US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay survivors $965 million for his false claims about a Sandy Hook elementary school massacre. That was decided by a court in the US state of Connecticut, as US media reported unanimously from the courtroom in Waterbury.
Jones has previously claimed that the December 2012 shooting was staged by actors. A 20-year-old man shot and killed 20 school children and six teachers in Newtown, Connecticut.
The lawsuit was filed by relatives of five children and three teachers killed in the massacre – and by an FBI agent who was among the first responders at the scene. At the trial, the victims’ parents and siblings tearfully testified about years of being threatened and harassed by people who believed the lies on Jones’ show, according to media reports. Strangers showed up at their homes to film them, and they were showered with abusive comments on social media.
The amount of 965 million US dollars results from the sum of the damages paid to the 15 plaintiffs. In August, a Texas grand jury awarded the parents of another child who was killed a total of nearly $50 million.
