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An online video game of last year's Sandy Hook school massacre, in which 26 people were killed, including 20 first-graders, is drawing shock and outrage, including from victims' family members.
According to Connecticut TV station WTNH, the game has now been removed by the hosting web site after initial media reports spawned several complaints.
The one year anniversary of that massacre is just a few weeks away, on Dec. 14th.
The Hartford Courant reports that the computer simulation game, called "The Slaying of Sandy Hook Elementary School," lets players re-enact killer Adam Lanza's actions on that day, with the virtual Lanza gunman firing at students and teachers.
After news reports about the game, relatives of teacher Victoria Soto, who was killed in the attack, wrote in a tweet to game creator Ryan Jake Lambourn, "Please tell us how playing a game that recreates how Vicki died would be beneficial? Please tell us."
Lambourn defended his game, saying it was meant to promote tough gun control laws.
He said, "Here we are nearly a year after the Sandy Hook shootings in which 26 people were killed and absolutely nothing positive has come out of it."
The Courant writes that Lambourn explains in the game's credits that he grew up in Houston and later moved to Australia, which made sweeping changes to its gun laws after a 2001 massacre there.
Lambourn also created a game about the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, in which 32 people were killed by a gunman.
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