Lawyer: $100M school shooting claim about security

A lawyer who is asking to sue Connecticut for $100 million on behalf of a 6-year-old Newtown school shooting survivor who heard violence over the school’s intercom system said the potential claim is about improving school security, not money.

“It’s about living in a world that’s safe,” New Haven attorney Irving Pinsky said Saturday. “The answer is about protecting the kids.”

Pinsky asked last week to sue the state, which has immunity against most lawsuits, unless it gives a party permission to go forward with a claim. Connecticut’s claims commissioner couldn’t be reached for comment Saturday.

Pinksy’s client, whom he calls “Jill Doe” in the claim, sustained “emotional and psychological trauma and injury” on Dec. 14 after gunman Adam Lanza forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and gunned down 20 children and six adults in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

The child heard “conversations, gunfire and screaming” over Sandy Hook’s intercom after someone in the office apparently switched on the system, according to the claim. Pinsky said Saturday he didn’t know whether his client saw anyone die.

The state Board of Education, Department of Education and state education commissioner failed to protect the child “from foreseeable harm,” including by failing to provide a safe school setting, the filing said.