Sandy Hook School Shooting- Part 2

On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza disrupted the lives of everyone in Newtown, Connecticut when he burst into the halls of Sandy Hook Elementary School with an AR-15. In less than 10 minutes, he would kill 6 educators and 20 first grade students before turning a gun on himself.

For part one, click here.

Planning a Massacre

Adam’s planning of this massacre was done in secret and alone. Despite people reporting leads that suggested a partner, none of that checked out and it was determined that Adam worked alone. The week before December 14, 2012, Adam was home alone. Nancy had gone out of town to New Hampshire and left Adam at the house. On December 13, 2012, Adam’s GPS recorded a trip from his house into Sandy Hook and back again. The GPS doesn’t indicate that he went directly to the school and back, but he would have been around that area. The trip started at 2:09 pm and ended at 2:32 pm.

Nancy returned to the house around 10 pm that night.

The next morning, around 8 or 9 am, neighbors reported that they heard gunshots. Most just assumed it was the usual hunters who were just a little too close. A delivery driver came by the house around 9:30-10:30 am and had to leave a slip because no one appeared to be home. He didn’t hear or see anything out of the ordinary and said that the garage door was shut so he saw no cars around.

By 9:30 am, Adam is blasting his way into Sandy Hook Elementary and by 9:40 am he and 27 other people were dead.

Volunteer EMT Laurie Vaillette works on Fridays and this day she was called to the school. She remembered that at first, she was tasked to care for a teacher who was injured, but going to survive. She felt like, ok, she could handle this. But then the doors of the ambulance flung open and another EMT had the body of a little boy, Ben Wheeler, who was horrifically injured. Ben and another child were the only ones that were rushed to the hospital, but neither would survive.

At the ER, Dr. William Beggs remembers that they were warned that they were getting victims from Sandy Hook, but he didn’t tell his staff that it wasn’t going to be very many. Most of the victims didn’t come to the hospital. He told the Newtown documentary that the coroner said that each little body had been hit by 3-11 bullets and these were assault-style bullets. When they enter the body they don’t go straight through; they go in and explode. In the bodies of 6 and 7-year-olds, that is not something survivable.

The Scenes and Aftermath

Sandy Hook Elementary School was a 1-story building built in 1954 with 66,000 sq ft in the main building. There were also portable classrooms in the back of the school. As we said, a new security system was installed in 2005 including a call box and buzzer out front with a video camera. However, like in most schools, this video camera doesn’t record. It’s just so the secretary or whoever releases the door locks can see the person who buzzed. The doors also locked automatically at 9:30 am.

It would take investigators 7 days to process the scene with thousands of pictures and videos. All of the classrooms on this main hallway had a restroom and a closet and they had connector doors to the next classroom in every pair of classrooms (so 12 and 10 had a door that connected them, 8 and 6 had a connector, 4 and 2). Each classroom along the outside wall of the school had large windows looking out into the parking lot. There were about 9 bullet holes in these windows. They also all had automatic lighting that turns on with movement.

In the wake of this shooting, the police set up 2 command centers where parents and family could go. The survivors would be taken to these locations to meet up with their family members. Eventually, only the family members who would be planning funerals remained. Once the living and injured were evacuated from the bullet-riddled elementary school, it was time to remove the bodies of the 6 and 7-year-olds and their teachers.

The Connecticut State Police set up a makeshift morgue in the parking lot of the school and carefully extricated each tiny body and the bodies of their dedicated teachers. They were each taken to the tent so they could be identified before being transferred to the medical examiner’s office. Their bodies were autopsied on December 15th and it was confirmed that all 20 children and 6 adults from the school had the same cause and manner of death. Homicide by a gunshot wound.

Adam Lanza’s body wasn’t removed from the school until the 15th and he was also autopsied. The 20-year-old only weighed 112 lbs and stood at 72” (6 ft). His cause and manner of death were suicide by gunshot. The crime scene techs found 312 live and expended rounds throughout the school. 3 cars in the parking lot had been hit by 5 stray bullets from classroom 10. A warrant was drawn up the same day as the shooting by 5:30 pm so that the authorities were able to search the Lanza family home.

In the master bedroom, 52-year-old Nancy Lanza had been found in her bed shot 4 times in the head. Nearby was her murder weapon. A Savage Mark II with a spent .22 caliber shell in the chamber and 3 expended rounds on the floor with 3 live rounds in the chamber. Also on the second floor was Adam’s bedroom and computer room. In his bedroom, the windows were covered with black trash bags that had been taped to the windows. There was a hard drive that had been intentionally damaged that they have never been able to recover anything from.

