- We call the defendant, Laura Broder.
- Please raise your right hand.
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth?
- Ma'am?
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth?
- Truth, for Plato, is absolute.
It's objective.
It transcends physical forms,
indifferent to us mortals.
Truth doesn't need us to believe it.
It just is.
Thanks, guys.
We'll see you all next week.
- Here's the updated syllabus with the new dates.
You know, if you want, I can make the midterm revisions myself.
- No. No, I got it. - Okay.
I think it's amazing that you're teaching.
- Well, it is my job.
- No, yeah, of course.
I, I just...
it's only been two months since your son passed.
- Right. Well, he didn't pass exactly.
He was gunned down. Along with eight other children.
I'm...
I'm sorry.
- Hey, bud.
How are you doing?
- It's just weird.
Seeing his name.
I don't know if I'm supposed to like...
delete it or what.
- Yeah. I don't know.
You don't have homework?
What about your History essay?
- No one's really gonna fail me right now.
- Okay.
Well, if you wanna brainstorm, I'm happy to.
Or you can, you can... you can talk it out with your mom.
Look, I know she's been tough to reach lately,
but she's here for ya, okay?
She's picking me up.
We're supposed to be at the studio at 5:30.
We should be back by 7.
- She's doing another interview?
- Well, it's something she feels she need to do.
She's just tryin' to...
make sense out of all this, you know?
Jonah?
- Yeah.
Fine.
- Hi. - Sorry, I'm late.
- We've got time.
- I snapped at my TA for no reason
then I insisted on buying him a coffee. - Hm.
How was your class?
- Uh,
used to be they were all staring at their phones.
Now they're staring at me like I've got three heads.
How's Jonah?
- Maybe you should ask him.
- What does that mean?
- Nothing, just...
he's still got some assignments overdue
and he might need your help.
Maybe you could try to spend some time with him?
- I have been meaning to.
- I know. - I don't know why it feels so hard.
Joining us now via satellite
Professor Laura Broder,
whose 12-year-old son, Liam,
was one of the nine children killed
when a fellow student opened fire at Park Ridge High School
in Lake Forest, Illinois.
She's calling on the State Senate
to pass two pieces of gun safety legislation
currently being debated.
Professor, thank you for speaking with us today.
- Thank you for having me.
- Before we go any further, what can you tell me about your son?
- Well. He was a very special kid.
When he grew up,
he wanted to split his time as a marine biologist
and a professional ice-cream maker.
- You were kind enough to share a photo.
I understand he was quite the expert on turtles.
- Yes, turtles were his favorite.
Even when he was little.
He would pull out fun facts
mostly to bargain for more screen time.
"What's five more minutes?
Turtles live 150 years."
- This is obviously an immensely difficult time.
But yet you've chosen to speak publicly and lobby for action.
- Yes,
shootings like these
aren't natural disasters.
They're preventable. There are things we can do.
And Senate Bill 83 would close the gun show loophole
and reinstate the ban on assault rifles.
Look, I...
I can't bring back my son
but I can do everything in my power to prevent another one.
So that no other parents have to go through
a nightmare like this.
- And to those who deny it happened altogether?
I assume you're aware of the hashtag "ParkRidgeExposed"?
Professor?
- Sorry, I...
- This was posted by a Joanna Pierce.
One of the most vocal deniers.
- Yes, I have seen the so-called footage with my own two eyes
and you can see... you can obviously see,
when the kids start running out of the building, the tape doubles back.
Twice.
Like it's been doctored.
And no one is talking about that! No one!
And lemme tell you, these people who have hijacked our country,
the globalists, uh, pedophiles, child traffickers,
they have tentacles in every pocket of the government, media
and don't think for a second
they wouldn't have staged something like this, 'cause they would.
So they can come into my home
and confiscate my guns and violate my Second Amendment rights?
Uh-uh.
Because these kids didn't die.
None of this is real!
None of it! It's not real.
- As of this morning, it has nearly a million views.
Any response to her claim?
