AUSTIN, Texas _ The parents of children who died in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., have accused conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and InfoWars of defamation and seek damages in excess of $1 million.
Two lawsuits filed on behalf of Neil Heslin, Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa allege that Jones and his media organization spread false information related to the tragedy.
One of the suits also names Jones' employee, Owen Shroyer, as a defendant.
Heslin's suit arose from accusations InfoWars made in 2017 that Heslin was lying about holding his son's body and seeing a bullet hole in the child's head.
"This heartless and vile act of defamation re-ignited the Sandy Hook 'false flag' conspiracy and tore open the emotional wounds that (Heslin) has tried so desperately to heal," a petition filed in Travis County district court said.
The second suit was filed after InfoWars aired programming that claimed an interview De La Rosa did with CNN was faked, and pushed it as "evidence" of a government cover-up.
"Those statements in 2017 were part of a long history of lies peddled by Jones," said Mark Bankston, the attorney representing the plaintiffs. "Our clients have been tormented for five years by Mr. Jones' ghoulish accusations that they are actors who faked their children's deaths as part of a fraud on the American people. Enough is enough."
The pair of lawsuits marks the third to be filed against Jones and his company in recent weeks.
Marcel Fontaine is suing Jones for more than $1 million after he used an image of Fontaine that portrayed him as the shooter who killed 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in February.
Fontaine is a Massachusetts resident with no ties to the deadly shooting.