There were a bunch of firearms in the house as well as a number of swords, knives, spears, etc. There was a Christmas check discovered from Nancy to Adam for the purchase of a CZ-83 firearm. There was also a HUGE gun safe with huge bullets stored on the side.

In Adam’s room, they found an article from the New York Times from February 18, 2008, about the shooting that had occurred at Northern Illinois University as well as 3 pictures of what looked like a dead body covered in blood and wrapped in plastic. He also had the book Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy about the October 2006 shooting at an Amish school that killed 5. AND copies of newspaper articles from 1891 about a shooting of children.

On his computer, they recovered 2 videos of suicide by gunshot, movies about mass shootings, a computer game called “School Shooting” that was a first-person perspective from the shooter’s POV of a school shooting, images of Adam with a rifle to his head, a 5-second video dramatization of kids being shot, and an image of Adam in full gear with his guns and ammunition. But there were also screenshots from Adam playing Dance Dance Revolution in his house and pictures of hamsters and Lego creations.

Along with his spreadsheet of mass murderers and serial killers, he also had a document for the “pre-requisites” for mass murder and material about pedophiles and advocating for the rights of pedophiles. (There wasn’t any child pornography, but materials in support of.)

Sandy Hook was a Hoax Conspiracy

Even though this was the second deadliest mass shooting in the US behind Virginia Tech, there were almost immediately conspiracy theorists that popped up. It was thought that the government set up the Sandy Hook Shooting and, in fact, none of the children ever really existed in the first place. On December 14th, Noah Pozner’s mom and dad rushed to the school and waited for hours before finding out their 6-year-old twins had had very different fates that day. Arielle survived, but little Noah had been found dead on the floor of his 1st grade classroom in his Batman shirt.

Not even 2 days after this, the families of the victims began receiving crank phone calls. Around 9 am on December 16th, a family (who’s name was redacted from the FBI documents) received multiple calls. The first one was answered by a friend and the caller said, “I’m going to kill you.” Other people received calls that said things like, “I’m Adam Lanza, I’m going to kill you!” and calling the person that answered a “f*ggot.” Caller IDs and call tracking determined that most of these calls were coming from the same number.

Not even a week after the tragedy, a man was seen walking around Newtown filming and proclaiming that the massacre had been “staged by some sort of New World Order global elitists intent on taking our guns and liberty.”

A week later, a professor at Florida Atlantic University, James Tracy posted online that he doubted the authenticity of the massacre and by January, there was a 30 minute YouTube video with over 10 million views posted called “The Sandy Hook Shooting — Fully Exposed.” The video dared to ask, “Wouldn’t frantic kids be a difficult target to hit?” suggesting that if this had been a “real” event, Adam Lanza couldn’t have killed that many kids because they would have been running.

State officials got anonymous calls at their homes late at night. The callers asked questions like, “Why were there no trauma helicopters?” and “What happened to the initial reports of a 2nd shooter?”

A man from Virginia came to Sandy Hook and stole signs from a playground that were memorializing 2 of the victims. Afterward, the man called the families of the victims and said that they shouldn’t be that upset by the burglary since their kids had never really existed.

Noah Pozner’s dad, Lenny Pozner was checking into a hotel in a different city and when the clerk saw his address on his driver’s license, she said, “Oh, Sandy Hook – The government did that.” Lenny tried to ignore these nutjobs, but it wasn’t that easy. He said, “Conspiracy theorists erase the human aspect of history. My child – who lived, who was a real person — is basically going to be erased.” The Pozner’s had moved to Connecticut in 2005, but after everything, they couldn’t stay there. Their marriage had been struggling before December 14th and after Noah died, they pulled together for a short time, but eventually divorced. The families of the victims had been threatened. Lenny Pozner even had to have his mail sent to a P.O. Box on the opposite side of the state.

There wasn’t one specific theory about the hoax, but they basically center around the idea that some major organization/group like the Obama administration, gun-control groups, or even the Illuminati staged the massacre. The claim that this group paid “crisis actors” (the families and victims as well as news and media outlets). They claim that the children either never existed in the first place OR they are in some insane witness protection program after “dying.”

