Disgraced former professor James Tracy, fired from Florida Atlantic University for using university resources to spread disinformation and subsequently lying about it, spends much of this chapter fixated on the typical errors and inconsistencies that surface in breaking news reports—an age-old issue only magnified by the 24-hour news cycle. Such reporting slip-ups are so common that entire books have been written on the subject, including Howard Rosenberg’s No Time to Think and Craig Silverman’s Regret the Error: How Media Mistakes Pollute the Press and Imperil Free Speech. If these surprises still shock Tracy, he’s in the clear minority.
Rather than waste time on the glaringly obvious—that misinformation thrives in chaotic early reporting—I’ll focus my fact-checking on claims that aren’t solely rooted in those early, flawed reports. I’ll make exceptions when necessary or when the claims are particularly egregious.
“Nobody Died At Sandy Hook”
Chapter One
By: James Tracy
“With the exception of an unusual and apparently contrived appearance by Emilie Parker’s alleged father, victims’ family members have been almost wholly absent from public scrutiny. What can be gleaned from this and similar coverage raises many more questions and glaring inconsistencies than answers.” pgs. 19-20
It’s telling that Tracy chooses the word scrutiny here, as if the parents, families, and friends of these murdered children—and adult victims—have some obligation to parade themselves in front of the media just so a handful of delusional knuckleheads can pick them apart. And that’s precisely what they did to Robbie Parker (Emilie Parker’s actual father). The truth is that, while many families understandably chose to grieve privately, a significant number have spoken out in the years since the attack. That list includes:
Members of Dawn Hochsprung’s family
As of this writing, it appears that only the families of Anne Marie Murphy, Olivia Engel, Madeleine Hsu (whose father is ethnically Chinese, possibly reflecting cultural and language considerations), Caroline Previdi, and Allison Wyatt have remained ‘absent’—which is fully within their rights. Jack Pinto’s father, Dean, did write an op-ed for the Hartford Courant but has otherwise maintained his family’s privacy.
Since 2012, nearly 77% of the victims’ families have bravely come forward and spoken out. So when James Tracy claims that family members have been absent from the public eye (or, in his twisted view, public ‘scrutiny’), it’s demonstrably false. Over three-quarters have shared their stories, many fully aware that doing so could lead to more anguish from the likes of James Fetzer, James Tracy, and their legion of dedicated stalkers.
“The multiple gaffes, discrepancies, and hedges in response to reporters’ astute questions suggest that he [Medical examiner H. Wayne Carver] is either under coercion or an imposter.” pg. 20
An imposter? Is this for real? It’s hard to believe something like six PhDs contributed to this book.
Compare Dr. Carver’s appearance in the very first episode of Forensic Files, which aired in 1996…
…to his appearance at the Sandy Hook press conference mentioned above.
This is unmistakably the same man, just sixteen years apart.
And for anyone wondering, Dr. Carver, who passed away in 2019, held an M.D. from Brown University (1977) and was certified by the American Board of Pathology, specializing in anatomic pathology with a subspecialty in forensic pathology. Hardly the qualifications of an impostor.
“Dressed in black, Lanza proceeds completely unnoticed through an oddly vacant parking lot with a military style rifle and shoots his way through double glass doors and a brand new yet apparently poorly engineered security system.” pg. 23
Unless Tracy has something to reveal about his whereabouts on December 14, 2012, how could he possibly know how full or “oddly vacant” Sandy Hook’s parking lot was when Adam Lanza arrived? The earliest photos and video footage from that day were captured by first responders and local news crews, who arrived after Lanza had taken his own life. Therefore, this is merely baseless speculation on Tracy’s part. Moreover, the term “oddly vacant” is entirely subjective. Vacant compared to what, exactly?
Here’s an aerial photo of the school’s parking lot taken shortly after the shooting:
Ignoring the dozen or so vehicles belonging to first responders, does this parking lot look “oddly vacant” to anyone? This is a relatively small elementary school; how many vehicles should be expected, James? The number of cars here certainly seems comparable to the number seen in this satellite photo taken in August of 2010:
As well as this satellite photo taken in March of 2012:
It’s a strange claim for Tracy to make, considering there’s a photo of an almost entirely full parking lot in the book’s prologue on page 12. Fetzer comments on this very photo, stating, “The image itself suggests a group of drivers methodically filling up the lot with used or abandoned cars.” So, which is it? Is it “oddly vacant,” or is it full of “used/abandoned” cars? It seems the authors of this book can’t even agree on their own fabrications.
