Sandy Hook Father Of Slain Child Receives Death Threats, Says ‘Hoaxers’ Part Of A ‘Thought Virus’

Len Pozner has taken a stand against Sandy Hook deniers — “hoaxers” as he’s wont to call them — who claim that the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012, never occurred. The father of 6-year-old Noah Pozner, one of 20 children killed during the shooting, he has become dedicated to fighting the spread of misinformation concerning the incident that has proliferated, mostly via the internet, since just after the tragedy occurred. Pozner says that the Sandy Hook hoaxers are disseminators of a “thought virus” that is part of the “online hate” prevalent on the internet today.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper spoke with Len Pozner via phone on Anderson Cooper 360 this week. Pozner did not want his face shown (for identification purposes), nor did he want his location revealed (to avoid additional harassment), because, just days before the broadcast, one of the individuals intent on exposing the Sandy Hook shooting as a hoax was arrested in Florida for making death threats against him.

Lucy Richards, 57, of Tampa was arrested and charged with four counts of transmitting threats on Monday, December 5, according to a statement from the United States Attorney Southern District of Florida. USA Today reported Thursday that federal court documents reveal Richards, a so-called “Sandy Hook truther,” made threatening statements via voicemail and online. She reportedly told Len Pozner in a voice message that “you gonna die, death is coming to you real soon,” and wrote, “Look behind you, it’s death,” according to the documents (which can be viewed along with a video of the voice mails at SandyHooksFacts.com).

Len Pozner told Anderson Cooper that the voice mails left by “this individual” (as noted, alleged to be Lucy Richards) were “pretty intense… I still remember the chills that were running down my body, hearing the voice mails. It’s over the top.”

Pozner said that the voice mails were on automatic play at the time, and he had to quickly stop the recording because of his other children being in the room at the time. In the voice mails, the caller, besides telling him he was going to die, referred derogatorily to Pozner as a “Jew b*****d” numerous times, accused him of hiding his son in his attic, and accused him of conspiring with the White House.

Sandy Hook deniers claim that the entire series of shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 was an orchestrated plot by the government and the media to convince the public to strengthen gun control laws in the United States. In short, to the truthers (or hoaxers), believe 20-year-old Adam Lanza never entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and, armed with an assault rifle, shot and killed 26 people (20 children and 6 adults) before killing himself. Although there are various versions of how the hoax was supposedly perpetrated, much of the incident was believed to be staged or acted out. It has been claimed by some that some of the victims did not exist at all.

But Lanza actually started the day of the deadliest mass shooting at a high school or grade school in U.S. history by shooting and killing his 52-year-old mother. He then took her car and drove to nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School, shot his way through the electronically controlled door, and within five minutes killed 27 more people, including himself.

Cooper spoke about the small community of hoaxers that had sprung up after the massacre and continue to deny that the Sandy Hook mass shooting never happened. But Pozner replied that he did not believe that the number of Sandy Hook truthers was small.

“Experience tells me it’s not a small number of people. It’s a small number of people that are as vocal about it. A lot of people just keep it to themselves. It’s an expression of hate; it’s online hate.”

Pozner went on to say that the Sandy Hook mass shooting was part of a “thought virus” that included other tragic incidents.

“I describe it as a thought virus, because this concept just continues to spread. So with every mass casualty event or with every public incident, it’s immediately labeled a hoax by this certain circle of people that are on the web.”

Along with the Sandy Hook incident, there are those who believe that the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, were an “inside job” orchestrated by President George W. Bush’s administration. More recently, the terrorist attacks in Paris and the mass shooting at an Orlando dance club have been labeled hoaxes, or “false flag” incidents (where the event was perpetrated by a party other than that being reported, orchestrated to make the reported party look guilty), by those who are distrustful of government entities.

Len Pozner has been the victim of truther harassment for some time but fed up with online truthers attempting to smear the Sandy Hook mass shooting as a conspiracy, he formed an organization called the HONR Networks. He works now to take down every video and piece of content depicting false evidence about the Sandy Hook incident.

When Cooper asked if he thought the hoaxers will ever go away, Pozner was quick to answer, “I don’t think so; I don’t think it will ever go away.”

December 14 will mark the fourth anniversary of the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting.

[Featured Image by Handout/Getty Images]