Lenny Pozner was one of the first of the parents to find out about these conspiracy theories which is kind of apropo because Lenny used to be a conspiracy theorist himself. He was mostly interested in them for the entertainment aspect and the fact that conspiracies were kind of like a sci-fi movie, but then his son became part of one. Podcaster, radio host, and far-right conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones – host of InfoWars – used to be an indulgence for Lenny Pozner, but after the conspiracies about Sandy Hook came to his attention, Lenny wrote to Jones. Lenny emailed Jones, “I feel that your type of show created these hateful people.” Jones didn’t respond, but his representatives did. They told Lenny that Jones would “love to speak to him if we can confirm that you are the real Lenny Pozner.”

Lenny even released Noah’s death certificate and report cards to prove his existence and joined a Facebook group called Sandy Hook Hoax hoping to help clarify and debunk the conspiracy. He posted in the group that he was there so he could answer any questions they may have and tried to empathize with them: “I used to argue with people about 9/11 being an inside job…” Some of the members of the group responded with earnest questions about what they felt were inconsistencies, but others were beligerant: “Fuck you Lenny fuck off and fuck your fake family, you piec [sic] of shit.”

Lenny spent more than 4 hours talking to these people, but their questions got more ridiculous: “Why don’t you want to look into the Newtown police feeds of the nun n the guy in the ski mask?” to which Lenny said: “cuz my son is dead and it doesn’t matter.” He ended up getting kicked out of the group and 18 months after the shooting he created a Facebook group of his own called Conspiracy Theorists Anonymous. The point is to debunk conspiracy theories about Sandy Hook.

Lenny also wrote an article for the Hartford Courant and put certain conspiracy theorists on blast by name. Specifically, Wolfgang Halbig who is a retired school administrator in Florida! At 70-years-old, Halbig spends his retirement being the lead investigator for this hoax (and probably others). He files Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and runs a website called Sandy Hook Justice Report. Lenny Pozner would email Halbig to talk to him, but Halbig didn’t respond…another person did saying, “Wolfgang does not wish to speak with you unless you exhume Noah’s body and prove to the world you lost your son.”

In January of 2021, a congresswoman from Georgia also suggested Sandy Hook was a hoax. Republican Marjorie Taylor-Greene liked a comment on Twitter about the hoax and commented, “That is all true.”

Nelba Marquez-Greene, the mother of 6-year-old Ana Marquez-Greene who was murdered that day in Sandy Hook Elementary School responded to the congresswoman’s actions saying, “It is incredibly hurtful. It is incredibly difficult to heal from what has already been to our family. These things don’t help, so I encourage people to stand up when they see this to speak up and say something. It is not okay. Denying the Holocaust is not okay. To deny 9/11 is not okay. To deny Sandy Hook……It’s just another incredible example of how misinformation is one of the greatest threats to the democratic process and just an irresponsible use of that position.”

Marjorie Taylor-Greene was suspended from Twitter for spreading misinformation (only for 12 hours). Her comments were removed and people are calling for her resignation. Po Murray of the Newtown Action Alliance responded as well saying, “We know firsthand that Sandy Hook shooting was not a hoax. Conspiracy theories regarding the Sandy Hook tragedy re-victimizes the families who are directly impacted by the shooting and our community. Conspiracy theorists are not mentally fit to serve as members of Congress. We call on Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene to immediately resign and seek mental health services.”

And Now Let’s Talk About the Lives that Were Stolen…

In what is known as one of the top 5 deadliest mass shootings in American history, 20 1st graders and 6 educators were killed in less than 10 minutes.

20 6 and 7-year-olds who were at their school in the heart of suburbia, who should have been safe were murdered in their classrooms for no apparent reason.

6 educators who were at the jobs they loved, who spent their final moments trying to protect the children in their care.

the children

Charlotte was described as smart, funny, curious, messy, unintimidated, sweet, outgoing, adventurous, and most prominently, bold. She was full of energy with what her grandmother called, “a mass of beautiful red curls” who loved school and dresses.

After her death, her parents established a foundation in her honor that supports a program for therapy dogs, scholarships for students who are studying to become veterinarians, and a grant to help couples grieving the death of a child.

Charlotte’s parents also worked with an illustrator and wrote a children’s book called Good Dogs, Great Listeners that is about Charlotte and her dog, Lily. Charlotte’s brother also wrote a book about his experience with therapy dogs after Charlotte’s murder called The Dogs of Newtown.

Daniel reportedly used to sit next to a girl in his class with special needs because he wanted to “make sure she was ok.” If she lost her glasses, he was there to help her find them. Daniel always wanted to make sure that everyone around him was “happy and safe.” While he was called “unusually compassionate” he was also known for being just like any other boy with ripped jeans and missing his 2 front teeth. He liked to surf when the family would go to the beach and make s’mores when they were around a campfire. Daniel and his brother James and sister Natalie formed a band together with Daniel on drums. His mom said he was “just so good” and that he “embodied everything that is wholesome and innocent in the world.”

