A Minneapolis family is calling out the gaming platform Roblox, popular among young children and teens, for hosting a first-person shooter experience modeled after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The simulation’s existence was a shock to Leah and Harry Kaiser, whose family is still recovering from the Aug. 27, 2025, mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis.
“It is unacceptable, unfathomable to think that school shootings have been turned into a game. It's wrong on so many levels,” Leah Kaiser told MPR News last week.
Roblox hosts user-generated games on its platform, which has over 130 million daily active users, according to the company’s most recent data. And it’s ubiquitous among young people — in 2024, the company reported more than half its users are 16 or younger.
In March, podcaster Shawn Ryan posted a video with YouTuber Schlep, whose bio on X includes “Roblox safety advocate,” showing the Sandy Hook game. It’s set at Sandy Hook in Newtown, Conn., and included names of actual victims, according to the content creators. “Time until police come” was the clock players raced against.
The same day, Roblox replied saying the user-generated experience was posted on Feb. 5 and taken down a day later, minutes after it was reported as inappropriate content. Few users had accessed the simulation and not through organic discovery, the newsroom reported.
Roblox CEO and founder David Baszucki also posted a video stating the company has a zero-tolerance policy for school shooting reenactments.
“Such experiences directly violate our community standards and we strive to block them before they are even published. That said, a handful of bad actors do try to create these experiences to share with their friends and on social media. Although we are not perfect, we work hard to moderate and remove them as quickly as possible,” he said.
Schlep denied Roblox’s claims on social media, posting a screenshot showing the game was uploaded on Feb. 4 and visited over 350 times. He also alleged the simulation has been repeatedly re-uploaded for about a year.
In late May, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced an investigation into Roblox following reports of child harm, in part over the Sandy Hook shooting simulation. According to Tong, Roblox had labeled the simulation as appropriate for players ages 9 and up.
Annunciation parent: Game ‘crosses absolutely every line’
“To see tragedies recreated as entertainment, and for profit, crosses absolutely every line of human decency,” Kaiser said. “Our society, our tech giants, our lawmakers: we really have to draw a line in the sand to protect our children.”
Kaiser’s husband Harry Kaiser is a gym teacher at Annunciation and was present for the tragedy which left two dead and 28 others injured, including their then-8th grade daughter.
Lydia Kaiser, now 13, survived a gunshot to her head and had multiple brain surgeries to remove bullet fragments, alleviate brain swelling and stop bleeding.
The Kaisers’ children told them about the Roblox simulation a couple weeks ago, after encountering social media posts on it. They were shocked, according to Leah Kaiser.
“There's really young kids that are using Roblox. I mean, my daughter easily could have come upon that game,” she said.
On June 4, Leah and Harry Kaiser sent a letter to Roblox through their legal representatives, the American Center for Law and Justice, condemning the game. They demanded the company assure that all school shooting simulations have been removed and outline how it will “ensure that games glorifying or simulating school shootings can never exist on the platform again.”
A Roblox spokesperson responded to an MPR News email requesting information but did not confirm receiving the Kaisers’ letter or answer if the company would respond to their request.
Other shootings have been recreated on Roblox
The Sandy Hook experience is not the only violent simulation on Roblox. The Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism reports there have been several recreations of mass shootings — including ones at schools in Uvalde, Texas; Columbine, Colo.; and Parkland, Fla. — as well as terrorist attacks.
In April, a Texas legislative committee opened an investigation into Roblox over the simulation of the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary. The Kentucky Attorney General in October also sued the company in part over reports of assassination simulators.
While Roblox has taken steps to protect children online — like implementing new age verification guidelines and agreeing to increased protections in a Nevada lawsuit in April — Leah Kaiser said more can be done. She expressed concern about how simulations of school shootings could help make them reality, with would-be shooters seeking inspiration and motivation from violent content online.
“I'm truly, truly concerned about a deepening of an unhealthy culture,” she said. “That young children are being exposed to something that is interpreted as gaming, and we know that there are grave acts being committed by people that are downloading horrifying content.”
The Kaisers hope their voices can help advocate for change on Roblox and other online platforms. The issue is personal after the Annunciation shooting.
“All of us are mourning the loss of children, mourning the loss of innocence, mourning the loss of a culture that respects the lives of children,” she said.
Referring to the Sandy Hook shooting simulation, Kaiser said, “These aren't abstract concepts. They're not fictional, you know. These are real children that were murdered. They were real teachers. These are real families. This is not entertainment. It's not a game, you know. These are people whose lives are altered forever.”