- That was a total ambush.
We were supposed to be talking about the legislation.
- I know, but you handled it as well as you could have.
- My God, it really is everywhere.
- Lo, there's a reason we didn't look.
- What the hell is she doing amplifying this crap on national television?
I mean, it's completely irresponsible.
- Listen to me. It's done.
I'm proud of you. I'm really upset about it too
but there's nothing we can do about it.
- Look at this.
- I understand the platforms aren't liable,
but there are still laws against defamation, right?
Mom. Food's here.
- I'm sorry, could you repeat that? - It's gonna get cold.
- Just start without me, okay?
Yeah.
- First she wants to rewrite the Second Amendment,
now she's gonna sue Mark Zuckerberg?
- She was blindsided.
You can understand that, can't you?
- Well, thanks to Article 230,
apparently none of the social media companies are responsible
for any of the content on their sites.
He did say that if they... use Liam's image,
we can flag that as a copyright violation.
- Well, that's something.
- So it's our job to go through this crap?
It's illegal to use his image
but saying that he never existed, that's fair game?
- This is what they do, Mom.
These Covid truthers, vaccine truthers.
- Can we not call them "truthers"? - Call them whatever you want.
Maybe check Twitter before going on national TV.
- Alright. Just take a breath. - What's that supposed to mean?
- I mean it wasn't exactly a secret.
- Wait, you knew about this? And you didn't think to tell us?
- I knew you'd do this. - What?
- "This?" What, what am I supposed to do?
- Ignore it, Mom, like... like a normal person.
This is how the internet works.
- Yeah. I get that, Jonah.
Okay. I'm not naive.
But this is your brother.
This is his memory.
This is what comes up when you search Liam's name.
- Yeah, well somehow I don't think he cares.
- I'll talk to him.
- No. I'll, I'll, I'll do it.
I just... I need a minute.
It's like they're killing him all over again.
- Jonah!
We need to be in there.
We need to be strong for her.
- No, this... this is so messed up.
I... this is my fault.
- Shh... shh... Okay. It's alright.
- I'm gonna be sick. - It's okay.
Look... look at me.
We all made mistakes. Okay?
All of us.
- I'm having a hard time...
with all the uh, noise, I guess.
- How do you mean?
- All these lunatics online
claiming the whole thing was staged.
That no one really died.
- That's disgusting. - Unbelievable.
- It's hard enough accepting...
that Liam's gone.
But knowing that there are people out there
insisting that he wasn't real?
I've been...
wondering what we might do.
- Do?
- We've been considering publishing Liam's death certificate online.
- Well, we've been... we've been talking about it. - Well...
Eric thinks I'm crazy.
- I don't think you're crazy. I just...
I don't see the point of it.
- What if we were to make a statement together?
Just something.
It's not going away.
If anything, it's getting worse.
And people are asking why we're not saying anything.
You know, like as if we have something to hide.
- People are monsters. They're sick.
- Some of them.
But some of them must be reachable.
I mean, I tell my students skepticism is healthy. Right?
If people have questions about what happened,
I want to try to answer them.
With facts.
With proof.
Shouldn't we at least try?
- I gotta admit...
I've been a junkie for that conspiracy stuff for as long as I can remember.
Info Wars, Pizzagate, you name it.
I always figured, if there's smoke there's fire, right?
All fun and games till it's your kid that's dead and buried.
- Maybe Laura's right then.
- You can't engage with trolls.
They're cowards.
Hiding behind a screen.
- So what if we do it in person?
I want them to look me in the eye
and tell me that my son wasn't real.
Has Gillian texted you?
- They're not coming.
Damnit. - It's already ten after.
- Okay. Okay.
- You sure? - Yeah.
Hi, hi.
Thank you all for coming.
I know some of you have... have travelled quite a distance to be here.
My name is Laura Broder. This is my husband Eric.
Our son Liam... was one of the victims.
This is Molly and Ben Greenfield.
Their daughter Allison was also murdered.