Because of Daniel’s legacy of being “just so good,” after his death the “What Would Daniel Do?” campaign was started. This called on people to think about being kind and considering what Daniel would have done.

Daniel’s parents are among the ones involved in the lawsuit that was brought against the gun manufacturer. The parents involved in this suit allege that the manufacturer was “irresponsible” for selling AR-15 style guns to civilians.

Daniel’s dad, Mark Barden is one of the parents to create the nonprofit organization called Sandy Hook Promise that focuses on mental health reform, specific gun laws, and violence prevention. Part of this program involves teaching students and adults to “know the signs” for a person who’s “at-risk of violence.”

Olivia Rose Engel had a favorite stuffed animal lamb. Her favorite colors were pink and purple. She took dance lessons and played tennis. Loved to swim and play soccer. Olivia was a Girl Scout who loved musical theater, singing, and making art projects. Every night she led her family in grace at dinner and was a very proud big sister. Her family said she was “insightful,” “laughed a lot,” had a “great sense of humor,” “lit up a room,” and was “grateful…never greedy.”

Her family raised money for Newtown Park and Bark, a local dog park.

Josephine Gay had only just turned 7 days before she was shot in her classroom. She preferred to be called “Joey” and was called the “girliest” of her sisters. “Joey” loved purple and riding her bike. In the summers, she would sell lemonade in her neighborhood. Joey was affectionate and a hard worker. Her parents said that she had to work harder to “meet the milestones that came so easily to her older sisters.” She had been diagnosed with autism as well as global apraxia of speech. Apraxia makes it difficult to impossible for a person to move their mouth and tongue correctly. They typically have difficulty making their mouth say the things that they are thinking. Due to Joey’s apraxia, she had difficulty communicating verbally so her wonderful classmates happily learned sign language so that she felt included and they encouraged her to join them whenever possible.

Joey’s family started Joey’s Fund that supports families in New England who have family members with autism and need resources.

Her mother Michele Gay is also a founding member of Safe and Sound Schools that seeks to improve school security.

Ana Grace Marquez-Greene was from a musical family with a prominent jazz musician, Jimmy Greene as her father. She was called a “budding musician” who had a “gift for melody, pitch, and rhythm.” Her family also said that Ana “never walked anywhere — her mode of transportation was dance. She danced from room to room and place to place.”

After her death, Ana’s dad created a tribute album called “Beautiful Life.”

They also created The Ana Grace Project. This supports arts education and works with schools to implement the “Love Wins” curriculum. The goal is to improve the social and emotional skills of students and staff at schools.

Her mom Nelba Marquez-Greene is active on social media and writes about grief and political issues that affect survivors of violence.

Nelba and Jimmy also realized after their daughter was killed that while Newtown had counseling resources, these were not available to every community that was affected by violence.

Their organization also worked to bring professional development to other communities. This professional development focused on teaching skills in counseling and trauma care.

Dylan Hockley was born in England and had only moved to Connecticut 2 years before the shooting. His parents said, “We specifically chose Sandy Hook for the community and the elementary school. We do not and shall not regret this choice.” They feel that despite the trauma they have endured, their children thrived there. Even though Dylan was taken from them, they still feel very strongly about Sandy Hook and Newtown.

Dylan “adored” chocolate and his big brother, Jake. Jake was Dylan’s best friend and role model. Dylan loved to cuddle, jump on the trampoline, and play tag with his friends at the bus stop every morning.

He was learning to read and was so proud of himself. He hadn’t always come by everything easily. Dylan had been diagnosed with autism and had speech language impairments as well. He loved the routine and was not a fan of loud noises. He also had some difficulties with social skills. He desperately wanted to play with his friends, but sometimes he didn’t know how to do that.

Despite everything that they have been through, Dylan’s parents expressed how unbelievably grateful they are to the teachers who died with Dylan. “We cannot speak highly enough of Dawn Hochsprung and Mary Sherlach, exceptional women who knew both our children. Dylan’s teacher, Vicki Soto, was warm and funny and Dylan loved her dearly. We take great comfort in knowing that Dylan was not alone when he died, but was wrapped in the arms of his amazing aide, Anne Marie Murphy. Dylan loved Mrs. Murphy so much and pointed to her picture on our refrigerator every day. Though our hearts break for Dylan, they are also filled with love for these and the other beautiful women who all selflessly died trying to save our children.”

