A Connecticut judge has ordered the release of 911 calls from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting , according to court documents obtained by CNN . Connecticut Superior Court Judge Eliot Prescott 's ruling upholds a decision by the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission to release the calls related to the December 2012 shooting . In doing so , the judge denied an application from State Attorney Stephen Sedensky to stay the commission 's decision . In his ruling , Prescott grants `` the plaintiff and Newtown respondents a short period of time to attempt to obtain appellate relief from this decision . '' If no higher court grants the appeal , the 911 audio recordings will be released on December 4 at 2 p.m . ET . The massacre at Sandy Hook left 26 people dead , including 20 children , making it the second-deadliest shooting in U.S. history . The gunman , Adam Lanza , shot himself at the end of his 11-minute rampage . The killings in Newtown , about 60 miles outside New York , happened less than five months after a similar bloodbath at a movie theater in Aurora , Colorado , outside Denver . Those mass slayings triggered a nationwide debate over gun violence , school safety and mental health , a debate that produced some new restrictions on firearms in several states . A backlash against those laws by gun-rights advocates followed , and there was only limited action on a federal level after a Republican filibuster blocked expanded background checks for gun buyers . Sandy Hook killer took motive to his grave .
If no higher court grants an appeal , the recordings will be released on December 4 . The 2012 shooting left 26 people dead , including 20 children . It 's the second-deadliest shooting in U.S. history .