Fact Checking “Nobody Died At Sandy Hook”, Appendix C

“Nobody Died At Sandy Hook”
Appendix C
By: James Tracy

At 108 poorly written pages (nearly a quarter of the book!) and comprised almost entirely of out-of-context snippets from mainstream news articles presented in roughly chronological order, disgraced former college professor Jame Tracy’s second contribution to this shitpile – and likely one of the major contributing factors to his dismissal from Florida Atlantic University – still manages to stand out as being the laziest entry in a book full of chapters that were literally copied verbatim from old blog posts. That’s pretty impressive!

Since he doesn’t editorialize much, I’m a bit confused as to what crybaby James Tracy believes actually happened at Sandy Hook. Based on this chapter appendix, I can only infer that he subscribes to a multiple shooter theory… though he also appears to simultaneously accept the “FEMA drill” narrative. And that’s probably for the best, because titling your book (seriously, this is the whole title) “Nobody Died at Sandy Hook: It was a FEMA Drill to Promote Gun Control” doesn’t leave a lot of room for competing hypotheses, does it?

“This scenario became an established reality through the news media’s pronounced repetition of the lone gunman narrative and meme. This proposed scenario significantly obscured the fact that police encountered and apprehended two additional shooting suspects on the school’s grounds within minutes of the crime. These suspects remain unaccounted for by authorities but the roles they may have played arguably correlate with the shifting information presented by authorities and major news media on injuries and weapons vis-à-vis the mass carnage meted out in the school.” pg. 245

Let’s just get this out of the way now because this is something that pops up a few times throughout this chapter appendix: the idea that these two men were ever “unaccounted for” let alone remain “unaccounted for” is absolutely, positively incorrect. Both of these men – especially Sandy Hook parent Christopher Manfredonia – were immediately known to police and are discussed quite a bit in Chapter Twelve.

The wholly invented mystery surrounding these two men reminds me a bit of the “three tramps”: three homeless men who generated a whole lot of wild speculation among conspiracy theorists (like there’s any other kind) after they were photographed under police escort shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In the years that followed, some of these kooks even believed they had identified two of the men as Watergate burglars Howard Hunt and Frank Sturgis. It wasn’t until 1991 that a journalist discovered Dallas police had quietly released their arrest records two years earlier, and the truth was that the men had been detained, questioned, and released after four days in custody. It turned out that they really were just three transients who had spent the day hanging out in a nearby railyard. There was nothing remarkable about them.

“Adam Lanza reportedly visits a sporting goods store in Danbury and attempts to purchase an assault rifle but was denied NBC reports.” pg. 251

Police investigated this claim and found that it was not true. Their report – which includes stills from the surveillance video – can be found in the final report’s Book 3, 00005383.pdf.

“The alleged gunman at Adam Lanza has an argument with four staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School, officials tell NBC. NBC reports that Lanza went to the school on December 13 and was in an altercation with four staff members, three of whom are killed in the December 14 shooting.” pg. 251

This was also investigated by police and was also found to be false. The argument was with the parent of a student and is covered in Book 5, 00001418.pdf as well as Book 5, 00257144.pdf. Adam Lanza was not involved.

“‘Planning for the Needs of Children in Disasters’ emergency exercise conducted jointly by FEMA and the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection commences 14 miles from Newport in Bridgeport Connecticut. ‘The goal of the course,’ the description reads, is to enable participants to improve their community’s mitigation and emergency operations plan specifically regarding the needs of children. The course will provide them with the information needed to address the unique needs of children prior to, during and following disasters. It will also provide them guidance and direction on how to form coalitions and how to become advocates for the unique needs of children in all aspects of emergency management.” pgs. 251-252

Déjà vu.

Once again, FEMA’s “Planning for the Needs of Children in Disasters” was not an exercise or a drill, but a course, and there is a significant difference. Tracy knows that it’s a course because it’s right there in quoted description. It’s very odd to me that a (former) college professor could confuse the two. Then again, Tracy omits the fact that this course focuses on natural disasters and has nothing to do with mass shootings, so the mix-up is more than likely a product of intentional deception rather than ignorance.

“‘Active shooter drill’ exercise commences by Putnam County Emergency Response Team in Carmel Connecticut, 45 miles away from Newtown.” pg. 252

This drill actually took place in Carmel, New York. There is no Carmel, Connecticut. There is also no Putnam County in Connecticut, though there is a town named Putnam… in Windham County. It’s clear James Tracy did not teach geography.