I know that there have been a lot of theories and misinformation online.
I have brought evidence of Liam's entire life.
I have a hard copy of his death certificate if you want to see it.
Sorry, um...
You know what?
Any questions you have, we'll... we'll just do our best to answer.
- Why were there no helicopters?
Nine kids bleeding out and no trauma helicopters called?
- So the nearest hospital, Lehigh Valley,
they don't have helicopters.
The ambulances were on their way within minutes.
Helicopters were called when three of the victims
needed to be transferred to Chestnut Hill.
- Why aren't you suing the first responders?
I read it took them over an hour.
- That's, that's not true. They were here a lot faster than that.
And in, you know, in Liam's case, for example,
there's nothing that could have been done so.
- I'll be honest, I have three of my own and...
it feels like a new one of these happen every week.
And how can that be?
How...
Are there really this many sickos
who wanna pump bullets into a bunch of kids, I just...
I, I, I can't imagine it.
- Yeah. It's unimaginable.
- Uh, what about your maiden name?
- Sorry?
- Hi, Joanna Lynn Pierce.
Executive reporter for The Daily Inquest.
Your maiden name. Birkheimer, right?
That's right.
- You expect us to believe that
it's just a coincidence that there's a Swedish lobbyist named Laura Birkheimer
who tried to outlaw firearms in three European countries?
- Uh, well, I was born in Scranton.
So, I can show you my passport.
- Oh well, passports can be faked.
Let's see the room where it happened.
- I actually tried to get access but the local police wouldn't allow it.
- Oh, and why is that, I wonder.
I hear they're planning to tear the whole thing down.
What are they afraid we'll find?
- It's the site of a mass murder.
Where... where my son was killed and eight...
- Except he wasn't really your son, was he?
- Excuse me? - Excuse me?
- Do you have his adoption papers in that box?
- I'm sorry. Excuse me.
What the hell does his adoption have to do with him being murdered?
- I'm just asking questions here. You never wanted your own?
- They are my own.
I have cervical stenosis.
I had three miscarriages,
the last one put me in a hospital.
Would you like to see my medical records?
- I would like to see the coroner's report.
Why was that never released?
- Oh, for God's sake, why the hell do you think?
- Okay, Ben, maybe we should go.
- If you want us to believe these kids are dead,
let's see... let's just see some proof.
- You know what? - Have some respect!
- We're done here. - They're already in the ground.
- Oh, well, isn't that convenient? - This is pointless.
- How do you people sleep at night? - Let's go. Let's go.
- Oh yeah, go, go. Run. Run.
Take your dirty money, get back on that plane to Switzerland. How 'bout that?
- I'm sorry, don't you mean Sweden?
- Laura.
- Because Swedish lobbyists come from Sweden.
- Oh, thank you, professor.
Some of us didn't have the luxury of a fancy education.
But we're not suckers.
We have eyes.
We can see.
You hear me?
Did you get that?
- No, I, I understand there are protocols,
but these people are insane.
I mean, they're coming after me any way they can.
My inbox is a mountain of hate mail
and... and Eric has had to take down his Yelp page altogether.
This is clearly more of the same.
Simon, uh, it's my husband. I need to call you back.
Hey.
You're not gonna believe this. - Laura? Listen.
- Someone filed an anonymous sexual harassment complaint.
And the dean says he needs to open a Title 9 investigation
- Laura, you need to come home. - What?
- They published our address on 4chan.
Along with our cell numbers, and your social security.
- Wait... - Wait, hold on.
- I already got Jonah out of school.
You just get home as soon as you can, okay?
And be safe.
You better stay alert.
'Cause we're gonna find you wherever you go.
We're gonna get you. You and your fake kid.
- And this happened one time?
5:37.
- The number was blocked but maybe there's a way to trace it?
- It's obviously Joanna Lynn Pierce.
- Who? - Oh, she's this lunatic conspiracist.
- One of these crazy Park Ridge hoaxers.
- We... we pissed her off
and now we're being targeted by her army of trolls.
