The families of the 19 victims of the Uvalde shooting announced this Wednesday that they are suing the Texas State Police over their response to the attack that took place on May 24, 2022, at Robb Elementary School.
Specifically, the lawsuit aims to hold 92 officials and members of the Uvalde Police, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office, and the Texas Department of Public Safety accountable for their response to the call for help. According to the families' lawyer, Josh Koskoff, some responders waited up to 77 minutes to confront the gunman, as reported to ABC News:
For 77 minutes, 26 members of the Uvalde Police Department failed to confront an 18-year-old kid armed with an AR-15, and no disciplinary action has ever been taken -- no firings, no demotions, no transparency -- and the families remain eager for that to change. But the healing process must begin, and the commitments made today by the city, in particular, are a step in that critical process.
The lawsuit also names the Uvalde School District, former Robb Elementary School Principal Mandy Gutierrez, and former Uvalde Schools Police Chief Peter Arredondo as defendants.
Uvalde will pay out a total of $2 million to the families of the victims
The commitments referred to in the statement were the second announcement made by the families who, they stated, had managed to reach an agreement in which the city would pay them $2 million from their insurance coverage. This amount was agreed upon after the families separately agreed to the $2 million limit of Uvalde County's insurance policy.
This settlement will allow families to get involved in efforts to improve the Uvalde Police Department. They will make changes that include improved training for officers as well as a new "fitness for duty" standard.
But, more importantly, it will allow families to "begin rebuilding trust in the systems that failed to protect us." Verónica Luevanos, a mother who lost her daughter, Jailah, and her nephew, Jayce, during the shooting told AP:
For two long years, we have languished in pain and without any accountability from the law enforcement agencies and officers who allowed our families to be destroyed that day. This settlement reflects a first good-faith effort, particularly by the city of Uvalde, to begin rebuilding trust in the systems that failed to protect us.
