Read in full the vile threats Alex Jones’ followers sent grieving father after his daughter was murdered

On the morning of December 14, 2012, six-year-old Emilie Parker – a funny, curious chatterbox who was new to Sandy Hook Elementary School – was gunned down along with 25 of her teachers and classmates in what remains the deadliest mass shooting at an elementary school in the American history.

In the wake of such unimaginable loss, her father Robbie reluctantly became the “face” of the families seeking answers for the senseless shooting of their children.

And he has now revealed in excruciating detail how in the process he also became the target of years of vicious lies, death threats and terrifying physical confrontations from conspiracy theorists convinced the massacre was a hoax.

In his new book A father’s fightParker describes the unfolding horror as Alex Jones, the owner of Infowars, falsely accused him of being a “crisis actor” who had fabricated not only his daughter’s devastating death, but the entire shooting, as a way to create a fight to justify a tighter fight. gun laws.

“Don’t ever think this couldn’t be staged,” Jones warned his viewers a few days after the massacre. “I told you they come for our guns, they come looking for mass shootings and then it magically happens. They’re coming. They’re coming. They’re coming!’

His followers wasted no time in taking up the gauntlet.

Some messages — like the Facebook friend request sent from a fake profile of the shooter, Adam Lanza, complete with his photo and demographics — were simply “cruel and malicious,” Parker says.

Others were much more sinister and offensive.

“Damn liar, your daughter isn’t dead!” read a comment on a memorial page on Facebook started by friends of the family.

‘Viva 2nd Amendment! Try to take my weapons, but be careful, because we’re coming after you!’ said another, this time referring to an Infowars article and video about the shooting.

Parker and his wife Alissa, choking in their grief, tried to ignore the messages, but it became almost impossible.

“Alissa and I read a real letter in which a man expressed his fantasy of what my head would feel like after being hit with his baseball bat,” he writes.

“The conspiracy messages had progressed from anonymous online messages to sending physical letters to my house. And not just our home: a majority of Sandy Hook families received threatening material in some way.”

One couple was told: ‘Death comes to you very quickly. LOOK BEHIND YOU; IT IS DEATH!’

He added: ‘Mark Barden, whose son Daniel was murdered, told how someone sent a letter to let him and his wife Jackie know that they had gone and urinated on Daniel’s grave and headstone..’

In late January 2013, they were forced to close Emilie’s memorial page because it was “so overrun with disgusting filth and lies.”

‘How is Emilie doing tonight? We know the bitch is either alive or never existed.”

“You dirty, evil bastard, we know Emilie never existed and all you do is collect money.”

‘You will have to answer to God for your nonsense! Your children are ugly! You punk bitch!”

But Parker’s fear became very real and palpable when he was confronted on the street during a visit to Seattle in 2015.

“A man on the sidewalk made eye contact with me and wouldn’t look away,” he recalls.

“He was over 6 feet tall, had dark hair and was dressed like any other Seattle professional walking around town after work.”

“Hey,” the men said with curious eyes, “didn’t you have a kid that got murdered?”

It had been a while since Parker had been recognized, so he was taken aback, but said, yes, his daughter had been killed at Sandy Hook, and instinctively reached out to shake hands with a well-wisher.

‘He looked at my hand and then stared at me for a few seconds. Suddenly I saw his face contort as his eyes darkened. He pressed his lips together before spitting, “How the fuck do you sleep at night, you fucking son of ab*tch?”

‘His words were pure hatred and I stood still in shock, as if I had just been bitten by a snake. He stepped right in front of me and continued, “How much money did they give you?” Hey? How much money did they give you, you lying piece of shit?’

‘I froze and felt my blood boil as my hands and jaw clenched tightly. Behind him, across the street, was the hotel where my wife and daughters were waiting for me… I had to keep this man away from them at all costs.

“Without saying a word, I turned and walked down the street, away from the hotel.”

The man kept pace with Parker, walking alongside him, spitting venom into his ear and then gradually raising his voice until he was shouting obscenities.

“I felt hot, my whole face turned red as I was overcome with emotion in a way I had never experienced before,” he writes.

‘Everyone else on the busy street seemed to disappear and the additional noise of the city faded away. I had never personally experienced so much vile hatred. I felt myself starting to panic.

‘I picked up my pace and so did he. “Huh, asshole? We all know that no one was murdered at Sandy Hook. The FBI made a mistake and reported that no one had been killed. Emilie isn’t real.”

Parker eventually shook off his attacker and, overcome with rage, had to walk around the block twice more to calm down – and make sure his tormentor was gone.

‘I felt my heartbeat pounding in my ears. For the first time ever, I was in a relationship with a conspirator and felt the disgust emanating from him for who he thought I was.”

He says he blamed himself for the abuse for a long time.

“It was my idea to hold a press conference that would become the fodder that Alex Jones used to spread the lies that fueled hatred and slander against all Sandy Hook families,” he writes. “I bore the blame as a form of penance for the brutal attack we suffered because of my carelessness.”

But Alex Jones has since admitted that the Connecticut shooting did happen.

And in 2022, the families won a $1.4 billion defamation lawsuit against him. He was forced to declare bankruptcy and sell Infowars to pay damages.

It was bought at auction last month by the satirical news site The Onion, but this week a federal judge rejected the sale, criticizing the bidding process as flawed and saying the largest bidder had not been selected.

The decision means Jones can remain at Infowars.

“We can celebrate the judge doing the right thing with the most ridiculous, fraudulent auction ever known to humanity,” he said.

Christopher Mattei, an attorney for the Sandy Hook families who sued Jones in Connecticut, said they were disappointed the offer was rejected after it was recommended by the trustee as being in the best interests of Jones’ creditors.

“These families, who have endured countless delays and roadblocks, remain resilient and determined as ever to hold Alex Jones and his corrupt companies accountable for the damage he caused,” Mattei said.

“This decision does not change the fact that Alex Jones will soon begin paying off his debts to these families, and he will continue to do so for as long as necessary.”

A Father’s Fight: Taking on Alex Jones and Reclaiming the Truth About Sandy Hook by Robbie Parker is published by Diversion Books