Sandy Hook parents to file wrongful death suit for 2012 shooting

HARTFORD, Conn. (Christian Examiner) — The families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School pre-schoolers who were killed in the December 14, 2012, Newtown, Connecticut, shooting are planning to file a wrongful death suit, according to reports. Parents of 11 out of the 20 first-graders killed are making legal preparations, though it is unclear what party will be sued.

The possibility for legal action was revealed in documents filed in state probate court.

Parents of the 11 children created estates for their lost loved ones: Charlotte Bacon, Danile Barden, Dylan Hockley, Jesse Lewis, Ana Marquez-Greene, James Mattioli, Grace McDonnell, Jack Pinto, Jessica Rekos, Avielle Richman and Benjamin Wheeler, according to the Hartford Courant. In setting up the estates the parents checked boxes saying they would be filing suits.

The statute of limitations on filing for wrongful deaths is two years, according to Connecticut state law, and so the parents may be out of time limits to register a civil suit against Adam Lanza, the shooter. However, were they to sue for product liability claims against the gun manufacturer, they would have three years to prepare their claim.

Lanza stormed Sandy Hook Elementary with a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle and killed 20 students and six teachers before turning a handgun on himself and committing suicide.

He also killed his mother, Nancy, who was a teacher at the school, before his rampage.