Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his website InfoWars sued for US$1m by parents of slain Sandy Hook children ‘for saying shooting was faked’
A lawyer representing the plaintiffs said that their ‘clients have been tormented for five years’ by the accusations made on Jones’ conspiracy website, including claims that the killings were faked
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his website InfoWars are being sued for US$1 million in damages by the parents of children who died in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, who say he accused them of faking their children’s deaths.
Two lawsuits filed on behalf of Neil Heslin, Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa allege that Jones and his media organisation spread false information related to the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. One of the suits also names Jones’ employee, Owen Shroyer, as a defendant.
Heslin’s suit arose from accusations InfoWars made in 2017 that he was lying about holding his son’s body and seeing a bullet hole in the child’s head.
“This heartless and vile act of defamation re-ignited the Sandy Hook ‘false flag’ conspiracy and tore open the emotional wounds that (Heslin) has tried so desperately to heal,” a petition filed in Travis County district court said.
The second suit was filed after InfoWars aired programming that claimed an interview De La Rosa did with CNN was faked, and pushed it as “evidence” of a government cover-up.
“Those statements in 2017 were part of a long history of lies peddled by Jones,” said Mark Bankston, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs.