Family members of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have rejected an offer from Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to settle with each of them for $120,000, Newsweek reported, citing court filings.
The families described the offer as a “transparent and desperate” attempt by Jones to avoid accountability for falsely claiming the massacre was a hoax.
“The so-called offer is a transparent and desperate attempt by Alex Jones to escape a public reckoning under oath with his deceitful, profit-driven campaign against the plaintiffs and the memory of their loved ones lost at Sandy Hook,” the families said, according to Newsweek.
According to court documents, Jones offered each of the 13 plaintiffs the lowball settlement on Tuesday after a judge ruled in November that he must pay damages to the families of the murdered children for repeatedly spreading false claims about the 2012 mass shooting.
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On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed 20 first-graders and six educators at the Newtown, Connecticut elementary school. Lanza fatally shot his mother at their home before going to the school. He then killed himself as police moved in.
However, Jones portrayed the shooting as a hoax to push laws aimed at increasing gun control.
The InfoWars host later admitted that a shooting did occur, but said the lawsuits against him should be dismissed for violating his freedom of speech.
Along with his offer, Jones offered his “heartfelt apology for any distress his remarks caused,” according to the filings submitted in a Connecticut court state. But the families rejected Jones’ offer.
A trial is scheduled to take place to determine how much Jones should pay the families for perpetuating the false narrative that the shooting was a hoax.