“Fourth grate teacher Ted Varga arrives for work at Sandy Hook.” pg. 254

Fourth grate? Seriously, did anyone bother to actually read this shit before attempting to sell it for $20?

“‘They were children in a place built for children, and the teachers didn’t know how to answer them … ‘It’s a drill,’ said a library clerk named Mary Anne Jacobs.'” pg. 254

Based on the way Tracy chopped up this quote, he may want to consider designing movie posters now that he’s no longer welcome at Florida Atlantic University. Predictably, this shortened version of a real quote by Sandy Hook Elementary library clerk Mary Anne Jacobs is lacking some context. The full quote is:

They were children in a place built for children, and the teachers didn’t know how to answer them. They told them to close their eyes and to keep quiet. They helped move an old bookshelf in front of the door to act as a makeshift barricade. They wondered: How do you explain unimaginable horror to the most innocent?

“It’s a drill,” said a library clerk named Mary Anne Jacobs.

Drills they knew. Drills they understood.

“Newtown and Connecticut emergency fire and law enforcement radio dispatch indicates citing of shooter suspects fleeing crime scene. ‘Reports that a teacher saw two shadows running past the building–past the gym, which would be rear [inaudible] the shooting.'” pg. 256

Oh, a citing, huh? Written by a former college professor, proofread by… the school mascot, maybe? Who the hell knows? Anyway, while Tracy attempts to paint them as potential suspects, the shadows seen darting past the gym (as reported by custodian Rick Thorne) were teachers who had escaped conference room #20 through a window. This is discussed in Book 4, 00184096.pdf:

9:38:57 Rick Thorne reports about someone seeing shadows outside SHES:

Thorne: “Ok, the gym teacher told me they saw shadows going past the gym.”

The shadows are believed to be the teachers in conference room #20 (west hallway), who escaped out the window and ran to the Subway Restaurant on Church Hill Rd. (Newtown 911)

“Newtown and Connecticut emergency fire and law enforcement radio dispatch indicates officers’ encounter with and apprehension of additional shooter suspects fleeing scene. ‘Yeah, we got ’em. He’s comin’ at me down Crestwood Way! Coming [inaudible] up the left side.'” pg. 256

This is in reference to Christopher Manfredonia, the Sandy Hook parent found attempting to locate his daughter. Manfredonia is never described as fleeing the scene. In fact, Officer Michael McGowan – the first officer to encounter Manfredonia – says that he was actually running towards him:

I saw a male was running from the front of the building to the side. I observed a white, adult male running toward me screaming. I ran down the outside of the chain link fence toward the male. The male had an object in his right hand and was screaming. My pistol was drawn and I pointed it at the male and yelled for him to get on the ground. The male continued to run at me and several more times I ordered him to the ground, which he eventually did. The male said his child was in the school and there was shooting. (Source: Book 6, 00260187.pdf)

McGowan never said “he’s comin’ at me down Crestwood”. What he actually said was “Yea we got him… they’re coming at me down Creswood” (Source: Book 4, 00184096.pdf). He’s referring to other officers.

As mentioned in Chapter Twelve, Manfredonia was briefly detained, interviewed, and then released shortly thereafter.

“‘Two unidentified nuns’ are photographed by journalist Don Emmert, apparently departing the crime scene at Sandy Hook Elementary. One of the individuals has what appears to be official identification around her/his neck.” pg. 259

Her/his? Yikes. These are clearly older women, unless Tracy is trying to shade a couple of nuns… which would be pretty low, even by denier standards.

I’ve discussed the nuns already in Chapter Five. I think it took somewhere around five to ten minutes worth of work for me to identify the “unidentified” nun seen wearing a badge, and she is the “religious coordinator” at the nearby St. Rose of Lima School. The badge is her employee identification. You can even see the school’s crest on it.

Think about it: if this were an actual drill (and it’s wasn’t), deniers wouldn’t have to struggle to find one person in a sea of many wearing a badge (or some other form of identification) as every participant would be required to wear one, from law enforcement to spectators.