There’s no explanation from Tracy about how the school’s security system was supposedly “poorly engineered.” In fact, the system functioned exactly as intended: Adam Lanza was unable to enter through the locked front door. Instead, he was forced to shoot out the large front window with an assault rifle to gain entry. Let’s also keep in mind that this was an elementary school in a small, safe town—there was no reason to anticipate an attack of this nature.
“Breaching the school’s security system in such a way would have likely triggered some automatic alert of school personnel. Further, why would the school’s administrators run toward an armed man who has just noisily blasted his way into the building?” pg. 24
How exactly would the system have triggered an alert? There’s no evidence anywhere that Sandy Hook’s security system included break-glass sensors. Remember, this was an elementary school with fewer than 500 students in a quiet, safe part of Connecticut—not exactly the kind of place you’d expect to be outfitted with high-level, bank-grade security. As for the heroism shown by Dawn Hochsprung and Mary Sherlach in confronting the shooter, well, it’s clear these two school administrators demonstrated a level of bravery that James Tracy couldn’t even begin to fathom, let alone match.
“Two other staff members attending the meeting with Hochsprung and Scherlach sustained injuries ‘in the hail of bullets’ but returned to the aforementioned meeting room and managed a call to 911. This contrasted with earlier reports where the first 911 call claimed students ‘were trapped in a classroom with the adult shooter who had two guns.’ Recordings of the first police dispatch following the 911 call at 9:35:50 indicate that someone ‘thinks there’s someone shooting in the building.’ There is a clear distinction between potentially hearing shots somewhere in the building and being almost mortally caught in a ‘hail of bullets.'” pg. 24
Tracy’s claim here is all over the place. He repeats his source’s incorrect assertion that two staff members were with Dawn Hochsprung and Mary Sherlach (which he can’t even bother to spell correctly) when they were fatally shot. Yet every credible account, including the official report, confirms that only one other staff member—teacher Natalie Hammond—was with Hochsprung and Sherlach when they confronted Adam Lanza in the hallway. Hammond herself was struck at least twice and managed to retreat to the conference room. The source of Tracy’s confusion is likely that another staff member, kindergarten aide Deborah Pisani, was also injured that day. However, Pisani wasn’t with Hochsprung, Sherlach, and Hammond; she was down the hall when a ricocheting bullet struck her in the foot. Remarkably, she was able to make it back to Kindergarten Room 1, where she spoke with a 911 operator at approximately 9:40 a.m., confirming her location on the call. This is corroborated by the transcript of her call (originally placed by an officer who was with her, hence the operator’s knowledge of her location):
CALL 5, 9:40:02 a.m., 5 minutes & 22 seconds
OPERATOR: O.K. Where are, where are you, are you O.K. right now?
CALLER: Yeah.
OPERATOR: O.K. Where, where, where’s Room 1 in the school?
CALLER: Facing the playground.
OPERATOR: Where are you?
CALLER: Facing the playground.
OPERATOR: On the playground?
CALLER: Facing toward — facing toward the playground.
OPERATOR: OK. Are you safe right now?
CALLER: I think so. My classroom door is not locked.
OPERATOR: OK. Is there anybody that can lock the classroom door with out — being safe?
CALLER: No.
OPERATOR: Is it safe to do so? O.K.
CALLER: No.
OPERATOR: All right, just try stay where you are. O.K.
CALLER: Yes. There’s children in this room, too.
OPERATOR: O.K., try to apply pressure, O.K.
CALLER: (Unintelligible)
OPERATOR: We have people coming, O.K.?
CALLER: Uh-huh
OPERATOR: All right.
OPERATOR: Is there any other teacher with you in there or is just students?
CALLER: No, there’s two other adults in the room with me.
OPERATOR: O.K. All right. Are they right next to you? Where are they in the room?
CALLER: No, they’re over on the other side of the bookshelf.
OPERATOR: O.K. All right. Are you O.K. right now?
