Sandy Hook families file suit against Infowars' Alex Jones

The New York Times reports that three parents whose children died in the Sandy Hook shooting back in 2012 have filed two defamation lawsuits against Alex Jones, a noted right-wing conspiracy theorist and radio show host who views the incident as being "giant hoax" and "completely fake".

Neil Heslin, Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa filed the lawsuit in Austin, where Jones resides, on Monday.

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. The lawsuits were filed April 16 in a Travis County district court.

De La Rosa is suing Jones for claiming an interview she did with CNN's Anderson Cooper was faked, shot on a blue screen from a remote location away from Newtown.

"This conspiracy theory, which has been pushed by InfoWars and Mr. Jones since the day of the shooting, alleges that the Sandy Hook massacre did not happen, or that it was staged by the government and concealed using actors, and that the parents of the victims are participants in a horrifying cover-up", Heslin's lawsuit reads.

The parents are asking for damages in excess of $1 million for defamation, mental stress and anguish.

"Those statements in 2017 were part of a long history of lies peddled by Jones", said Mark Bankston, the attorney representing the plaintiffs.

Fontaine is a MA resident with no ties to the deadly shooting.