“11:23AM Reuters’ Deputy Social Media Editor Matthew Keys reports police have told ABC News that two gunman are involved in the elementary school shooting.” pg. 260

Yes, Matthew Keys’s Twitter feed from that morning is full of the kind of erroneous information that plagues the twenty-four hour news cycle, especially when it comes to major news stories such as this one. This phenomenon is not exclusive to Matthew Keys. Howard Rosenberg and Charles Feldman actually wrote a whole book about it, which I recommend to anyone who still doesn’t understand that this stuff is (sadly) par for the course these days.

“‘Lieutenant Governor and I have been spoken to in an attempt that we might be prepared for something like this playing itself out in our state.’ The remark may be in reference to ‘Project Longevity,’ a joint effort of the US Department of Justice and Connecticut announced on November 27 “to reduce gun violence in Connecticut’s major cities” pg. 262

It is almost definitely not in reference to “Project Longevity”, which is almost singularly focused on gang violence and has absolutely nothing to do with school shootings.

“Fox News presents ‘newly released police dispatch audio’ of exchange between 911 dispatcher and Newtown Police and Connecticut State Police encountering two shooting suspects on school grounds. ‘I have reports that the teacher saw two shadows running past the building, past the gym which would be rear [inaudible].’ ‘Yeah, we got him. He’s coming at me, down [inaudible].'” pg. 265

Again, the shadows seen outside of the gym belonged to the teachers who had escaped conference room #20. This information is first relayed to a 911 operator by custodian Rick Thorne at 9:38:57 AM. Officer Michael McGowan tells dispatchers “we got him” – referring to Christopher Manfredonia – at 9:39:34 AM. Officer McGowan does not say “he’s coming at me”, but “they’re coming at me”, referring to his fellow officers.

“CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360° reports on the Sandy Hook tragedy using video footage from an apparently unrelated event. ‘At 0:06 in and at 1:02 into the following video on CNN’s website,’ the alternative news outlet Intellhub observes, ‘[y]ou will notice the police running through a cross walk area that simply does not exist at Sandy Hook Elementary. Take note of the rounded curb area that leads into a grassy area of some sort with a tree present in the center of the grassy area. This area does not exist on Sandy Hook Elementary Schools property.'” pg. 265

But it does exist at the nearby St. Rose of Lima school, which was on lockdown when the footage was filmed earlier in the day. CNN never explicitly states that it is from Sandy Hook. This is discussed in my entry on the book’s Epilogue.

“Unexpurgated NBC News video coverage of Connecticut State Police press conference reveals (at 2:32) forensics team recovering two long guns from vehicle Adam Lanza’s allegedly drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School.” pgs. 265-266

While the video – shot from a helicopter during the evening – is of poor quality, it should be fairly obvious to anyone watching that only a single long gun is inspected by an officer before being handed off to a forensic investigator.

“Federal authorities confirm there is no record of Adam Lanza using local Newtown shooting range.” pg. 272

According to Tracy’s own source, the “local Newtown shooting range” referred to here is Wooster Mountain Shooting Range, which is located in Danbury, CT. But according to the state’s final report, that’s exactly where a witness gave Adam some “pointers” on how to shoot in 2010:

There is also evidence contained within the final report that Nancy and Adam Lanza visited Fairfield County Indoor Range/Arms and Munitions in Monroe, Connecticut, as well as Shooter’s Indoor Pistol Range in New Milford, CT. Reed Coleman wrote quite a bit about this evidence on his blog, Sandy Hook Lighthouse.

“Health science and investigative writer Mike Adams…” pg. 278

Bahahahahahaha!

“…observes that much like the Tucson Arizona, Aurora Colorado, and Wisconsin Sikh temple shootings, mass media are scrubbing their coverage and doctoring the storyline to obscure the fact that there were additional suspects and probable shooters at the crime scene.” pg. 278

Or – and bear with me here – they’re simply making corrections as new information comes to light. Obviously none of this book’s contributors have put the idea into practice, but surely it can’t be that difficult for them to comprehend, can it?

“Sedensky argues that unsealing such findings might ‘seriously jeopardize’ the investigation by divulging evidence heretofore known only to other ‘potential suspects.'” pg. 287

What Danbury State’s Attorney Stephen Sedensky actually said of the information contained within the search warrant affidavits is that it “is not known to the general public and any potential suspect(s), the disclosure of which would jeopardize the investigation and chances of successfully solving any crime(s) involved.” As this was only a couple of weeks after the shooting, the investigation was still in full swing, and Sedensky was likely unwilling to completely rule out co-conspirators. He did go on to say, “The investigation, which was a basis for the issuing of the search warrant, is still continuing… No arrests have been made and none are currently anticipated, but have not been ruled out.” By this point, there was no question that Adam Lanza was the lone gunman.

