Politics & Government

Malloy Pushes Back Against Calls for Details on Sandy Hook Investigation

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says he's "bewildered" by a state representative's call for state police to release information about their investigation into the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook School.

 

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says he's "bewildered" by calls from some legislators for more police disclosure on the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

"I must ask: what more could you possibly need to know?" he said in a statement released Thursday.

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"We know for a fact that on December 14, a very disturbed young man took a military-style rifle with high-capacity magazines into a school and murdered 20 innocent children and six innocent adults," Malloy, a Democrat, said. "We know he had access to that weapon and others, although they were registered to someone else."

Still, at the governor's request, Malloy said Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane has agreed to release additional information and a status on the investigation by Friday, March 29.

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The calls for more information have intensified this week after a leak from a purportedly private speech at a police conference in New Orleans made its way into the New York Daily News. The leak disclosed details about the shooter's planning methods from an unidentified source present at a speech by Connecticut State Police Col. Danny Stebbins.

Following the leak, some representatives, including House Republican Leader Larry Cafero, said they weren't satisfied with the information they were getting.

"I believe the state police are now obligated to brief us, given that much of what was exchanged at the New Orleans conference wound up in the press," Cafero said in a statement released Wednesday. "We don’t have the benefit of potentially critical information that was obtained somehow by the media."

Cafero, who represents Norwalk and New Canaan, called for police to brief lawmakers before the Bipartisan Task Force finishes its work. The Task Force is crafting proposals related to gun violence, school safety and mental health in response to the shooting in Newtown.

State Rep. DebraLee Hovey, a Republican who represents part of Newtown, saying she "rejected" state police's explanations about the leak.

"The fact Col. Stebbins chose to share details with a conference before families were notified and before any official findings have been released shows incredibly poor judgment and is unconscionable," she said. 

Hovey is a member of the Task Force who sits on the mental health committee, which will hold a hearing tomorrow in Hartford.


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