- The sister of hero teacher Victoria Soto, who was killed at Sandy Hook, in 2012 testified on Tuesday.
- Carlee Soto-Parisi was one of the first to take the stand in the lawsuit filed against Alex Jones.
WATERBURY, Connecticut — Within a couple of months of her older sister Victoria Soto dying in the December 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, Carlee Soto-Parisi says she first learned that many people thought the massacre never really happened.
"It's hurtful, it's devastating, it's crippling," Soto-Parisi, 29, said on Tuesday in Connecticut Superior Court in Waterbury. "You can't grieve properly because you're constantly defending yourself, defending your family, your loved ones."
Soto-Parisi was among the first to testify on Tuesday in the lawsuit filed by a Sandy Hook first responder and several victims' families against Infowars founder and host Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist shock jock who long perpetuated a lie that the shooting was a hoax carried out by the government so that they could take away personal firearms.
This is the second of three trials that Jones has faced from Sandy Hook relatives for his lies about the massacre.
He was found liable for defamation by default because he did not turn over documents in all three lawsuits. The trials are determining how much he owes his victims in damages. Earlier this year he was ordered to pay $4.1 million in compensatory damages in a trial in Texas and $45.2 million in punitive damages (though that number will likely be capped due to a Texas law).
Soto-Parisi is pictured in one of the most famous images to come out of the tragedy, crying on the phone after rushing to the scene. Twenty children and six adults were killed on December 14, 2012.
She said that people who shared Jones' belief that the shooting was staged over-analyzed the photo online, comparing her to women photographed at other tragic events like the Boston Bombing, claiming they were the same person and that it was evidence she was the same "crisis actor" hired time and time again.
FBI agent Bill Aldenberg, who also testified on Tuesday, shared a similar story about how Sandy Hook deniers claimed he and David Wheeler, who lost his son Ben in the shooting, were the same crisis actor. Aldenberg said he found video after video online of people comparing a photo of him responding to the shooting with pictures of Wheeler.
Aldenberg said that while he feels he can take the online harassment and questions over whether he was a real FBI agent, he hurts for the pain it's caused Wheeler.
"He's suffered enough," Aldenberg said.
It's not just online trolls that have harassed Aldenberg and the victims' families. Soto-Parisi said she's met people who have openly questioned the validity of the shooting to her face, including a classmate she had known since middle school and a fellow military wife.
The fear of running into one of these questioners has led her to disown her sister at times, even though she's proud of her and believes she "died a hero."
She said on occasions over the years, when people have asked her if she's related to Victoria Soto, she's said no, just because she isn't sure what kind of reaction she would get.
"Sometimes I said 'no.' I wasn't sure if you're on my side. Did you think I was an actor? So I said no, I'm not related to her, I don't know what you're talking about. Sometimes it was easier," Soto-Parisi said.
Testimony will continue on Wednesday, and the trial is expected to last about five weeks. Jones himself is set to testify, but it's unclear when he'll be taking the stand.