Connecticut AG Says State Not Liable for Newtown Shooting

Connecticut’s attorney general says he sympathizes with families affected by the deadly Newtown school shooting but the state isn’t liable for the harm inflicted.

Attorney General George Jepson responded to a New Haven attorney’s request to the state claims commissioner last week to sue the state for $100 million on behalf of a 6-year-old survivor.

Jepson says people affected “deserve a thoughtful and deliberate examination” of the tragedy and appropriate public policy responses. But he says the claims commissioner’s office isn’t the appropriate venue.

Attorney Irving Pinksy said his request is about school safety. He said his client sustained “emotional and psychological trauma and injury” on Dec. 14 after a gunman forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 children and six adults and then killed himself.