Article Images
Content deleted Content added
m |
|||
Line 31: ==History== On Friday, December 14, 2012, Lenny Pozner's six-year-old-son Noah became the youngest victim of the [[Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting|Sandy Hook massacre]], when a lone gunman entered the school in Newtown, Connecticut and opened fire, killing twenty grade one children and six educators before shooting himself dead.<ref name = fox1>{{cite web |title=Connecticut School Shooting Victims Laid to Rest, Newtown Mourns |url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/connecticut-school-shooting-victims-laid-to-rest-newtown-mourns |website=foxnews.com |date=16 December 2016 |publisher=FOX News Network, LLC |accessdate=7 July 2019}}</ref> Almost immediately after the shooting, conspiracy theorists began claiming that the event was staged by the US government in order to generate sympathy and justification for a drastic ban on guns and a weakening of the [[Second Amendment]]. They claimed that no one died at Sandy Hook Elementary and that the families of victims and first responders were [[crisis actors]].<ref name = courant/> As the youngest victim, Noah's photo was frequently used by the media when reporting on the aftermath. Stories on conspiracy theorist's websites, such as [[Infowars]], began claiming that Noah either never existed, or that he was an actor, alive and well, participating in other "[[false flag]]" incidents.<ref name = guardian1/> Because of the news coverage, and the use of Noah's picture globally, conspiracy theorists began focusing on the Pozner family and defacing pictures of Noah that the family had placed on an online memorial page.<ref name=Latimes>{{cite web |last1=Demick |first1=Barbara |title=In an age of 'alternative facts,' a massacre of schoolchildren is called a hoax |url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-sandy-hook-conspiracy-20170203-story.html |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=3 February 2017 |accessdate=7 July 2019}}</ref> Less than a month after the shooting, Noah's mother, Veronique de la Rosa and her brother, attorney Alexis Haller spoke out in the media advocating gun control.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hutson |first1=Nancy |title=Sandy Hook parents jumping into national debate |url=https://www.newstimes.com/newtownshooting/article/Sandy-Hook-parents-jumping-into-national-debate-4186526.php |website=newstimes.com |date=12 January 2013 |publisher=Hearst Media Services Connecticut, LLC |accessdate=15 July 2019}}</ref> The online harassment continued as the conspiracy theorists posted hateful, defamatory, harassing, and anti-Semitic comments, as well as claims that Noah didn't die or even existed.<ref name = israel/> | |||