In light of all the wild conspiracy theories floating around the Internet about the Newtown shooting, the father of a Sandy Hook Elementary first grader called into Glenn Beck's radio program on Wednesday to thoroughly debunk the theory that the shooting never actually happened. In a powerful interview, the father, "Pete," recounted the horrific events of that morning and described how it felt not being able to immediately rescue his young son.
After killing his mother, a deranged shooter opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary, killing 20 children and six school staffers in December. For some reason, Newtown "truthers" have promoted the idea that the shooting was staged and it never really happened, an idea that the father said makes him want to throw up.
“It’s like an unimaginable way to even look at a tragedy or horrific event. I don’t even understand it,” Pete told Beck on the radio.
Pete's son lost several friends in the tragic shooting and has attended six funerals. Additionally, two of the kids murdered in the massacre were part of Pete's Tiger Den -- his son wore his uniform to those two funerals.
The father said he felt such "terror" on that day that he later got an EKG to make sure he didn't have a heart attack. That's why it really gets to him when people argue the massacre was a hoax.
As a volunteer firefighter, Pete was later called to the scene to assist at Sandy Hook. However, knowing his son was inside the school, he was not allowed to go in after him.
“I’m having a hard time even asking you this question,” Glenn began. “What did it feel like as a dad to know that your son was in that build, and you could not go in and grab him?”
"It was extremely hard. I’m fortunate that the fire department is a big family," Pete replied. "One of them, the EMS captain, her mother is the secretary in the office. She’s the one who got the intercom open. And we were both together on the truck and we were consoling each other, and making sure we were able not only get in and do our jobs and but keep each supported to make sure everything was going to be all right."
“I was fortunate that my son’s class due to his location was about the second class out. I saw him right away within a few minutes of being on scene,” he added.
Pete told Beck that he had wanted to call into his radio show for a long time after hearing about Newtown "truthers" and the crazy theories they are promoting.
"We need to set the record straight," he said. "I was there. I've been to the funerals. I know the families very closely. I know a lot of those children. It happened. It really happened."
