Sandy Hook Shooting Victims' Families Get $280K
Millions of dollars in donations that poured into Newtown, Conn., after the Sandy Hook school shootings will be distributed to victims' family members and survivors this summer.
Families of each of the 26 students killed in the December shooting rampage will receive $281,000, a committee tasked with distributing the money announced at a town meeting on Thursday, according to Hartford (Conn.) Courant.
Twelve additional families of children who survived the shooting will each get $20,000, while the two teachers who were wounded will receive $150,000 to be split between them.
More than $11 million was donated in the aftermath of the Dec. 14 rampage by gunman Adam Lanza. Donations were collected by the United Way, and a committee decided that $7.7 million of the funds would be distributed to the families while the remainder would go toward community causes, according to the Courant.
The United Way and the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation Inc. did not return calls for comment from ABC News.
Kenneth Feinberg, the attorney responsible for distributing money to victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, 9/11 and the Deepwater Horizon accident, is assisting the fund in distributing the money. Feinberg told The Associated Press that victims' families have expressed frustration at the process.
"Is the money adequate? Of course not," Feinberg said. "No amount is adequate to deal with these horrors. Money is a pretty poor substitute but that's what we have. [The prophet] Solomon himself could not distribute this money in a fashion that would please everybody."
It's unclear whether the money is taxable.
A formal federal judge, Alan Nevas, is in charge of the distribution committee. Nevas did not immediately return calls for comment.