As the two-year anniversary of the Robb Elementary School shooting approaches, a group of 19 families who lost loved ones in the tragedy reached a settlement with the City of Uvalde, Texas, while also taking legal action against state law enforcement and school district employees, as KENS5 reported. The $2 million settlement is sourced from the city's insurance coverage and includes a commitment from the city to establish May 24 as an annual Day of Remembrance and to erect a public memorial, among other gestures of remembrance and ongoing support for mental health services.
Parents and guardians of the victims announced multiple lawsuits, they are suing 92 Texas Department of Public Safety officers and several Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD) employees, for apparently failing to abide by their active shooter training, this according to statements made in a joint press event and reported by the KSAT. The lawsuits name former Robb Elementary Principal Mandy Gutierrez and former Chief Pete Arredondo as defendants, individuals who have previously received intense scrutiny for their actions on that fateful day.
It has been an excruciating timeline for the families, with Javier Cazares, who lost his daughter in the massacre, expressing the unbearable weight of the past two years and emphasizing the need for justice and accountability, "We have been let down so many times," Cazares told KSAT. The unfolding events continue to add layers to the grieving community's search for answers and closure.
Josh Koskoff, an attorney representing the families, echoed these sentiments, claiming an abandonment of responsibility by the officers which, "no risk more foreseeable to our children than classroom shootings" he argued the failure to act on that day allowed the tragedy to unfold at such a significant scale, Koskoff described the grim reality of the situation and the need to protect children in local communities like Uvalde; the full statement was obtained by KENS5. On a brighter note, the settlement with the city aims to address multiple facets of the community's needs, in hopes of facilitating a healing process.
The Uvalde tragedy has already sparked several lawsuits, with a staggering $27 billion case announced in late 2022 against local and state police among others, as well as action against the gun manufacturer of the weapon used in the shooting.
