Casepin
Back to cases

Case file

Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting

SOLVED2012Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut3 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026

Documents violence · crimes against children · suicide · domestic violence — written to inform, not to shock.

Illustrative

On the morning of December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza, 20, shot and killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, 52, at their home in Newtown, Connecticut, using a .22-caliber rifle. He then drove her car to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 456 children were enrolled in kindergarten through fourth grade. Shortly after 9:35 a.m., Lanza shot his way through a glass panel beside the school's locked front entrance, armed with a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle and ten 30-round magazines.

Inside the school, Lanza killed Principal Dawn Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach in a hallway after they confronted him, and wounded lead teacher Natalie Hammond. He entered two first-grade classrooms, Room 8 and Room 10, where most of the killing occurred. In Room 8, substitute teacher Lauren Rousseau, behavioral therapist Rachel D'Avino, and 15 students were killed; one child survived by hiding. In Room 10, teacher Victoria Leigh Soto, special education teacher Anne Marie Murphy, and several students were killed, while some children escaped during the attack. Other staff, including nurse Sarah Cox, secretary Barbara Halstead, and janitor Rick Thorne, hid or helped alert classrooms. Several teachers barricaded students in bathrooms, closets, and storage rooms, actions credited with saving lives.

Police arrived within minutes; Newtown police entered the school at 9:45 a.m., about five minutes after the last shot was heard. Officers reported no shots fired by police. As first responders arrived, Lanza killed himself with a gunshot to the head using a Glock 20SF handgun in Room 10. In total, Lanza fired 156 shots in under five minutes. Investigators found a 12-gauge shotgun locked in Lanza's car and additional unused firearms and ammunition at the school and at his home.

The Connecticut State Attorney's November 2013 report concluded Lanza acted alone and planned the attack but found no clear motive. A November 2014 report by the Office of the Child Advocate noted Lanza had Asperger's syndrome, depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and anorexia, but stated these conditions "neither caused nor led to his murderous acts," instead describing a combination of deteriorating mental health, isolation, and access to weapons as contributing factors.

The shooting led to lawsuits, including one by families against Nancy Lanza's estate, settled in 2015, and a lawsuit against gun manufacturer Remington and related companies, settled for $73 million in 2022. Separate defamation lawsuits were brought by victims' family members against author James Fetzer and broadcaster Alex Jones over false claims that the shooting was fabricated; both were found liable for defamation, with Jones ordered to pay over $1.4 billion in combined judgments across two cases. The event prompted national debate over gun control, mental health policy, and school security, and remains one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

Key facts

Victims
Lauren Rousseau, Nancy Lanza, Natalie Hammond, Mary Sherlach, Dylan Hockley, Noah Pozner, Rachel D'Avino, Victoria Leigh Soto, Anne Marie Murphy, Dawn Hochsprung, Jesse Lewis
Date
2012
Location
Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut
Case status
solved

Case timeline

  1. 2012-12-14

    Adam Lanza fatally shoots his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their Newtown home, then drives to Sandy Hook Elementary School and kills 20 children and six staff members before killing himself as police arrive.

  2. 2012-12-15

    Connecticut Chief Medical Examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver II holds a press conference describing victims' injuries.

  3. 2012-12-16

    President Barack Obama travels to Newtown to meet with victims' families and speak at an interfaith vigil.

  4. 2013-01-03

    Surviving Sandy Hook students return to classes at the renamed Chalk Hill Middle School in Monroe, Connecticut.

  5. 2013-01-16

    President Obama signs 23 executive orders and proposes 12 congressional actions on gun control.

  6. 2013-03-28

    Court documents released show the shooting lasted under five minutes with 156 shots fired.

  7. 2013-10

    Toxicology report on Lanza published, finding no alcohol or drugs in his system.

  8. 2013-10-25

    Demolition of the original Sandy Hook Elementary School building begins.

  9. 2013-11-25

    Connecticut State Attorney's office issues final report concluding Lanza acted alone with no identified motive.

  10. 2013-12-27

    Police release thousands of pages of investigative documents pertaining to the shooting.

  11. 2014-11

    Office of the Child Advocate issues report on Lanza's mental health history and contributing factors.

  12. 2014-12

    Nine families file a class-action lawsuit against Bushmaster, Remington Arms, Camfour, and Riverview Sales.

  13. 2015-03

    Families of victims file lawsuits against the estate of Nancy Lanza.

