Appeals Court Sides With Newtown In School Shooting Lawsuit

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Photo credit SANDY HOOK, CT - MARCH 14: A sign stands near the site of the December 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting on the day of the National School Walkout on March 14, 2018 in Sandy Hook Connecticut. Several hundred students at the school, near the site of the Sandy Hook school massacre of December 14, 2012, staged a protest one month after 17 people were killed at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Media and visitors were not allowed on the Newtown High campus for the event. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut appeals court has upheld a lower court decision to throw out a lawsuit filed by the parents of two Sandy Hook School shooting victims against Newtown and its school district.

The appeals court agreed in a Friday ruling with the lower court's determination that the town is protected by government immunity.

The wrongful death lawsuit was brought by the parents of Jesse Lewis and Noah Pozner. It alleged that school officials failed to follow a mandated security protocol and order a lockdown that may have saved lives immediately after the gunman shot his way into the school. They also faulted the school for having classroom doors that could be locked only from the hallway.

The town's lawyers argued that ordering a lockdown was discretionary and school officials initially were not sure what was happening.