Status: 03.12.2022 11:41 a.m
About seven months after the deadly gun attack in Uvalde, Texas, those affected have filed a class action lawsuit. They hold the police and the municipality responsible – and are demanding billions in damages.
Victims of the shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, have filed a class action lawsuit against the police, city and other officials. According to a report by the AP news agency, court documents show that they are demanding compensation of $27 billion. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in federal court in Austin.
The shooter was not stopped quickly enough at the time. Police waited more than an hour before confronting the attacker in a classroom. Survivors of the May 24 shooting suffered “emotional or psychological damage as a result of the conduct or omissions of the defendants that day.”
“Authority Malfunction”
School staff are believed to be among those who filed the lawsuit, as well as representatives of minors who were present at the school when a gunman stormed the premises, killing 19 children and two teachers.
Rather than following previous training on how to stop an active shooter, “the behavior (…) fell far short of their mandatory standards,” the lawsuit says. There was talk of an “exhaustively agonizing 77 minutes,” of indecisiveness and a “dysfunction” by law enforcement agencies. Officials from the city of Uvalde stated that the documents had not been sent to them by Friday.
Separate lawsuit against gun company
Also earlier this week, the mother of a child killed in the shooting filed another federal lawsuit against several of the individuals and entities named in the proposed class action lawsuit.
A group of survivors also reportedly sued Daniel Defense – the company that made the gun used by the shooter – and the store where he bought the gun. That separate lawsuit seeks $6 billion in damages.