Here.
"Die bitch.
Hope you boil in feces."
She's all over YouTube.
She's been screaming about us for weeks.
- We'll look into it.
And we'll take your phone as well.
See if anything on it we can trace.
In the meantime, do you have anywhere to stay?
Any family in the area?
- It's just a few nights, okay?
Okay, bud?
- I'm sorry, okay?
What do I need to say it?
Obviously you were right.
- Well, we need to just focus on what's next, right?
Maybe we go to Baltimore
and stay with my parents.
I can call uh, Furman Templeton,
it's a great public school, we could see if they'd take Jonah as a midyear transfer.
- Wait, you mean like go for good?
Just like that?
- I want us to be safe, Lo. - No, of course, but...
- And honestly maybe Jonah could use a... a fresh start.
- What about his friends?
His life?
Not to mention, you can work from anywhere.
I can't. I'm on a tenure track.
- I'm not pretending any of this is easy, okay?
Maybe you could take a sabbatical.
Maybe you could use it.
- I'm getting pretty sick of people telling me how to grieve.
I don't need that from you.
- Okay.
- Hey.
- I brought coffee.
- Oh, you didn't have to do that.
We've got new numbers, new cellphones.
We got a new PO Box. Different names.
- I'm so sorry.
- You said you wanted to talk?
Right. Um...
It's about the group.
Some of the other parents, they'd, um...
they'd rather you and Eric stop coming.
I think it's despicable, honestly.
I, I think they're just afraid, is all.
They're... they're scared of becoming targets.
- Yeah. Right.
We're, uh...
we're radioactive.
- You know, we probably won't keep going.
Ben hates all the New Age-y talk.
And the coffee tastes like dirt.
I'm sorry.
- You know we were only gonna adopt one originally
and then we found out that Liam had an older brother
who was two years older and he also needed a home.
And that felt better.
Knowing that they'd always have each other.
Hey!
- What the hell happened?
Hey, Jonah! Talk to me.
What happened? - Why'd she have to go on TV in the first place?
You knew it was a mistake!
And... and you let her do it anyway.
And now they're never gonna stop. Ever.
- You're safe. - No.
- Do you hear me? - No.
- Look at me. You're safe. We'll keep you safe.
- How?
- We've sent the vehicle description out to every precinct in the county.
It's harder without plates but...
- What about Joanna Pierce?
- There's no evidence to suggest she was directly involved.
- If it wasn't her at the wheel, it was someone doing her bidding.
She has thousands of followers
and her rhetoric is only escalating.
- Has she made any specific threats of violence?
- She's calling us Satanists
and pedophiles who deserve to be lynched.
- What about stationing someone outside our place?
In case they doxx us again?
- We just don't have the manpower.
I'm sorry.
Do you have any kind of home defense?
- What do you mean? - I mean do you have a gun?
Because if I were you... - That's not happening.
Thank you, officer.
- Come on. Let's go.
Uh, Jonah, just hang here for a second, would ya?
Laura, hey.
We have to get out of town. - Eric.
- I mean it.
- Okay, how is that going to make any difference?
What is to stop them from finding us wherever we go?
I'm not gonna start living like a fugitive.
That means they win.
- They've already won!
My God, Laura, look at us.
- This is our home.
This is our community.
- Yeah, and our community hates us, in case you haven't noticed.
They think it's our fault
that these yahoos are showing up in droves,
demanding information at City Hall.
- We were just trying to give them answers.
- I'm not saying it's fair.
But this is the reality.
And honestly did you really think we'd stay here forever?
After everything that's happened?
- It's where we've built our lives.
It's where Liam's buried.
What are we supposed to do? Just leave him?
- I'm sorry, honey.
But we have to be smart. We're not safe here.
Okay.
I'll take a leave.
And you, uh,
you call Furman Templeton and see if they have a spot for Jonah and...
and we'll just put the house on the market this week.
I don't... it's gonna take us a while to pack everything.
- We'll figure it out.
