In 2018, just hours after the Parkland shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 people dead, Alex Jones posted a picture on his website of a 25 year old man living in Worcester, Massachusetts. Jones posted the picture, which he had received from 4Chan, claiming this was the shooter.
Marcel Fontaine almost immediately began receiving calls from friends and family, telling him he had been identified as the gunman. Fontaine has never been to Florida in his entire life, never been in any trouble whatsoever, and had an airtight alibi – plus, he didn’t even own a gun.
He notified Jones that he was not the shooter. They ignored him. When he began to get threats, he notified them again that they were broadcasting a picture of the wrong person. The picture identifying him as the shooter remained on Jones’ website for a full day, visited by hundreds of thousands of people.
Marcel Fontaine is autistic and gay. America is a dangerous place for him as is, and he sure didn’t need a nationally spread story that he killed 17 high school students in Florida. Through a friend of a friend, he found a lawyer in Texas willing to take his case and sue Jones.
The first lawsuit against Alex Jones for malicious and false content was filed in Texas, where Jones broadcasts, by Marcel Fontaine. It was an act of amazing courage.
After that, parents of the students killed Sandy Hook began to come forward and used that same lawyer to sue Jones in his hometown, Austin.
All of the lawsuits have been declared in favor of the plaintiffs that Jones did in fact defame them. They’ve won the hard part – all that is left is the determination by a jury of how much money Jones has to pay them.
One week before the Texas cases were set for trial Jones filed a sham bankruptcy claim on three of his companies that had no money, office, staff, or even their own letterhead. It was a ploy to once again postpone the trial. Once he saw that it wasn’t going to work, he dropped it, but postponing the trial was his goal.
The trial will soon be reset, probably for June, in Austin.
Marcel Fontaine will not be there. He died when fire engulfed an apartment complex in Worcester, Massachusetts, on May 15th. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Marcel Fontaine’s initial courage is probably what is going to take Alex Jones down. Marcel Fontaine is an American hero, not because he died, but because he lived. May he fly on the wings of the angels.
Published with permission of Juanita Jean
