A National Rifle Association official emailed a known Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist to question the events that unfolded in the Parkland, Florida mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year, according to emails cited by HuffPost. Mark Richardson, a training instructor and program coordinator with the NRA, reportedly emailed Wolfgang Halbig to suggest that Nikolas Cruz was not the only shooter involved in the massacre. “Concerning what happened in Florida yesterday, I have been asking the question and no one else seems to be asking it. How is it that Cruz was able gain [sic] access to a secured facility while in possession of a rifle, multiple magazines, smoke grenades and a gas mask?” Richardson reportedly wrote from his official NRA email address. “Just like [Sandy Hook], there is so much more to this story. He was not alone.” Richardson is said to have then ended the email by thanking Halbig for “all the information” and “for what you do.” According to HuffPost, Halbig is known to harass the parents of children who died in the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting—which killed 20 children and six adults in 2012.
Richardson confirmed to the website that he had been in contact with Halbig and insisted he was asking “legitimate” questions. “Since an individual who was prohibited from the school was aloud [sic] to pass through the front doors with a backpack containing a long gun, it is a legitimate question to ask if he had assistance concerning access to the school,” he wrote in an statement. “No one else seems to be interested enough to even ask the question?” The NRA reportedly declined to comment to HuffPost.
Read it at HuffPost