- Okay.
Okay.
Jonah.
Oh.
- Hey. - Hey.
I didn't know you were home.
Just puttin' stuff away. What's up?
- Sorry, I, I was looking for Mom.
- Your mom, uh... I think she was taking the trash out.
- Yeah, we were, uh... we were gonna go get pancakes at Millie's.
- Oh, yeah?
That's a great idea. - Hey.
Hey, you ready to go?
- Yeah. You wanna come?
- Oh, I was thinking maybe just us?
Is that okay?
- Yeah, I ate. You guys go have fun.
- Are they gonna arrest her?
Joanna Pierce.
- I don't know.
It's complicated.
- It doesn't really seem fair.
I mean, why are we the ones who have to leave?
We're not the ones telling lies. - I know.
Look, I... I know that I haven't been...
me since he died.
Sometimes I'll look at you and I... I'm just I'm so scared.
I'm scared I'm gonna lose you too.
But... I, I'm trying. I really am.
- I know, Mom.
- What the hell. - What's going on?
- No more lies!
No more lies!
- Wait, that's her.
- Mom. What are you doing?
No more lies! No more lies!
- Stay in the car. - Mom.
- No more lies!
- We want you to be honest. - Mom!
- You can't tear down this building.
Stay in the car.
- That's destruction of evidence.
- No more lies. - No more lies.
- No more lies! No more lies! No more lies!
No more lies.
- Liam wasn't enough for you? - Don't you come at me.
- You had to come after Jonah too?
- She's assaulting me!
- You're sick, you know that? - No, you are sick.
You think you're untouchable, but you know what?
I don't care what they pay you. We will find you.
- You say you care about children?
Stay away from my family, you hear me, or I'll have you arrested.
- You can't hide from the truth. - No more lies!
No more lies!
- Press charges against that bitch.
- No more lies! No more lies!
- Laura Broder?
Come with me.
And I have to give you this.
Ms. Pierce has filed a temporary order of protection.
You must stay at least 500 feet away from her person and place of residence.
You understand?
- Yeah. - You're free to go.
- C'mon.
- Is it fair to say that Ms. Pierce was afraid of you?
After you physically assaulted her?
- I can't know what was going through her mind.
- But you understood the terms of the restraining order, yes?
They were fully explained to you?
Ms. Broder? - Yes, I understood.
- And yet three weeks later, you showed up at her property.
- And I take full responsibility for that. It was stupid.
It was reckless. But I... I never my intended to harm Ms. Pierce.
- You can see why that's hard to believe.
Given you brought a gun?
- What is this?
The State of Illinois says your application for a firearms license is approved?
Is this for real?
- - It's locked up, okay? It's safe.
- You've already bought it?
- Listen to me, the cop... - How could you do that?
- Okay, look, just calm down. - Without even consulting me?
- It's locked up okay? Listen to me. - You went behind my back.
After everything I've been doing to stop the proliferation of guns.
- We've been threatened, Laura. Okay?
And our principles aren't gonna keep us safe
when one of them shows up at our doorstep.
- Safe? Are you kidding me?
This is what killed our son.
And you think hiding a loaded weapon in our home
without... without even telling me.
- This isn't our home! We had to leave our home because you wouldn't listen.
I told you, talking to those freaks was a mistake.
I told you that we should get out of town the minute they found our address.
- Yes and we're leaving. - Yeah.
After Jonah got assaulted, which should never have happened!
- Oh, that's my fault too?
- Now, just when I think you're listening to reason,
you go and attack this woman
and put a... a bigger target on us, and for what?
This endless crusade!
- How about for Liam? - This is not about Liam.
It's not.
It's about you needing an enemy.
- I've made mistakes, Eric,
but I would never go behind your back.
You wanna pack up the car and leave tonight? Fine.
But we are getting rid of that gun.
Do you hear me?
Tell me where it is.
- I locked it.
I know I did.
Jonah?
He's gone. His window's open.
Why would he take that?
