Saturday marks the 12th anniversary of the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
The anniversary comes days after a judge blocked the sale of Alex Jones' Infowars platform to The Onion, a satirical news outlet. The forced sale came after Jones was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion to Sandy Hook families in a defamation case for calling the shooting a hoax.
Scripps News spoke with Robbie Parker, who lost his 6-year-old daughter Emilie in the shooting and testified at Jones' damages trial. Parker is the author of the new book, "A Father's Fight: Taking on Alex Jones and Reclaiming the Truth about Sandy Hook."
The blocked sale was "Obviously a lot of disappointment, Parker told Scripps News, but "We know that we're on good legal standing with everything that happened, and [the judge] agreed that we were, and there wasn't anything wrong that happened in the sale. So it's just a setback, really. Jones can try and claim victory here, but at the end of the day his Infowars business is still going to be sold."
"Jones unfortunately became almost synonymous with the Sandy Hook tragedy because of the lies and vitriol that he shared with his listeners, who then decided it was right for them to attack me and other Sandy Hook families within a day after the shooting," Parker said. "I started my grief journey, and immediately Alex Jones and his hate and lies became part of my grief journey, as well. That complicated it a lot."
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But Parker says he's confident he and other Sandy Hook families will see the sale through.
"I have a very good team of lawyers and they're working really hard to try and figure out exactly what the judge needs out of this," Parker said. "These are people who care about the truth, they care about us, and they care about doing what's right. We have all of that on our side."
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez said there had been transparency problems with the Infowars auction process. For now, the trustee that oversaw the auction is expected to decide the next steps for a potential sale.
After the judge's ruling, Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion’s parent company Global Tetrahedron, signaled continued support for Parker and the other families.
“We are deeply disappointed in today's decision, but The Onion will continue to seek a resolution that helps the Sandy Hook families receive a positive outcome for the horror they endured,” Collins wrote.
Watch the full interview with Parker in the video above.
