Uvalde Survivors File a $27 Billion Class-Action Lawsuit Against Police, School District And More

Iesha December 2, 2022 News Leave a comment

A $27 billion class-action lawsuit has been launched by the families of the 19 students and two teachers who died in the Uvalde mass shooting at a Texas elementary school in May.

The lawsuit filed on Tuesday named the city of Uvalde, its police department, the school district, the state Department of Public Safety, and several police and school officials for failing to follow protocols of an active shooter. It is the first class action to come from the tragedy, but it’s also the third federal lawsuit filed in the incident.

“Instead of swiftly implementing an organized and concerted response to an active school shooter who had breached the otherwise ‘secured’ school buildings at Robb Elementary school, the conduct of the three hundred and seventy-six (376) law enforcement officials who were on hand for the exhaustively torturous seventy-seven minutes of law enforcement indecision, dysfunction, and harm, fell exceedingly short of their duty bound standards,” the suit says.

According to attorney Charles Bonner, the class-action lawsuit demands damages for the survivors, including parents whose children were killed and children who witnessed the massacre. Adding that, anyone else in the “zone of danger” could file a lawsuit.

“Parents were telling us that kids are threatening suicide; they’re totally changed from what they were on May 23, the day before the incident,” Bonner said Wednesday. “One child is having the nightmare that she’s having a heart attack. In fact, two children. The parents are traumatized because they’ve seen this totally night-and-day change.”

“This $27 Billion lawsuit is to let them know that we value our children’s lives,” Bonner continued, according to ABC News. “We have to have enough money to get their attention.”

According to the attorney, he is working with gun violence prevention advocates Everytown to file a separate lawsuit against the same defendants, plus Daniel Defense, which makes the AR-15-style firearm used by the 18-year-old shooter.

“There are no words to adequately express our deepest condolences to all the families who lost a loved one on May 24,” a spokesperson for the school district said in a statement to CNN. “Uvalde CISD cannot comment on or provide information about pending litigation. As a district, we focus on supporting our students and their families as we continue to navigate these unprecedented times.” However, in a statement to NPR, the City of Uvalde said, “The City has not been served and does not comment on pending litigation.”

As part of another lawsuit, the city of Uvalde filed a request to compel the office of District Attorney Christina Mitchell to turn over investigative materials related to the shooting.