- Her address. - What are you doing?
- The restraining order. It was here.
Hello?
- Jonah? Oh, my God. Where are you?
- Uh. - Listen to me.
Whatever you're doing, you need to stop.
- That's okay. It's fine.
I'll... I'll eat when I get home.
- What? Jonah, talk to me.
Talk to me.
What are you doing?
- I love you. - Jonah!
- I brought the gun for protection but I never intended to use it.
I just wanted to talk to her.
I, I wanted all of this to stop.
Oh, will you stop your whining.
- Shh. Shh.
Here baby.
Here you go.
Ah! Oh! Oh, my God.
Oh, my God, you're... you're the Broder kid.
What are you doing here, honey?
What's going on?
Are they hurting you?
You can tell me. You can tell me the truth.
I can help you.
- One last question, Professor.
You placed a call to your son, Jonah, at 6:49 pm.
Less than an hour before you showed up at the victim's home.
What did you two discuss?
- I don't think he answered.
- He did actually.
The phone call lasted 38 seconds.
- Objection, Your Honor. Relevance?
- Goes to the defendant's state of mind.
Jonah?
- Jonah...
give me the gun.
- Hey.
You okay?
What happened?
- You need to get him out of here.
- What are you doing?
What are you doing?
- 911, what's your emergency?
- I need an ambulance. I just shot someone.
- You did great. You stayed calm.
You were vulnerable.
- So what now?
- Well, there's one wrinkle.
The ADA's filed a motion to subpoena Jonah as a rebuttal witness.
- What?
Why?
- They claim it's about the mystery phone call,
but frankly I think they're desperate.
Grilling a traumatized 14-year-old?
Not a good look.
- Jonah can't take the stand.
I mean he can't testify. I told you that.
I'm not gonna put him through that.
Can't you block the motion? - I tried.
The judge shot me down.
Listen, I think it's a good sign.
It means they know they're losing.
Otherwise why risk it?
- Is Murder 3 still on the table?
- This is going well.
There's no sign of forced entry.
Joanna was armed.
They can't prove you weren't acting in self-defense.
- Can you give us a minute?
Meredith, please?
Jonah can't take the stand. - What choice do we have?
- I can take the plea.
- You heard what she just said, right?
There's a good chance that we could walk away from this.
- No, not if he goes up there. What if he says something?
- Lo, if you plead guilty,
that's a minimum sentence of 15 years.
How's Jonah supposed to live with that?
The lie is eating away at him already.
- It's not a lie.
It might have been his finger on the trigger, but I'm the reason he was there.
You know that.
You know that as well as I do.
You were right.
I needed an enemy. I needed a fight.
Because without that, there was just this...
giant gaping hole.
I brought us here. I did that.
And I am not going to let him pay for that.
We can't lose him too.
Oh, God.
- Look at me.
Look at me. Look at me.
Look at me.
Let me do this.
It's what I want.
You take Jonah
somewhere that you both can heal.
- I can't. - Yeah, you can.
You'll be alright and he'll get through it, he will.
And I'll be okay.
Really.
Good behavior, parole...
it's not so long.
Turtles live 150 years.
- Will the defendant please rise?
Mrs. Broder,
you understand by entering this guilty plea
you waive your right to any future appeal?
- I understand, Your Honor.
- Before the court accepts your plea, is there anything you'd like to say?
- When my son Liam was five years old,
he asked me once, we were brushing his teeth and he asked,
"How do we know we're not puppets?
With someone else controlling the strings?
How do we know we are real?"
If I could do it again...
I would say to him,
"Maybe we don't know. Maybe we never can."
But I think maybe we're real
not because of what we know, but because of who we love.
To Ms. Pierce's family and loved ones, I am so deeply sorry.
And to my own family,
please know how much I love you.
And it's okay.
Thank you.
- Mrs. Broder,
the court formally accepts your plea of guilty
to murder in the third degree.
The defendant will be remanded to custody pending sentencing.
We are now adjourned.
- It's okay.