Daughter of Sandy Hook Victim Has Plea for Trump

Erica Lafferty, daughter of slain Sandy Hook Elementary School principal Dawn Hochsprung, wants Donald Trump to cut his ties with a man who claims the 2012 Connecticut mass shooting didn't really happen. Radio host Alex Jones, who also runs the Infowars website, "has fanned the flames of a hateful conspiracy theory," Lafferty writes in an open letter to the president-elect, urging him to "denounce it immediately and cut ties with Alex Jones and anyone who subscribes to these dangerous ideas." Jones has claimed the 2012 shooting that killed 20 kids and six adults was "synthetic, completely fake with actors." More recently, Jones has been spreading the PizzaGate conspiracy theory and spoke of "investigating" it in person days before a gunman actually did so, reports People.

"You've appeared on Jones' radio show, praised his 'amazing' reputation, and promised him that you 'won't let him down,'" writes Lafferty, whose mother was killed trying to stop the school gunman. "Now he's claiming you've personally called to thank him after the election, and will be on his show again soon. It's unacceptable." Her letter, first released the week after Trump won the election, is now being circulated with an added petition by advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety as the anniversary of the Dec. 14 massacre approaches. (Another Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist was arrested this week for allegedly threatening to kill the parent of a murdered child.)