“Corporate media begins broad defense of official Sandy Hook narrative against widespread and varied skepticism in alternative media with prominent South Florida Sun-Sentinel article centering on Florida Atlantic University communications professor James Tracy.” pg. 291

Shill Murray knows that there’s nothing cooler than writing about yourself in the third person!

“Parents of three children killed in the Dec. 14 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre testify through the day and into the night on proposed tougher gun laws.” pg. 295

So the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which this book claims was at least four years in the making, was staged in an attempt to take everyone’s guns. But when it came time to testify in front of the “Bipartisan Task Force on Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety”, they were only able to get the parents of three children (out of twenty) to participate?

And how do you explain Mark Mattioli, the father of victim James Mattioli, who has publicly spoken out on a number of occasions against tougher gun laws? Mattioli has even appeared on Fox News, telling Megyn Kelly “There are tens of millions of these out there and criminals aren’t going to hand them back. So why should I be hampered in protecting myself when someone can come to my home and outgun me?”

“According to the article, the officers proceeded “from room to room, urgently hunting for the killer before he could do more harm.” This partially contradicts theofficial [sic] story that Lanza fatally shot himself in the head in teacher Victoria Soto’s classroom ‘when authorities were closing in'” pg. 296

It definitely doesn’t contradict anything, and it describes exactly what happened. Officers did not know that Adam was A) the gunman and B) deceased until they actually discovered his body in room ten, which was not the first room they searched (that would be room nine, which was one of the conference rooms). Therefore, they literally needed to go from room to room to find someone they had no choice but to assume – for everyone’s safety – was still alive.

“The distance from the Redding Police Department to Sandy Hook Elementary is 11.9 miles and takes 26 minutes to travel at legal speed. Assuming Fuchs and his cohorts were traveling at twice the legal speed (120MPH) to the school it would take them 13 minutes to arrive at 9:45AM. This is assuming there were in fact calls for backup to surrounding communities.” pg. 296

Does James Tracy believe that every police officer is just sitting around their station all day or something? As explained in Officer Fuchs’ report (Source: Book 6, 00040403.pdf), he was actually on his way to a meeting in the “Hartford region” that morning:

On December 14, 2012 at about 9:30 I was in my police cruiser headed to a meeting in the Hartford region when I overhead radio transmissions coming from the Newtown Police Department. The radio transmissions appear to be their response to an active shooter scenario in one of their schools.

Now anyone with access to the Internet and somewhere around thirty to forty-five seconds of free time can discover that the fastest route from Redding, CT to Hartford, CT actually takes you straight through Newtown, via I-84E:

So while the drive from Redding to Newtown is likely to take you somewhere around twenty-six minutes (if you were to obey the speed limit, which you are unlikely to do as a police officer responding to an active shooter situation at an elementary school), Officer Fuchs was not in Redding that morning; he was already heading towards Newtown.

“Marshall K. Robinson, forensic scientist for the Bridgeport, Conn. Police Department condemned proposed assault weapon and high-capacity magazine bans” pg. 297

Again, aren’t they trying to take away everyone’s guns? And Connecticut PD can’t reign in one of their own?

“Neil Heslin, the father of a boy murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School is overcome with grief in front of a US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on a proposed assault weapons ban.” pg. 299

Wait wait wait… a parent overcome with grief? But on page 29 of this very book, we were told one of the “things that don’t make sense” about Sandy Hook is “parents showing no grief“. Then on page 180: “We can only feel their grief if their children actually died, where none of their reactions were remotely like the genuine grief expressed by the parents of dead children in Gaza.” And on page 181: “Search for any parent displaying real grief. It’s not there.” So what’s the deal?