  14. 2015-12

    Lawsuit against Nancy Lanza's estate settled, with 16 plaintiffs sharing a $1.5 million payment.

  15. 2018-04-17

    Radio host Alex Jones is sued for defamation by three parents of children killed in the shooting.

  16. 2019-03

    Connecticut Supreme Court reverses parts of a lower court ruling, allowing the Remington lawsuit to proceed.

  17. 2019-10-16

    A jury awards Leonard Pozner $450,000 in a defamation case against James Fetzer.

  18. 2022-02-15

    Remington agrees to settle the families' lawsuit for $73 million.

  19. 2022-08-04

    Alex Jones is ordered to pay $4.1 million in compensatory damages to Sandy Hook parents in a Texas case.

  20. 2022-08-05

    Alex Jones is ordered to pay an additional $45.2 million in punitive damages in the Texas case.

  21. 2022-10-12

    A Connecticut jury orders Alex Jones to pay an additional $965 million in damages to victims' families.

Best coverage

No approved coverage links are attached yet.

People

  • Lauren Rousseau

    VICTIM

    Substitute teacher, killed in Room 8 along with 15 students.

    citation on file

  • Nancy Lanza

    VICTIM

    Adam Lanza's mother, fatally shot at their Newtown home before the school shooting.

    citation on file

  • Natalie Hammond

    VICTIM

    Lead teacher, wounded by gunfire in a hallway; survived and was treated at Danbury Hospital.

    citation on file

  • Mary Sherlach

    VICTIM

    School psychologist, killed while confronting the shooter in a hallway.

    citation on file

  • Dylan Hockley

    VICTIM

    Six-year-old student killed in Room 10.

    citation on file

  • Noah Pozner

    VICTIM

    Six-year-old student killed in the shooting; subject of false claims later found to be defamatory against his father.

    citation on file

  • Rachel D'Avino

    VICTIM

    Behavioral therapist, killed in Room 8.

    citation on file

  • Adam Lanza

    CONVICTED

    Perpetrator; identified by Connecticut State Attorney's investigation as having acted alone in killing his mother and 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School before killing himself; no criminal charges were filed as he died at the scene.

    citation on file

  • Victoria Leigh Soto

    VICTIM

    First-grade teacher, killed in Room 10 while reportedly attempting to protect her students.

    citation on file

  • Anne Marie Murphy

    VICTIM

    Special education teacher, killed in Room 10 while found covering a student.

    citation on file

  • James Fetzer

    CONVICTED

    Found liable for defamation in a civil jury verdict for co-authoring a book falsely claiming victim Noah Pozner's father fabricated his death certificate; ordered to pay $450,000.

    citation on file

  • Dawn Hochsprung

    VICTIM

    School principal, killed while confronting the shooter in a hallway.

    citation on file

  • Alex Jones

    CONVICTED

    Found liable for defamation in separate Texas and Connecticut civil jury verdicts over false claims that the shooting was a hoax; ordered to pay over $1.4 billion in combined compensatory and punitive damages.

    citation on file

  • Jesse Lewis

    VICTIM

    First-grade student killed in Room 10 after shouting for classmates to run.

    citation on file

Places

Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut

41.4200, -73.2786

View on the map

Common questions

What happened to the victim?
On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot his mother at their Newtown, Connecticut home, then killed 20 children and six adult staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School before killing himself as police arrived.
Where did the shooting happen?
Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut.
Who was convicted?
Adam Lanza (Perpetrator; identified by Connecticut State Attorney's investigation as having acted alone in killing his mother and 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School before killing himself; no criminal charges were filed as he died at the scene.), James Fetzer (Found liable for defamation in a civil jury verdict for co-authoring a book falsely claiming victim Noah Pozner's father fabricated his death certificate; ordered to pay $450,000.), and Alex Jones (Found liable for defamation in separate Texas and Connecticut civil jury verdicts over false claims that the shooting was a hoax; ordered to pay over $1.4 billion in combined compensatory and punitive damages.).
What is the current status of the case?
Status: solved.

Sources

  1. Sandy Hook Elementary School shootingwikipedia · Wikipedia · 2026-07-07
  2. Contemporaneous coverage — The New York Timesnews · The New York Times · 2026-07-07
  3. Contemporaneous coverage — The Washington Postnews · The Washington Post · 2026-07-07
More cases in Connecticut