family Uvalde school shooting victims Authorities announced Wednesday that they have reached a $2 million settlement with the Texas city over a deadly 2022 assault. The group said it is also suing dozens of Texas Department of Public Safety officials and the Uvalde school district.
The announcement comes nearly two years after the incident involving a teenage gunman. Killed 19 students and 2 teachers at Robb Elementary School. After law enforcement officers killed the gunman in a classroom; Wait for more than an hour He will face off against the man who was heavily criticized following the shooting incident.
In a settlement announced Wednesday, the city of Uvalde will pay a total of $2 million to the families of the 17 children killed in the shooting and the two surviving children, according to a statement from the families’ attorneys.
“Further litigation against the city could have plunged Uvalde into bankruptcy, but no one has shown any interest in the families seeking to restore their community,” the statement said.
Attorney Josh Koskoff said at a news conference that the money would come from the city’s insurance coverage.
“These families could have filed a lawsuit against the city, and they certainly have grounds to do so,” Koskoff said, “and frankly, sadly, we’ve all seen what we’ve seen … but instead of suing the city and putting anyone’s finances at risk, the families simply accepted the insurance.”
The city said the settlement allows people to remember the shooting while “moving forward together as a community to bring healing and recovery to all those affected.”
“We are forever grateful to the families of the victims who have worked with us over the past year to honor the lives and memories of those tragically lost and foster a healing environment throughout our community.” the city said in a statement. “May 24th is the greatest tragedy for our region.”
Koskoff said the families are also working on a separate settlement with Uvalde County.
Javier Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter, Jackie Cazares, was killed in the shooting, said the past two years have been excruciating.
“We all know who took our children’s lives, but there were clear systemic flaws on May 24,” Cazares said. “The whole world saw it. Our children’s lives are not worth any amount of money. Justice and accountability have always been my number one concern. We have been let down too many times. It’s time to do the right thing.”
The settlement also includes a commitment by the Uvalde Police Department to strengthen officer training and work with the U.S. Department of Justice to develop new standards for police officers, according to the family’s lawyers. The city also committed to supporting mental health services for family members, survivors and community members, creating a committee to coordinate with family members on a permanent memorial, establishing May 24 as an annual day of remembrance, among other measures.
The families are also bringing new legal action against 92 state Department of Public Safety employees and the school district, including former Robb Elementary School Principal Mandy Gutierrez and others. Pete ArredondoThe school district’s police chief was fired a few months after the shooting.
“Law enforcement did not treat this incident as a mass shooting, even though it was clearly known that there was an active shooter inside,” the statement said Wednesday. “…the gunman was able to continue his killing spree for more than an hour while helpless families waited anxiously outside the school.”
Koskoff said state troopers at the scene could have done more in their response to the shooting. They acted “as if there was nothing else to do, as if they didn’t know how to shoot someone, as if they were heavily armed and not well trained,” Koskoff said.
Department of Justice report released in January He said the police response was a flop..
“If law enforcement had followed generally accepted practices, lives would have been saved and people would have survived,” Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters at the time.
At a press conference Wednesday, Koskoff noted that numerous federal law enforcement officers also responded to the shooting and said the family will “eventually” sue the federal government.
“There were over 150 federal police officers there and they stood there until 77 minutes later, when one or more of them entered the room,” Koskoff said. “It was certainly a heroic act. It was a heroic act with a 77-minute delay.”