By Maverick
On December 14th, 2012, tragedy struck in Newtown, Connecticut. A 20-year-old gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and murdered 26 people (20 children aged 6–7, and 6 adult staff members) before taking his own life. The shooting instantly became one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. It reignited debates about gun control, mental health, and school security, while devastating families and communities across the country.
20-year-old, Adam Peter Lanza was the perpetrator of the Sandy Hook shooting. Adam was the younger of two sons born to Nancy and Peter Lanza. His father was a vice president at General Electric, and his parents divorced in 2009. He grew up in an upper-middle-class household in Newtown, Connecticut, a quiet suburban town. Reports from acquaintances and former teachers describe him as intelligent but socially withdrawn, with difficulty making eye contact or connecting emotionally with others. He had a strong interest in computers, video games, and firearms, and spent most of his time isolated in his room.
It was later revealed that Lanza was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome (now part of Autism Spectrum Disorder) in childhood, but professionals later suggested he may also have had obsessive-compulsive disorder, severe anxiety, and possible schizoid or schizotypal traits. Despite his mother seeking help for him, Lanza resisted psychiatric treatment and became increasingly socially isolated after his mid-teens. By 2010–2012, he had become almost completely cut off from the outside world, spending most of his time in his bedroom and communicating only by email with his mother.
Investigators found that Lanza had developed an obsessive interest in mass shootings, particularly the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, which occurred on April 20th, 1999, in Littleton, Colorado, when two students, 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold, carried out a mass shooting and attempted bombing at their high school. They murdered 12 students and 1 teacher, injuring 24 others, before taking their own lives. The attack, planned for over a year, involved guns and homemade explosives, though the bombs failed to detonate. Motivations included revenge, anger, social alienation, and a desire for infamy. Harris displayed psychopathic tendencies, while Klebold exhibited depression and suicidal tendencies.
Moving back to Adam Lanza, he kept a spreadsheet cataloging mass murders and detailed notes analyzing weapons and tactics used in previous shootings. In the months leading up to the attack, he stopped communicating with his father altogether and rarely left the house. This is where things took a turn for the worse.
On December 14th, 2012, Lanza started that day off by shooting his mother four times in the head with a .22-caliber rifle while she slept at home. He then drove her car to Sandy Hook Elementary School, armed with a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle (a type of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapon), two handguns (a Glock 20SF and a SIG Sauer P226). He forced entry into the school around 9:35 a.m. by shooting through the glass of a locked front door. In less than 11 minutes, he shot and killed 20 first-grade children (ages 6–7) and 6 adult staff members before turning the gun on himself as police arrived.
The massacre shocked the nation and reignited intense debate over gun control, school security, and mental health care. The investigation found no clear motive, but Lanza’s writings and digital history showed a fixation on violence and mass murder, coupled with a deep sense of alienation and possible psychosis. He was, of course, another “lone gunman”. He easily had access to firearms that were legally purchased by his mother, who was a gun enthusiast and took him shooting, which earned him experience.
Within days, a wave of conspiracy theories claiming the attack was staged, crisis actors were involved, or the government had orchestrated it to push political agendas. This was not just a fringe phenomenon. It became one of the first mass misinformation campaigns of the modern social-media age, and its consequences still echo today.
Despite the case evidence, online communities began rejecting the official account, marking one of the first times the terms “crisis actor” and “false flag” gained mainstream attention through YouTube, Facebook, and alternative news sites. Conspiracy-oriented bloggers and YouTubers began dissecting video clips, press conferences, and early media errors. A few of the earliest and most viral claims included that the parents of the children who died were crisis actors and had to be in on it because of misinterpreted footage showing them smiling or speaking calmly.
Others claimed that there were no ambulances or blood. I mean, they were children, for Christ’s sake, of course, the authorities weren’t going to just fork over and publicize the autopsy and crime scene photos and videos they had. It was also an ongoing police investigation. Someone else online posted a claim that the school was closed before 2012, based on supposed outdated property records and satellite images. Each major claim was methodically disproven through public records, forensic evidence, and eyewitness accounts. So let’s start with the claim that the school was closed years earlier, which was disproven by public records, tax filings, and local interviews that confirmed Sandy Hook Elementary School was fully operational with 600 students in 2012 and earlier.
The claim that the parents being “crisis actors” had birth certificates and school records, which confirm every child and adult victim was real. Can records be doctored? Sure, but I doubt that to be the case with this tragedy. The claim that there is no proof of the deaths was debunked by the Coroner’s reports, death certificates, and 911 transcripts. There was also a claim that Adam Lanza was a government operative or under MK-ULTRA, the CIA mind control program that they supposedly “discontinued” in the 1970s. This theory I’m more inclined to believe, but of course, officials laughed it off and debunked that theory by looking into his computer and observing his digital footprint, learning about his mental health struggles. Adam Lanza was prescribed an SSRI antidepressant called Celexa (citalopram) at age 14, but his mother discontinued the medication because he experienced an adverse reaction, reportedly being unable to move his arm. Lanza was not taking SSRIs during the time of the shooting.
Psychologists concluded that the reason why Sandy Hook conspiracy theories took root was because of cognitive dissonance and emotional overload, that the murder of 20 children in cold blood just couldn’t be real, so they rejected that reality. I get it, it did seem hard to believe that someone could do this. Just more confirmation that we need to prioritize mental health treatment in this country since it’s becoming such an epidemic. Also, the mistrust in government and mainstream media was growing around that time, where Americans were primed to believe that “everything is a conspiracy” and the government has to be directly involved in some way. I can’t say I blame people there either. There were also certain media personalities who amplified these falsehoods for profit, gaining clicks, followers, and donations from audiences drawn to anti-establishment narratives.
The consequences were devastating for survivors and the families of the victims. Parents who had just lost their children were harassed online and in person, accused of lying about their children’s existence. Some received death threats. In 2018 and 2022, major defamation lawsuits culminated in massive court rulings against Alex Jones, the most prominent figure who promoted conspiracy theories about Sandy Hook on his platform Infowars. Courts found that Jones and his company had defamed the families, causing severe emotional distress. In 2022, juries awarded families nearly $1.5 billion in damages, marking one of the most significant accountability cases in misinformation history. Now we know there are cases where people do get it all wrong when it comes to conspiracy theories, which could lead to this dreadful outcome, where these parents were harassed relentlessly.
At the end of the day, the Sandy Hook shooting was a real, horrific tragedy, a heinous crime. It also became a defining moment for understanding how falsehoods mutate and thrive in the social media age. More proof that the internet is a cancer: any kind of fake news or rumor can run rampant and go viral in no time, so it’s imperative to be careful what you do online and make sure to thoroughly vet your sources; otherwise, you will get inaccurate information. Please share your thoughts in the comment section. Be well.