CALLER: For now, hopefully.
OPERATOR: O.K. All right. Just keep an eye on it; try to keep pressure on it. O.K? We have people heading out there. O.K. Bye-bye.
As shown by the timestamp, this was not the first call to 911; it was the fifth. At no point does Pisani claim to be “mortally caught” by anything—an invention pulled entirely from Tracy’s imagination.
The first recorded call to 911—though several attempts went unanswered before a dispatcher finally picked up—came in five minutes earlier, placed by school secretary Barbara Halstead. At no point does Halstead claim there are students “trapped in a classroom with the adult shooter who had two guns,” nor would that have been accurate. Here is the full transcript of her call:
CALL 1, 9:35:39, 24 seconds
OPERATOR: Newtown 911. What’s the location of your emergency?
CALLER: Hi, Sandy Hook School. I think there is somebody shooting in here, in Sandy Hook School.
OPERATOR: O.K. What makes you think that?
CALLER: Because somebody’s got a gun. I caught a glimpse of someone, they’re running down the hallway.
OPERATOR: Okay.
CALLER: They are still running. They’re still shooting. Sandy Hook School, please.
Regarding the initial dispatch, here is the key line:
9:35:53AM – Dispatch: “Sandy Hook School, Caller’s indicated she thinks someone is shooting in the building.”
This dispatch line clearly corresponds to the first recorded 911 call, received just about twenty seconds earlier. The caller makes no claim of being injured, and even if she had, it wouldn’t contradict any part of her statement.
“According to the official story Lanza was the sole assassin and armed with only one weapon.” pg. 24
Adam Lanza brought three semi-automatic weapons with him: a .223-caliber Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle, a 10mm Glock 20SF handgun, and a 9mm SIG Sauer P226 handgun. Additionally, an Izhmash Saiga-12 shotgun was found in the trunk of Lanza’s Civic, moved there after Officer Pena initially spotted it in the back seat. This is the official account. If Tracy says otherwise, it’s either a careless error or a deliberate misrepresentation.
“Lanza must have been averaging about one shot per second—extremely skilled use of a single firearm for a young man with absolutely no military training and who was on the verge of being institutionalized.” pg. 24
Tracy doesn’t elaborate, but he’s being misleading. While Adam Lanza had no formal military training, both he and his parents were experienced shooters. Adam had been shooting since around the age of four, often taken to shooting ranges by his father, Peter, until their relationship ceased in 2011. Nancy Lanza, for her part, was at least capable enough to complete an NRA “basic shooter” course:
Source: CFS1200704559, Book 2, 00194623.pdf
The state’s official report confirms that both Nancy and Adam visited three different local gun ranges, where they were observed shooting an AR-15 Bushmaster and what one witness identified as a Glock Model 19. This same witness reported that, at Nancy’s request, he provided Adam with a brief lesson on “proper aiming technique.” Additionally, the report includes a scan of the sign-in sheet from Shooters Pistol Range in New Milford, CT, dated February 18, 2011, featuring both Nancy’s and Adam’s signatures:
It’s not as though significant training would be necessary to fire a semi-automatic rifle at a group of children trapped in a small bathroom.
Regarding the claim that Adam was “on the verge of being institutionalized,” Tracy fails to provide any source. The possibility of institutionalization is never mentioned in the 114-page report from the Office of the Child Advocate. In fact, the report consistently depicts Nancy as someone struggling to fully grasp the severity of her son’s situation.
“For example, in an era of ubiquitous video surveillance of public buildings especially no visual evidence of Lanza’s violent entry has emerged.” pg. 24
Are these photos not “visual” enough?