Nicole Hockley, Dylan’s mother was another one of the founders and managing director of Sandy Hook Promise and both parents are part of the lawsuit against the manufacturer of the guns used to kill their child.

Madeleine was called “a petite princess with a big personality.” She liked to swim in the pool and at the beach and ride her bike without the training wheels as soon as she possibly could. She was sweet and unique, bright and determined, and loved running, dancing, and reading. Her family thought of her as a born leader.

Catherine Hubbard’s middle name was Violet, but her hair was bright red. The freckle-faced 1st grader was obsessed with animals. She loved them so much that she created her own business cards for “Catherine’s Animal Shelter” for which she was the “caretaker.” She would whisper to animals to “Tell your friends that I am kind.”

After her death, Catherine’s parents bought 34 acres of farmland in Connecticut where they could build an animal sanctuary in her honor.

Chase Kowalski was just 7-years-old, but he was already an accomplished athlete. He started running competitively when he was just 2-years-old and at 6, Chase asked his parents if he could enter a triathlon for kids which he completed and won his age group. He loved baseball and those kid’s workshops at Home Depot. Chase was also a cub scout. His 13-year-old neighbor remembers asking Chase what he wanted for Christmas that year and him telling her that he wanted his front teeth back.

After the shooting that took their child’s life, Chase’s parents started the CMAK Foundation that supports programs for the physical and emotional well-being of children and their families. One program they created for this was Race4Chase, a kids triathlon.

Jesse Lewis used his final minutes attempting to save as many of his friends as he could. He yelled for his classmates to run encouraging them to flee for safety. He died helping his peers. Jesse was one of those kids that everyone knew. He was happy and loved math and playing at his mom’s farm where he would also ride horses. He had been so excited for the gingerbread houses they were going to make at school and his dad had planned to come help that day.

The Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement was created in his memory to support social and emotional learning programs for teachers and students. His mom has spoken out about the importance of this in children’s lives and the importance of forgiveness.

James Radley Mattioli was called “J” by his family who described him as “all boy.” He loved wrestling with his dad and jumping off of things. He had “boundless energy” and would often tell his mom, “I need to go outside, Mom. I need fresh air.” James loved jumping off the diving board into his grandfather’s pool. Often seen in t-shirts and shorts no matter the weather, James was quick to correct you that he was actually 6 and three-quarters. He sang at the top of his lungs and once asked his parents, “How old do I have to be to sing on a stage?” His family also joked that James had been born 4 weeks early because he was hungry because he had a “voracious” appetite. James adored his older sisters and saw them as his role models. He wanted to do everything they could do and was so excited to be able to ride his bike without the training wheels.

Grace McDonnell had been taking art classes since she was 3-years-old and “saw the beauty in everything.” She wanted to be a painter when she grew up and was passionate about art. Grace had just turned 7 in November and had asked for and gotten a purple cake with a turquoise peace sign and polka dots. Her family said she was all about peace, gentleness, and kindness. Her mom said that she was, “the light and love of our family.” She mentioned that Grace didn’t have an ounce of hate in her and they were going to spend their lives living through Grace’s example.

The Grace McDonnell Memorial Fund was created to support young artists and youth art programs.

Emilie Parker loved arts and crafts and her family said that there were always beads and bits of paper and colored cotton balls all over the house from a project she was working on. The craft store was one of her favorite places and she carried markers and pencils around with her everywhere. Emilie was the oldest sibling and was always willing to try something new unless that was in reference to food. She lit up a room and had infectious laughter.

Emilie’s mom, Alissa Parker wrote a book called An Unseen Angel about a “faith-filled spiritual path to coping, healing, and forgiveness in the wake of tragedy.”

She was also part of the founders for Safe and Sound Schools.

Jack Pinto had a huge smile and loved mischief, his big brother, and sports. Baseball, basketball, wrestling (he’d won his first match just before he was killed), snow skiing, and the number one sport in his heart, football. His idol was Victor Cruz who was the receiver of the New York Giants at the time. After the shooting hit the media and the public learned more about the victims, Jack’s idol found out about him. During a game not long after the tragedy, Victor Cruz wrote: “Jack Pinto. My Hero.” on one cleat and “R.I.P. Jack Pinto” on the other. He also wrote: “Jack Pinto, this one’s 4 U!” on his gloves.

Jack’s family used his memory to support “Kids in the Game” that provides funds for athletic programs for kids and schools that could not afford them otherwise.

