The father of a child killed during the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting testified that fans of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones showed up to his home demanding to see his dead son.
David Wheeler—whose son Ben was killed in the shooting—says that fans of Infowars host Jones were spurred by his conspiracy theories that the shooting never happened.
Wheeler recalled the moment that an individual "came to the house and knocked on the door" and insisted that Ben Wheeler was in the house and alive. He also said that he first learned from a friend that Jones was sharing conspiracy theories about the shooting.that claimed the lives of 20 students between the ages of six and seven as well as six staff members.
You can hear his remarks—delivered during Jones' latest defamation trial—below.
\u201cPlaintiff #DavidWheeler said that someone came to his house looking for his deceased son Ben, and another person came disguising themselves as a "reporter." "I know he's here. I know he's alive," the person said.\u201d— Law&Crime Network (@Law&Crime Network) 1663777200
Wheeler said:
"After the shock of Ben's murder, it felt like I was underwater and I didn't know which way was up. You're grasping with that, trying to get your head around that."
"To have someone publicly telling the world that it didn't happen and that you're a fraud and a phony is incredibly disorienting... I couldn't figure it out."
"It felt like I was delegitimized in a way. It makes you feel like you don't matter, like what you went through doesn't matter."
Wheeler shared that he had to have difficult conversations with his surviving son, Nate, who was nine years old when the shooting occurred:
"For years he would ask me why anyone would do such a thing … Why Alex Jones would say these things." ...
"He said, 'Why is this happening?' and I didn't have an answer."
\u201cBen had an older brother, he was 9 yrs old when Ben was killed. \nDavid Wheeler says he had to tell Nate what was happening with people saying the shooting wasn't real. \n"He said, why is this happening and I didn't have an answer." \n\n#SandyHook #AlexJones\u201d— Cathy Russon (@Cathy Russon) 1663773366
The trial is the second of three defamation trials for Jones, who last month was ordered to pay $45 million in damages to Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, whose six-year-old son Jesse Lewis was killed in the shooting. For years, Jones suggested the shooting could have been a false flag "staged event" and the victims and families were just "crisis actors."
In perhaps the trial's most striking moment, Lewis took the witness stand and declared "my son existed," a repudiation of a man who for years elevated conspiracy theories claiming the shooting never happened.
Lewis looked Jones right in the eye as she took him to task for repeatedly lying about the shooting on his program, saying even though she knows he believed her, "you're going to leave this court house and you're going to say it again on your show."
Jones is testifying today and insisted under oath that he had not uttered the names of Sandy Hook parents on his program.
\u201cLIVE NOW: Alex Jones testifies in his second trial for falsely claiming the Sandy Hook mass shooting was a hoax https://t.co/HFnbMle37i\u201d— NowThis (@NowThis) 1663858626
Many expressed hopes that Wheeler would also see justice and criticized Jones' actions.
\u201cDear God\u2026\u2026\u2026this\u2b07\ufe0f\u2026..is breathtaking\u2026..and NOT in a good way\u2026.\n\nIt breaks my heart and then almost instantly after that, inflames me with rage\u2026..I am so, so sorry for the Wheeler Family\u2026..\ud83d\udc94\u201d— Phoenixwmn (@Phoenixwmn) 1663816739
\u201cThere isn\u2019t enough money in this world that would be a sufficient punishment for what AJ did to these heart broken parents, families and friends. Prison is a must.\u201d— Ben Burgy (@Ben Burgy) 1663854974
\u201cOf course...\n\n#AlexJones is dangerous.\n\nhttps://t.co/YF3cTMBrnX\u201d— Crisis and Cure (@Crisis and Cure) 1663791966
\u201cSweet boy. A true loss for us all\ud83d\ude22\u201d— Angela Johnson (@Angela Johnson) 1663840739
\u201cAs I stated on the #MorningDocket with @jessecordweber, today is not the day for #AlexJones to go off on a conspiracy-laden rant in the presence of the jury. This is real pain and suffering this Plaintiff is feeling. The jury will have no sympathy for Jones if he does. #SandyHook\u201d— Matt Tympanick (@Matt Tympanick) 1663773072
\u201cRead on about Sandy Hook deniers at your peril. And read on: Pure evil needs to be witnessed.\u201d— Quentin Hardy (@Quentin Hardy) 1663772012
The Sandy Hook shooting—the deadliest mass shooting at a school in United States history—attracted a seemingly endless number of conspiracy theories about the event.
Earlier this year, journalist Elizabeth Williamson published Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth, which analyzed the effect that conspiracy theories had on families who lost their children.
Williamson also interviewed conspiracy theorists, including Kelley Watt, a grandmother of two from Tulsa, Oklahoma who sparked outrage after she said she is "proud" to harass families of the victims.
Watt claimed she spent a significant part of the last decade "researching" mass shootings, concluding that mass shootings are little more than "false flag" operations designed to strike fear and convince people to support comprehensive gun control legislation.
So extreme are Watt's beliefs they ended her marriage and harmed her relationships with her own children. Her daughter, Madison, told Williamson her mother is a narcissist who will never admit she is wrong, saying that it "would explode her own persona to allow any doubt to come in."