“Nor are there any routine eyewitness, photo or video evidence of the crime scene’s aftermath—broken glass, blasted security locks and doors, bullet casings and holes, bloodied walls and floors—all of which are common in such investigations and reportage.” pg. 24
Instead of posting a hundred pictures, I invite you to download the various files that make up the state’s official report on the shooting. Of particular interest is “22_Assorted_Files.zip,” which contains over 1,000 photographs taken by multiple parties. The most relevant to this point is the PDF titled “Walkley – scene photos.pdf,” which includes 740 crime scene photos, though many are redacted for obvious legal reasons. However, many of the items Tracy claims do not exist are plainly visible in these photographs. For instance, broken glass can be seen in the above images of Lanza’s entry point at the school entrance. I’ll reference page numbers in the aforementioned PDF for further details:
Bullets and bullet casings: 103-110, 113-117, 119-125, 433-443, 447, 465-466, 469-471, 473, 481-482, 484-485, 488-489, 495, 499, 502-504, 644, 680, 713, 721, 735-737, 739-743
Bullet holes and bullet damage: 54-61, 404-431, 448-454, 513, 622-624, 626-630
Blood: 73, 365, 428, 473, 475, 636, 663, 665
Blood is likely visible on pages 71, 495, 622-624, 626-627, and 643. Pages 622-624 and 626-627 depict the ceiling of room 10, where Adam Lanza took his own life, so the blood seen there is very likely his. Additionally, pages 636 and 665 show blood and possibly even brain matter above the whiteboard in the same room. Adam’s lifeless body is partially visible on page 161, and it’s likely that the blood on the carpet belongs to him. There also appears to be something quite gory situated between Lanza’s body and the stool.
In total, that’s over 110 photos that James Tracy flat-out claims do not exist, and that’s just from the Walkley crime scene photos. Additionally, “Farr – Nighttime Exterior Photos.pdf” includes images of blood in the parking lot, while “Tranquillo – Back-up Scene Photos 1.pdf” features pictures of blood just outside the school’s entrance.
“Medical responders who rushed to Sandy Hook Elementary upon receiving word of the tragedy were denied entry to the school and forced to set up primary and secondary triages off school grounds and wait for the injured to be brought to them.” pg. 25
Rather than rephrase everything he has already written, I’ll let Keith Johnson of OpEdNews.com take it from here:
Book 6 of the CSP SHES Shooting Reports contains several documents and sworn statements clearly showing that two Newtown ambulances, consisting of a paramedic and two EMTs each, were dispatched in less than 10 minutes after the initial call of shots fired was phoned in. Those personnel–paramedics R. Velleteri and Bradley and EMTs Burke, Folan, Lerman and L. Velleteri–ultimately provided advanced life support to the two injured children and basic life support to an injured adult both at the scene and en route to the hospital. The report also identifies three medically trained Connecticut State Troopers among the first responders to arrive at the school. Two, Sgt. Cario and Trooper Dragon, were EMTs and another, William Blumenthal, was a registered nurse.
Four people were transported to the hospital by ambulance and the rest were found dead. Paramedic Matthew Cassevechia and two tactical paramedics, John Reed and Bernie Meehan, made the legal presumptions of death under the direction of Dr. Pat Broderick of the Danbury Hospital and they did this by using proper SMART [Simple Medical Assessment And Rapid Treatment] protocols and after performing four separate assessments on each patient.
Though it is true that the staging of ambulances was at the nearby Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire Department, this by no means contrary to proper emergency protocol. There’s an abundance of credentialed sources that will verify that ambulances are never allowed to respond directly into an in-progress active-shooter scene, commonly referred to as the “hot zone.” Here’s one:
“Active-shooter incidents rarely go from hot zone to cold zone quickly,” wrote FBI Tactical Paramedic Jim Morrissey in a 2011 article for EMS [Emergency Medical Services] World Magazine. “Law enforcement officers know it is their responsibility to get into the crisis site quickly to distract, engage and hopefully eliminate the threat. EMS, on the other hand, is still waiting for the ‘all clear’ and may be staged for minutes or hours, not willing, able or allowed to get in and start saving lives.
“Sandy Hook Elementary is attended by 600 students.” pg. 25
As of November 30, 2012—just two weeks before the shooting—Sandy Hook Elementary School had 456 children enrolled from kindergarten through fourth grade. Tracy only missed the count by 144. So close!
“There is no photographic or video evidence of an evacuation on this scale” pg. 25
Except for Shannon Hicks from the Newtown Bee, news crews didn’t arrive until after the children had already been evacuated. And since we’ve already established that there were no video cameras on school grounds, exactly where would this footage have come from?
