HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Sandy Hook Elementary School officials failed to follow mandated security protocol and order a lockdown that may have saved lives immediately after the gunman shot his way through the locked entrance, a lawyer for the parents of two children killed in the massacre told a Connecticut appeals court on Wednesday.
Attorney Devin Janosov tried to convince three judges on the state Appellate Court that they should overturn a lower court ruling that dismissed the parents’ wrongful death lawsuit against the town of Newtown and its schools. It’s not clear when the judges will issue their decision.
A lawyer for the town, Charles DeLuca, argued that ordering a lockdown was discretionary and there was confusion among officials about what the noises were when gunman Adam Lanza was shooting his way through the school’s locked glass entrance in the chaotic first moments of the attack.
Principal Dawn Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach rushed into a hallway to see what was happening and were killed. A third staff member was injured. Lanza went on to kill 20 first-graders and four other educators in two classrooms before fatally shooting himself on Dec. 14, 2012.
Janosov argued Hochsprung or other officials should have ordered a “code blue” lockdown over the intercom before going into the hallway, under school security protocol in place at the time. He said a lockdown would have alerted teachers to lock their classroom doors – possibly saving lives.