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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Matthew Dresch

Vile trolls abuse Sandy Hook victim's mum on 10th anniversary of school shooting

The mother of a seven-year-old girl killed at Sandy Hook is still being abused by vile trolls 10 years on from the shooting.

Michele Gay, 50, said trolls continue to target her family despite arch conspiracy theorist Alex Jones being ordered to pay almost $1billion to the families of Sandy Hook victims.

Jones was sued for defamation after he suggested the 2012 killings were staged.

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the shooting, which resulted in the deaths of 20 children, including Michele's daughter Josephine, and six adults.

Sharing her own experience of trolling, Michele told The Mirror: "Our family has its experiences with conspiracy theorists.

"Photos of our daughter were photoshopped and they made up stories about how our children hadn't really been killed.

"They would email us, email our foundation, attempt to hack our website.

"It was just unthinkable and it's still unthinkable some of the things they did and said. And it continues to this day."

Michele said the defamation case against Jones was part of the Sandy Hook families' efforts to end the abuse.

Although she was not part of the case, she said she was proud of the families that took part.

"I truly hope our families are successful in delivering a message that it's not okay to torture victims' families in this way and we won't as a country accept that behaviour," she added.

Josephine's mum Michele shared her experience of being targeted by conspiracy theorists (MediaNews Group via Getty Images)

The mum-of-three revealed that just last week she received an abusive message through Facebook.

She said: "One of them found us. They said something rude and profane directed towards me personally. It was harassment. It's all aimed at trying to engage or get you to answer back.

"In terms of Facebook there's not a lot that can be done other than monitoring these individuals. I think that's a big part of why these families stood up - the laws of this land have to keep up with technology and where the world is now.

Gunman Adam Lanza killed 26 people in the school shooting (AFP via Getty Images)

"The ruling was in their favour but it remains to be seen how the whole thing will play out.

"Harassment of any individual is not right, harassment of victims' families is a new level of despicable."

Michele said she remains close with the other families 10 years on from the massacre - and each of them have their own way of remembering their loved ones.

She honours Josephine's memory with her work at the Safe and Sound Schools organisation.

The non-profit promotes a school safety framework that is designed to prevent shootings.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones suggested the 2012 killings were staged (AFP via Getty Images)

One of the simple changes that Michele advocates is making sure schools have classroom doors that are easy to lock.

The former teacher said: "Our teachers (at Sandy Hook) didn't have the ability to easily lock those classroom doors and that turned out to be something that could have really changed the outcome of that day.

"If they had been able to easily lock those doors it's very likely no-one would have been attacked in those classrooms. The teachers were able to close the doors - but to lock them they would have had to step out into the hallway and use a key to lock them."

Michele said her feelings towards 20-year-old shooter Adam Lanza, who killed himself after the Sandy Hook massacre, have changed over the years.

She said: "The more you learn the more you realise it's not simple. We as human beings are so complicated.

"While that might be hard to accept, it's important because that's where the opportunities to prevent these types of things from happening exist.

"As a Christian I am able to forgive. I am not absolving the attacker in any way for what he did, the horrible trauma and grief and harm he inflicted upon our beautiful children and teachers - and all of us who survive all these years later.

"But I believe in letting that go. It's not my role to be the judge - that's God's job."

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