Any evacuations captured on police dash cams were heavily redacted before being released, a fact Tracy likely knew when he typed up this nonsense. If officials are omitting minor victims’ names from records, they’re certainly not going to show their faces. Besides, expecting photographic proof of all 456 children (assuming all were present) in a single shot is absurd, as evacuations happened room by room. Still, Sandy Hook Facts has compiled numerous images from that day showing scores of children evacuating the school and gathering at the firehouse.
“A highly circulated photo depicts students walking in a single file formation with their hands on each others’ shoulders and eyes shut. Yet this was the image of a drill that took place prior to the event itself.” pg. 25
While the referenced photo isn’t included in this chapter, and the link in the footnotes is now defunct, I’ve included a link to the highest-quality version I could locate here. Since it’s a large image (2416 x 1655), it will open in a new tab.
Some of the children do have their heads down, which can make it a bit hard to see, but none of them seem to have their eyes shut. And even if they did, it’s hard to imagine why that would matter.
As for the timing of the photo, Tracy offers absolutely no evidence to support his claim that it was taken prior to the shooting. He even backtracks in the footnotes, but only there—likely knowing fewer readers will see it. Yet, despite this glaring lack of evidence, he decided to keep the unfounded claim in the main text anyway.
Here’s Tracy’s initial claim alongside its citation:
And here’s Tracy’s half-hearted correction (emphasis added):
“Nor are there videos or photos of several hundred students and their parents at the oft-referenced fire station nearby where students were routed for parent pick up.” pgs. 25-26
The demand for a single photo showing all 456 students together is entirely unrealistic and disregards the logistical reality of the evacuation. Children were led out of the school in stages, room by room, then brought to the firehouse, where they were reunited with their parents in an orderly but understandably chaotic process. The likelihood of a single photo capturing every child is essentially zero. However, Sandy Hook Facts has compiled several photos from that day showing groups of children being evacuated and some shots from the firehouse where many children and their families gathered. Here’s one of those images, capturing a group of children and parents at the firehouse:
Here’s another, showing a large number of people:
And one more:
Next: Chapter Two: “Six Signs Sandy Hook Elementary School Was Closed” by “Dr. Eowyn”
What happened with Robbie Parker and (and later the Sotos and Pozners) is what I find most repulsive about this.
These are ordinary people, not public figures like the President, where right or wrong, below-the-belt personal attacks have always happened and always will.
A year or two ago, I had a discussion with a hoaxer and he asked me if I would act the way Robbie Parker acted if a young child who was close to me died. I said it was possible, but couldn’t say for sure.
Now that I’ve had time to think about it, I should have told him that I would decline any and all requests to speak publicly. After all, it seems like anything you say or do can and will be used against you by any wacko with an internet connection.
You’re truly damned if you do and damned if you don’t; hoaxers view those that choose to speak out just as suspiciously as those who choose to grieve privately. There are a number of photos depicting an obviously grief-stricken Robbie Parker on that day, but if those pictures are ever actually acknowledged by hoaxers, it’s because he’s still not grief-stricken enough. I guess there’s a mathematical formula to determine the appropriate number of tears one should display in a photograph.
As someone personally impacted by violent crime myself, my heart breaks when I think about what people like the Parker family and even Gene Rosen are going through on a daily basis.
Yeah, now that you mentioned it, everything seems open to interpretation by these people.
It’s easy to view a photo(s) and then claim to know something. It’s also dishonest…specially in light of the all known evidence to the contrary.
Tracy is not only dishonest, he’s malicious.
Great stomp through Chapter one’s malicious falsities. I am reading these debunkings while trying to understand the genesis of Quebec City mosque attack hoax-pedlars.
It really does not help that you used a picture that shows all of the shitloads of plastic water bottles. That means there was a drill that day at SHES.
Yes, water – which is of course extremely difficult to come by and must be ordered far in advance as it is definitely not available literally everywhere – has never been available at actual disasters. You’ve cracked the case!
About some things you are somewhat childish, I would even say dumb — e.g. [“Oddly vacant”? Does this look like an “oddly vacant” parking lot to anyone?] — there is clearly an emergency vehicle in this foto; it looks like a fire truck (?) — so that foto was obviously taken after emergency services, including very likely other vehicles related to emergency services (i.e. besides the fire truck), were already on the scene, and is therefore not a “debunking” of Tracy’s statement [“Dressed in black, Lanza proceeds completely unnoticed through an oddly vacant parking lot with a military style rifle and shoots his way through double glass doors and a brand new yet apparently poorly engineered security system.”], since he’s talking about when Lanza (allegedly) first arrived at the school, when no emergency vehicles would have been present — and we have no way of knowing how many vehicles arrived and parked in the lot later, right?
