Added to the pain of the death of a son was hearing that the massacre that occurred was a mere invented farce.
For a decade, they were subjected to harassment by the followers of the person who spread the hoax.
This Wednesday, a jury from the state of Connecticut has agreed with those parents.
The founder of the far-right channel InfoWars, Alex Jones, will have to pay $965 million in compensation to a group of families who lost a loved one in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, and to an FBI agent who participated if.
For years, the conspiracy theorist had spread that that tragedy in which twenty children and six of their caregivers died, had been nothing more than theater.
The verdict represents the largest penalty imposed on Jones so far in a complex and lengthy battle by the parents of the children killed in court to hold the extremist accountable for his dissemination of lies.
The founder of InfoWars had argued before his listeners, a few hours after the massacre, that it was a staging to get the government to ban citizens from having weapons.
He also went so far as to suggest that the parents were not parents, but actors hired to carry on the charade.
He made those arguments for years, while his disinformation attracted more and more followers.
That brought him publicity and fat profits.
He only came to recognize that the tragedy was "100% real" when he was in the middle of the process of lawsuit after lawsuit.
By then, the plot of shell companies under which he hid the amassed fortune, calculated between 135 and 270 million dollars, was already in full judicial scrutiny.
His theory caught on with at least some of his followers, who are as fond of alt-right conspiracy theories as he is.
During the trial, the plaintiff parents testified about how they received threats and harassment from supporters of Jones, who accused them of having faked the death of their children.
Things got to such a point that they no longer felt safe in their own home;
when they went out into the street, they were always tense and alert.
Some even moved from Newport, the Connecticut town where the school was located.
During the three weeks of trial, they have relived that trauma.
“I feel incredibly proud and grateful for the message that has been sent today: that the truth prevails and those who take advantage of the pain and trauma of others end up paying for what they have done.
There will be other Alex Joneses in the world, but what they have been told today is that of course they will be held accountable,” said Erica Lafferty-Garbatini.
Her mother, Dawn Hoschsprung, was the school's principal when young Adam Lanza stormed the campus, having killed her own mother.
Hoschsprung was shot dead when she went out to see what was happening and warn the others.
In August, another court, in Texas, had also agreed with the parents in a parallel lawsuit, although the amount that Jones had to pay in damages was much less, 45.2 million dollars that his lawyers want to reduce.
A previous sentence had forced him to pay compensation of 4.1 million dollars to the first family that denounced him.
Wednesday's jury verdict applies to both Jones and his company, Free Specch Systems, which owns InfoWars and filed for bankruptcy protection in July.
Bankruptcy is a very common process in the United States to avoid paying a fine or legal action, and for now it has already allowed Jones to delay the payment of compensation in Texas.
While the verdict was read, the communicator promised to appeal, and assured that the bankruptcy process of his company will meanwhile protect the survival of the channel.
"We're fighting Goliath," he maintained, in true Jones fashion.
During the three weeks of hearing, the far-right icon had refused to apologize to the plaintiff families, arguing that he had already done so on other occasions.
The amount of compensation, to which Jones will have to add the costs of the trial and the plaintiffs' attorneys' fees, represents an indication of the jury's discomfort towards the behavior of the conspiracy theorist and his eagerness to spread the most unjustified hoaxes. to advance your agenda and gain followers.
"A jury representing our community and our nation has returned a historic verdict, a verdict against Alex Jones, his lies and poisonous spread, and a verdict for the truth and our common humanity," said Chris Mattie, attorney of the plaintiffs.
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