Report links NRA official to Sandy Hook hoaxer

Wolfgang Halbig, a former Florida State Trooper and school principal, speaks about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting before the Board of Education meeting at the Newtown Municipal Center Council Chambers in Newtown, Conn. Tuesday, May 6, 2014. less Wolfgang Halbig, a former Florida State Trooper and school principal, speaks about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting before the Board of Education meeting at the Newtown Municipal Center Council ... more Photo: Tyler Sizemore Buy photo Photo: Tyler Sizemore Image 1 of / 29 Caption Close Report links NRA official to Sandy Hook hoaxer 1 / 29 Back to Gallery

An official with the National Rifle Association corresponded with a prominent Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist to call into question the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., the HuffPost reported Wednesday.

Twenty children and six adults were killed during the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

In the years since, doubters have floated conspiracy theories questioning whether the shooting happened.

According to a report from HuffPost’s Sebastian Murdock, NRA officer Mark Richardson emailed Wolfgang Halbig, a noted harasser of parents of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims, to float a conspiracy theory about the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were killed last year.

“Just like [Sandy Hook], there is so much more to this story,” Richardson said in an email dated Feb. 15, 2018 ― just one day after the Florida shooting, according to the HuffPost story. “[The Parkland shooter] was not alone.”

The report says Richardson’s email was sent from his official NRA email address.

According to the report, the email exchange between Richardson and Halbig emerged as part of the discovery process for an ongoing lawsuit between “Infowar”s host Alex Jones and Sandy Hook parent Scarlett Lewis, who is suing Jones and his show for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

According to the HuffPost report, Halbig is an Infowars contributor and “is on the front lines of spreading false statements about the victims of Sandy Hook.”

The report comes a day after Jones spouted conspiracy theories about the suicide of Sandy Hook father Jeremy Richman.

A medical examiner confirmed Richman died by suicide Wednesday.

In the past two weeks, the HuffPost report notes, two survivors of the Parkland shooting have also died by suicide.

HuffPost notes the NRA, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, is “floundering financially,” having reported a loss of $55 million in 2017 as its membership plummeted.