Noah Pozner had a huge heart. He was called “so much fun” and loved to play imaginative games with his Legos and superhero toys. His aunt said he was “gorgeous” and he could get whatever he wanted just by batting his long lashes and looking at you with his big blue eyes. He was a “little rambunctious” and had “a lot of spirit.” Noah also had a twin sister, Arielle who survived the school shooting. The morning of December 14th, Noah and his siblings rode to school with their dad and listened to Noah’s favorite song, “Gangnam Style.” Her family didn’t have the heart to tell her right away that Noah had died. They couldn’t figure out how you tell a child that. Noah was the youngest of the victims.

Noah’s dad created the Honr Network in order to combat the conspiracy theorists who had the audacity to claim this was all a hoax.

Caroline Previdi loved pink. Some people even wore pink to her funeral. She was “joyful” and loved art and dance. Caroline even brought her parents her piggy bank one Christmas and asked to donate it to church so that she could make sure every kid would have a present under their Christmas tree.

The Caroline Previdi Foundation was created by her parents and provides support for kids without the financial resources to take part in extracurricular activities.

Jessia Rekos was one of those little girls that loved horses. Everything about horses – movies, books, drawing horses, writing about horses, and horseback riding. For Christmas that year, Jessica had asked her parents for cowgirl boots and a cowgirl hat. Her parents had also promised she could have her own horse when she turned 10, but she’d never reach that milestone. Jessica also loved orca whales. She spent hours watching all the Free Willy movies and even took notes on orcas. She once told her mom, “Mom, I just want to be friends with an orca.” Jessica’s parents called her “our little CEO” because Jessica had an answer for everything and “didn’t miss a trick.” She was constantly planning and figuring out the details of things and asking questions.

To honor Jessica’s love for horses, her family created the Jessica Rekos Foundation that supports horseback riding scholarships as well as research and internships on orca and whale conservation.

Benjamin “Ben” Wheeler was said to be full of urgent questions that he needed the answer to at once. He “demanded attention” and was described as “irrepressibly bright and spirited.” His dad would tell the Newtown documentary that Ben was a “challenge” and that dinner time was difficult because he was “all over the place.” He said “nothing ever moved fast enough.” Ben loved the Beatles, the Number 7 train to Sunny Side Queens, and lighthouses. Ben and his family had moved to Connecticut in 2007 and like his music teacher mom, Ben was musical. He had just recently had his first piano recital. This was said to be “quite a feat for a boy who never sat still.” Ben had told his parents that he wanted to be an architect and a lighthouse keeper when he grew up and just that morning Ben had said, “I still want to be an architect, but I also want to be a paleontologist because that’s what Nate’s (big brother) going to be, and I want to do everything Nate does.” David and Francine Wheeler marked their sons’ heights in a door jam, but Ben’s last mark was in November of ‘09.

Ben’s Lighthouse is a community organization in Newtown created by Ben’s parents to support the survivors in the long term after the tragedy at Sandy Hook.

David Wheeler has spoken to Congress and said “The liberty of any person to keep military style weapons is second to the right of my son to his life.” David feels that there were all these dominoes lined up to get to that moment when Adam Lanza burst into Sandy Hook and in between each domino was a space when someone could have stepped in to stop the next domino from falling.

Avielle Richman had a “spitfire personality” and was usually barefoot. She was said to be happiest on a horse and her trainer remembers that when Avielle would get her horse to a trot, she would giggle the whole time they trotted. Avielle had a lot of aspirations and wanted to be an artist, a spy, a fairy princess, and a writer when she grew up. She also loved to name things including the maple trees next to their house she called “Efford and Maeve.”

The Avielle Foundation was created to support “neuroscience research aimed at understanding the brain’s chemistry, structure, and circuits that lead to violence and compassion.” The foundation also provides community education and outreach about neuroscience research and its findings, and how to promote brain health.

Allison loved drawing and her house was covered in her pictures. She loved drawing pictures for other people that she loved including her bus driver. Allison was described as sweet, creative, funny, intelligent, and kind hearted. Once she offered her snack to a stranger on a plane. After her death, her parents found a picture she had drawn for her teacher, Ms. Soto that said “I love you, Love Alle.”

The Allison Wyatt Memorial Foundation was created to raise and donate money to St. Jude’s and the Ronald McDonald House as well as the International Child Art Foundation.