“‘There is no record of a member relationship between Newtown killer Adam Lanza, nor between Nancy Lanza, A. Lanza or N. Lanza with the National Rifle Association,’ the NRA responded ‘Reporting to the contrary is reckless, false and defamatory.’ A review by Politico of the NRA’s website indicates the organization offers many ‘education and training programs,’ in addition to ‘online templates for certificates. Organizations around the country also offer what they bill as NRA certificates upon completion of certain classes,'” pg. 309

The man who awarded Nancy Lanza her NRA certificate is a man by the name of Christian Hansen, an NRA-certified instructor since 1993:

And the course she obtained her certificate for – “NRA Basic Pistol Course” – is a real course offered by the NRA that requires at least eight hours of classroom instruction and range time:

So the suggestion that Nancy or someone else may have forged the certificate found in the Lanza home is preposterous.

“CBS anchor Scott Pelley says in a speech at Quinnipiac University that journalists ‘are getting big stories wrong, over and over again.’ The CBS presenter did not hesitate in absorbing part of the blame. ‘Let me take the first arrow: During our coverage of Newtown, I sat on my set and I reported that Nancy Lanza was a teacher at the school. And that her son had attacked her classroom. It’s a hell of a story, but it was dead wrong. Now, I was the managing editor, I made the decision to go ahead with that and I did, and that’s what I said, and I was absolutely wrong.'” pg. 318

Yet none of this book’s contributors seem to be able to grasp this. And these contributors include a former “communications” professor.

“Death certificates for the Sandy Hook Elementary School victims are released as a result of mounting pressure from news media and a FOIA request after the Newtown Town Clerk’s office refused to turn them over to the press.” pg. 323

But this contradicts claims made on page 29 (” government’s continuing refusal to release the death certificates”), page 61 (“Death certificates were eventually “released” but not to the public or those who might want to investigate the case further; only a short, general summary was available.”), and page 239 (” Nor have any birth certificates, death certificates or coroner’s inquests been to-date produced for the twenty alleged children who died”). Again, what’s the deal? We know that anyone can order a copy of the death certificates themselves for $20 because other people have done it.

“Over 150 take part in an ‘Active Shooter/Mass Casualty Drill’ at Cal State Long Beach (CSULB). ‘The blood was just make-up, the screams for help only feigned, and the gunman at the center of it all nonexistent,’ the online Signal Tribune newspaper reports, ‘but the more than 150 participants involved in the [event] were taking their assigned duties very seriously.'” pg. 326

If this information was included in an attempt to bolster the claim that the Sandy Hook shootings were nothing more than an active shooter drill passed off as the real thing, it may have had the opposite effect. Perhaps unwittingly, James Tracy has provided all of the evidence one would need to fully realize that what occurred that day was a real event. The various news articles covering the drill at Cal State Long Beach – including Tracy’s own source, which is from California’s Signal Tribune newspaper – contain numerous details that were simply not present in Newtown (a check-in tent, brightly badges worn by all participants, a team of evaluators, etc.). But nothing is more telling than the photographs taken on campus that day:

The above photographs (from Gazettes and Press-Telegram News, respectively) show campus officers outfitted with colored fake guns as well as bright pink/purple badges. These same badges can also be seen worn by participating emergency personnel:

Now compare the above photos to the scene at Sandy Hook. There are no blue or red mock weapons; responding officers are carrying real, loaded firearms:

And absolutely no one is wearing a badge, which would be necessary in order to identify their role in the drill:

In Chapter Five, Vivian Lee points to a lack of victims at the primary triage area – located in the school’s parking lot – as further proof that what we’re looking at is a drill, but the photos from CSULB show us that the opposite is true: real drills contain a number of mock victims, made-up with fake blood, and wearing their colorful identification badges. It’s actually one of the major components of these events and without them, they would be of no benefit to medical personnel:

Also note the team of evaluators keeping watch, all of which are wearing the proper identification.

Remember that these active shooter drills happen because real-life active shooter situations actually happen. Like extreme weather drills, there would be no need for them if they did not. For example, when’s the last time your town had an extraterrestrial invasion drill?

“Ground is broken on a playground in Fairfield CT to honor Jessica Rekos, one of the young children slain in the Sandy Hook tragedy. The playground is being developed by firefighters and community members who wish to volunteer.” pg. 330

This playground was vandalized in July of 2014. Just like the playground honoring Jesse Lewis. Or the playground honoring Grace McDonnell. And I don’t want to say a denier did it, but a denier definitely did it. Because they’re cowards. Who would vandalize a child’s playground, other than a total coward?

Somehow, pages 351 through 353 repeat the same three short paragraphs a total of five times:

It’s a fitting end to a another truly stupid chapter appendix.