There is also very obviously a group of people gathered in front of what I assume is the entrance to the school — which is further proof this foto was taken after emergency services, likely with numerous vehicles, were on the scene.
Why Tracy would mention an “oddly vacant parking lot”, when it is not clear how he could have an idea about how many cars were there when Lanza arrived, is another, open question, one which in no way diminishes the absurdity of your “debunking”.
And Tracy is not really “disgraced”; he was terminated — rather, FAU disgraced itself as an academic institution by the grounds they used to terminate him — if they wanted to terminate him due to his SH postings, which is undoubtedly true, they should have just said so, done so, and then tried their luck in court — instead, they seized on a frivolous pretense — FAU’s conduct was unethical, dishonest, and just plain disgraceful.
Hey, dumbass. FAU didn’t fire James Tracy due to his SH postings. He can believe whatever he wants no matter how crazy his beliefs are. FAU fired him because of his unprofessional behavior that which violated the rules/guidelines of being a professor at that university. FAU fired him because of his stalking and harassment of the Sandy Hook parents by sending them harassing emails and phone calls littered with all kinds of wild, baseless accusations without sufficient proof. Basically, Tracy lost his job because of his unprofessional behavior and his stalking and harassment of the Sandy Hook parents, not because of what he personally believes about Sandy Hook. FAU was cleared of any wrongdoing regarding accusations of wrongful termination, and rightfully so. Get over it.
The claim that Tracy ‘harassed’ (or ‘stalked’, which is even more absurd) SH parents is simply false — he received a copyright claim for something he posted on his website/blog (a common tactic used to get SH skeptic material removed), and he sent an email asking for verification/proof the material was copyrighted, i.e. before he would agree to take it down — he never directly contacted any SH parent (let alone ‘harassed’ or ‘stalked’ them).
And, as a matter of fact, FAU did use a procedural pretext to dismiss Tracy, when the underlying motive was obviously his SH skeptic activity, which the school apparently found embarrassing.
In this context, the court decision upholding his dismissal should also be condemned.
:'(
There are, of course, no photos or videos showing the state of the parking lot when Adam arrived. As such, and as far as I know, this is the earliest aerial image available (obviously Shannon Hicks’s evacuation photos were taken before this, but they do not show the entirety of the lot) of the school on the day of the shooting. I would certainly hope that any reasonable person reading this entry would understand that I’m not suggesting the firetruck and handful of obvious police vehicles in the lot should be included in that count. Even without them, the parking lot is not “oddly vacant”. In fact, the number of cars shown here (again, not including emergency vehicles) precisely matches what is seen in the satellite photo taken of the school in March of 2012 (both show approximately 74 cars).
It’s because he’s a liar and he’s lying.
A better question would be: why would Tracy describe the lot as “oddly vacant” when, on page twelve of the very same book, Jimmy Fetzer himself suggests that even the parking lot was staged ahead of time, by “a group of drivers methodically filling up the lot with used or abandoned cars”? Of course the book is rife with these types of inconsistencies and contradictions, but sure, my work here is “dumb”.
You do understand that you can be terminated and disgraced, correct? They are not mutually exclusive.
The jury in his December 2017 trial disagrees with you. There’s an old saying that I’m fond of, and I’m sure I’ve mentioned on this site before: “If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you’re the asshole.”
Look, you posted a lot of words when you should have just conceded that your “debunking” of Tracy, in this particular context, is nothing of the sort — and ever thinking it was is intellectually childish.
The fact you regularly resort to name-calling is telling.
Again, I don’t know why Tracy wrote what he did, since I can’t imagine how he could possibly know what the parking lot was like when Lanza first arrived — but I think your characterization of him as a liar is crude and, quite honestly, ridiculous — I mean, why would he lie, i.e. tell a deliberate falsehood, in such a context? — it makes no sense — so again here you are rather childish.
A jury found O J Simpson not guilty too.