Parents of two of the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre are suing the town of Newtown, alleging that avoidable security failures at the elementary school allowed Adam Lanza to kill their children.
The families of Jesse Lewis and Noah Pozner, who were six years old when they were killed, are seeking damages from the Connecticut town over Lanza’s shooting spree on 14 December 2012, in which the 20-year-old killed 20 young students, six members of the school’s staff, and his mother.
In a 64-page lawsuit, the parents detail an extensive list of alleged failings by the town, the Sandy Hook board of education and the school itself, which they claim “resulted in the death” of the students, including their children.
The lawsuit said that the two boys “suffered both physically and mentally prior to [their] untimely death”, that their “capacity to enjoy life’s activities and have a family were completely and permanently extinguished”, and that their parents incurred medical and funeral costs.
Each was a “studious and dedicated student whose life was cut short before he could finish his education, [and] begin a career, and he therefore lost a lifetime of potential earnings, and the opportunity for the participation in a lifetime of experiences and enjoyment”, it said.
The school never implemented its “lockdown and evacuation plan” when Lanza entered with an AR-15 rifle, according to the lawsuit, which names Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, Jesse’s parents, and Leonard Pozner, Noah’s father, as the administrators of their estates.
They accuse the town of failing to provide staff with “the necessary information, tools and training” to implement school safety procedures, with keys to lock classroom doors, and with doors that could be locked from the inside.
The parents go on to allege that the lack of a security guard or a secure front entrance to the school meant that locking the front doors was “irrelevant and impotent” and gaining access to the building was “relatively simple”. Lanza shot his way through the glass beside the doors.
Pozner, Lewis and Heslin are seeking damages in excess of $15,000, according to the lawsuit, which was filed to the Connecticut superior court in Danbury by their attorney, Donald Papcsy. Papcsy did not immediately return a message on Tuesday. The lawsuit was first reported by the Hartford Courant.
Their lawsuit follows another filed by a larger group of Sandy Hook victims’ parents against Bushmaster, the manufacturer of the rifle used by Lanza for his shootings.
David Grogins, an attorney for Newtown, said on Tuesday: “The lawsuit has been received. We were served with it on Friday.” Grogins said he had no further comment. Joseph Erardi, the superintendent of the Newtown school district, and Patricia Llodra, Newtown’s first selectman, did not respond to requests for comment.
