Jones accused of destroying evidence

AUSTIN, Texas — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was accused in court filings Friday of destroying evidence relevant to the case of families from Sandy Hook Elementary School who are suing him for claiming the massacre was a hoax.

Attorneys for two Sandy Hook victims noted that Jones said during a recent broadcast of his radio program that he’d told his staff to delete information from the website of his “Infowars” media company after CNN cited content from it for violating Twitter policies.

That followed Twitter saying earlier this week that it was temporarily suspending Jones for violating company rules about inciting violence.

Families of Sandy Hook victims are suing Jones for spreading false claims about the 2012 shooting in Newtow that killed 20 children and six adults.

Jones originally suggested that the killings were staged, and those suing him said they’ve since been tormented by his followers and forced to move seven times.

Jones now says he believes the Sandy Hook shooting did occur, but has argued that the case should be dismissed because he was acting as a journalist.

A similar defamation lawsuit against Jones has also been filed in Connecticut. A separate suit in Texas was brought by a man falsely identified on the Infowars website as the gunman who killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Fla., in February.