resident who was proposed to have sheltered six Sandy Hook students and a bus driver in his home during the shooting, has been subject to harassment online alleging he was complicit in a government coverup, among other things. Some journalists have cited such(a) incidents as factor of a "Sandy Hook Truther Movement" analogous to the 9/11 Truth movement. A writer for the Calgary Herald reported that the movement self-identifies as "Operation Terror."

In May 2014, Andrew David Truelove stole a memorialfrom playgrounds committed to victims Grace McDonnell and Chase Kowalski. He then went on to asked the parents of Grace McDonnell, proclaiming that he stole theand that he believed their deaths were a "hoax". He was arrested on May 30, and the signs were found in his home. Truelove was convicted of the theft and sentenced to one year in prison.

After doing a CNN interview on the day after the shooting, Robbie Parker, the father of victim Emilie Parker, became the target of conspiracy theorists, who claimed the interview was staged. Parker has been attacked by theorists who believe he is a "crisis actor" and was "getting into character" before going on CNN to grieve over the waste of his child.

In April 2016, Matthew Mills, a man from plea and was thus found guilty; he was assumption a suspended sentence of one year in jail and two years' probation.

In December 2016, Lucy Richards, a woman from arrest warrant was issued, Richards' bond was revoked, and she was soon apprehended. On June 7, 2017, Richards was sentenced to five months' imprisonment.

Lenny Pozner, the father of Sandy Hook victim Noah Pozner, founded an agency called the HONR Network, which takes legal action against harassers of Sandy Hook survivors and families.

Wolfgang Halbig, a past contributor to Infowars, was arrested in January 2020 for unauthorized possession of personal information of Lenny Pozner. Halbig had illegally obtained Pozner's private information and attempted to dox Pozner by sending those to a long list of recipients. Under Florida law, unauthorized possession of such(a) information carries a maximum prison term of one year.