Sandy Hook Parents Hit Alex Jones With Defamation Lawsuits

The parents of two children who died in the Sandy Hook massacre have filed defamation lawsuits against Infowars founder Alex Jones over his false claims that the 2012 school shooting was was staged. Lawyers for the parents say Jones’ conspiracy theories—including the false assertion that the parents of dead children are “crisis actors”—have led to death threats against them. Neil Heslin, the father of a 6-year-old boy killed in the shooting, and Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, who also lost their son, filed the suits late Monday, the Huffington Post reports. Each suit is seeking $1 million in damages. “Even after these folks had to experience this trauma, for the next five years they were tormented by Alex Jones with vicious lies about them,” said Mark Bankston, the lawyer handling the cases for the parents. “And these lies were meant to convince his audience that the Sandy Hook parents are frauds and have perpetrated a sinister lie on the American people.” Bankston is also involved in another defamation suit against Jones, representing a man whom he incorrectly identified as the Parkland school shooter.