Newtown Plan Would Give $281,000 Each to Families of Shooting Victims

The families of the 26 people killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting would receive $281,000 apiece under a proposal unveiled Thursday by a committee charged with distributing donated funds, the Hartford Courant and NBC News report.

The payouts amount to 95 percent of the $7.7-million set aside for victims by the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation, which is overseeing the fund. The families of 12 children who witnessed the December 14 attack would get $20,000 each, and two wounded teachers would split $150,000. A final decision on the distribution is due on July 15.

Under the proposal Sandy Hook families must file claims by August 2 to receive a share, and the money will be distributed by August 15, said attorney Kenneth Feinberg, a veteran of disaster-fund distribution who advised the Newtown committee.

At a public hearing Thursday on the distribution plan, speakers vented frustration over what they said was a lack of transparency in the committee’s work and about the foundation’s controversial decision to set aside nearly a third of the $11.4-million fund for as-yet-undefined community needs rather than give all donations to victims’ families.