The Adults

Dawn Hochsprung had become the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School 2 years before the massacre. Her students loved her. A parent said she was “really nice and very fun, but she was also very much a tough lady in the right sort of sense.” Parents never saw her without a smile. Mrs. Hochsprung had gotten her bachelor’s and master’s in special education in the 1990s and had recently enrolled in a Ph.D. program. She was married with 2 daughters of her own and 3 stepdaughters. She always made sure to keep up with her girls while also jumping in and out of meetings at school. Dawn was strong, confident, inspiring, and compassionate and was said to have “died as she lived: always in control, handling whatever came her way.”

Mrs. Hochsprung’s daughters, Christina and Erica adored their mother. Since her mom’s death, Erica spoke about her mom during the Democratic National Convention in 2016 to support Hillary Clinton and her commitment to gun violence prevention. Erica is also the program manager at Everytown for Gun Safety which is a major gun violence prevention advocacy group.

Mary Sherlach had been the school psychologist at Sandy Hook Elementary School since 1994 and was passionate about her career. Mrs. Sherlach had gotten her master’s degree in psychology from Southern Connecticut State University and previously worked at a group home as a rehabilitation assistant and as a community mental health placement specialist. Here she worked with adults with disabilities, but then after moving to schools Mrs. Sherlach became a member of committees for safe school climate, conflict resolution, crisis intervention, and student instruction. Mrs. Sherlach had been married to her husband, Bill for over 30 years and they had 2 daughters. Mrs. Sherlach loved gardening and reading as well as going to the theater. Her passion was in her career and wrote on her website: “I…am ready to assist in problem-solving, intervention, and prevention.”

After his wife was shot, Bill became part of the Sandy Hook Promise group and has spoken out about the importance of the lawsuit that was brought against the AR-15 manufacturer.

Victoria “Vicki” Soto was just 27-years-old and had wanted to be a teacher since she was 3-years-old. She had achieved this goal and was living her best life as a 1st-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary. When the shooter burst into her classroom, she “instinctively went into action” remembers her cousin. “When a monster came into her classroom, [she] tried to protect the kids she loved so much.” Her mom, Donna said, “She would not have hesitated to think to save anyone else before herself, and especially the children. She loved them more than life, and she would definitely put herself in front of them any day.” A student who survived told his dad that at first it sounded like hammers falling and Ms. Soto began moving the children to safety. The Saturday after she died, Vicki’s beloved black lab, Roxy spent the day walking around the apartment looking for her. 💔

The Victoria Soto Memorial was created to support scholarships for future teachers and other educational endeavors so that other people have the opportunity to live out their dreams as Ms. Soto had.

At 30-years-old, Lauren Rousseau had just been hired as a permanent substitute teacher at Sandy Hook. She was described as sensitive and focused and was working at Sandy Hook that day in place of another teacher who was out on maternity leave.

Her family set up 2 scholarships in her name to support other people striving to become teachers. The Lauren Rousseau Memorial Scholarships were set up at Danbury High School where she’d attended high school and the University of Bridgeport Graduate School of Education where Ms. Rousseau had gotten her master’s in elementary education.

Rachel D’Avino didn’t know it, but her boyfriend, Tony Cerritelli had recently asked her family for permission to propose and was planning to do so on Christmas Eve. Ms. D’Avino was a behavior specialist and was passionate about her work with children and adults with autism. She was working on her doctorate and had just completed the requirements to become a board-certified behavioral analyst. In her time off, she was working on a family cookbook by collecting all of their family’s classic Italian recipes. She also loved karate, photography, cooking, baking, and animals. Her obituary mentioned her “tremendous smile.”

After her death, Ms. D’Avino’s family made plans to walk and raise money for Autism Speaks.

Anne Marie Murphy was a married mother of 4 and the classroom aide in one of the 1st-grade classes and she adored her students. When the shooter burst into their classroom, she threw her arms around her students and her body between them and the bullets. She and the students were found in this embrace. That tells us a great deal about Mrs. Murphy. She spent her last moments attempting to protect her babies. She was described as a happy soul who was artistic and hardworking, but the best descriptor of Mrs. Murphy was “hero.” That’s how one of the 1st responders described her to her father.

the aftermath

The families of the women and children murdered in Sandy Hook that day have found different ways to deal with their grief and take action.

9 of the families joined together to file a wrongful death lawsuit against Remington in 2015. Remington made the Bushmaster AR-15 style rifle and sold it. The suit claims that they should never have sold such a dangerous weapon to just a regular citizen. The trial is scheduled for the 2021 calendar.

The Newtown Action Alliance was created after the event in order to work toward preventing gun violence.

In October 2013, Sandy Hook Elementary School was torn down and another school was built on the land.

In 2014, the Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate who investigates the death of any child in Connecticut released a report that clearly laid out Adam Lanza’s mental health struggles and surmised that it was very likely that there was a missed opportunity to stop this from happening by getting Adam help and treatment and not having easy access to these weapons. The report said, “This report cannot and does not answer the question of ‘why’ Adam Lanza committed murder.” The same was said in the State’s Attorney’s court report. The FBI declassified 1500 pages from this investigation that detailed the investigation and court decisions.

In those pages, it is pointed out that “the obvious question remains: ‘Why did the shooter murder 27 people including 20 children?’ Unfortunately, that question may never be answered conclusively, despite the collection of extensive background information on the shooter through a multitude of interviews and other sources. The evidence clearly shows that the shooter planned his actions, including the taking of his own life, but there is not clear indication why he did so, or why he targeted Sandy Hook Elementary School.”

The document goes on to say that “it is known that Adam Lanza had significant mental health issues that affected his ability to have a normal life and to interact with others.” He was unable and unwilling to help himself deal with his issues, but at the same time professionals who did see him (albeit years before) never had any indication that he was violent.

The court documents claimed that Adam’s “mental status was no defense to conduct as evidence shows he knew his conduct to be against the law. He had the ability to control his behavior to obtain the results he wanted, including his own death.” He took the further step to put earplugs in so that he wouldn’t be bothered by all the noise. Adam Lanza had “clearly planned his crimes in advance and was under no extreme emotional disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse.”

An article about Adam and Sensory Processing Disorder said Adam was “not some monster, except on one particular day when he was exceedingly monstrous.” Adam had not been some psycho out torturing animals and setting fires. He had definite deficits in social skills and significant mental illness, but he knew what he was doing was wrong and had planned this and was very controlled.

There was no indication that Adam had endured a traumatic episode. If he had been bullied in school, it was not significant enough for anyone to be concerned. However, with his reported social delays and sensory processing issues, he could have perceived slights as bullying or something others may disregard as a full fledged traumatic event.

Adam’s father Peter Lanza has spoken out that he carries extreme guilt about what his son did and went so far as to say he wishes that his son had never been born. Peter told the New Yorker, “You can’t get anymore evil.” He also said “How much do I beat up on myself about the fact that he’s my son? A lot.” He told the New Yorker that not an hour goes by that he doesn’t think about the shooting. “I want people to be afraid of the fact that this could happen to them. It doesn’t have to be understood to be real.” Peter met the relatives of 2 Sandy Hook victims and called it “gut-wrenching.” He said that “A victim’s family member told me they forgave Adam after we spent 3 hours talking. I didn’t even know how to respond.”

The families of the victims and the survivors are trying to heal, but that’s easier said than done.

On the day of the shooting, families were checking in with each other and reporting that their family was whole and their children made it out alive. But families like the Bardens posted, “Guys, I’m so sorry to say our sweet, little angel Daniel did not make it out.” Daniel Barden’s family had spent that previous Sunday at the Christmas tree farm choosing their tree. Daniel made sure everyone got the same amount of time sawing the tree. Now his parents had to plan his funeral. Mark Barden, Daniel’s dad, told the Newtown documentary, “I still dread that everyday I live, I’m one day further away from my life with Daniel.” Daniel’s parents attended as many funerals as they could manage, and the surviving teachers at Sandy Hook had to create a spreadsheet of the 26 funerals they wanted/needed to attend. This was described as a new point in their lives. “Things either happened before 12/14 or they happened after 12/14.”

6-year-old Dylan Hockley’s mother Nicole Hockley and 7-year-old Daniel Barden’s dad, Mark Barden spend their lives now speaking out against gun violence and attempting to make change in legislation through their work in Sandy Hook Promise. They have become like brother and sister through this.

12 family members of 8 victims were flown to DC on Air Force one and President Obama spoke out about gun violence. The family members were there to hear the results of new proposed gun legislation, but they would leave disappointed when the legislation was defeated. Despite losing 20 6 and 7-year-olds and 6 teachers who were doing nothing wrong and were simply at school, it was defeated.

Ben Wheeler’s dad said the first responsibility and first concern should be in making sure their constituents are safe. The families aren’t discouraged though and they continue to fight.

The Hockley’s actually live almost across the street from where the Lanza’s lived, but they never knew them. That house has since been torn down, but Nicole Hockley has stated that she doesn’t forgive Adam’s mom specifically. She gave him access to the weapons.

Mark Barden said, “I don’t want closure…How could I ever say, ‘I’m over this now.’ There is no closure.”