UVALDE, Texas – The families of 19 victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting announced Wednesday that they have settled with the City of Uvalde and filed lawsuits against Texas Department of Public Safety officers and several UCISD employees.
The settlement and lawsuits were announced on Wednesday, just days before the two-year mark of the attack, when 19 students and two teachers were killed by an 18-year-old gunman.
As nearly 400 law enforcement officials responded to the campus, students and teachers remained in two adjoining classrooms for 77 minutes, waiting to be rescued.
The lawsuits were filed against 92 individual DPS officers and several Uvalde CISD members, including then-Principal Mandy Gutierrez and then-Chief Pete Arredondo.
This is the latest of several seeking accountability for the law enforcement response.
The lawsuit notes state troopers did not follow their active shooter training and responsibility to confront the shooter, even as the students and teachers inside were following their own lockdown protocols of turning off lights, locking doors, and staying silent.
In a news conference that announced the lawsuits, attorney Josh Koskoff said the state “has done nothing at all.”
This year, the Justice Department released a 500-plus page report that cited “cascading failures” in the botched response. The review confirmed with significant authority and evidence that the failures of police and leadership led to a large number of casualties.
According to the report, Arredondo directed officers to focus on getting students out of other classrooms and did not confront the shooter after the first officers on the scene were fired upon by the gunman.
The report stated Arredondo and other law enforcement leaders did not communicate or take command.
In March, an investigation by Austin-based investigator Jesse Prado exonerated City of Uvalde officers who responded. Prado, who was hired by the city, said the department did not commit any wrongdoing or violate any policy in its response.
Instead, Prado placed the blame on lack of communication and crowd control.
On Wednesday, Javier Cazares, whose daughter, Jackie, was killed on May 24, 2022, said the last two years have been “unbearable” and the “whole world” saw the botched response.
“Justice and accountability have always been my main concern,” he said. “We have been let down so many times.”
The families’ settlement with the city was reached through a yearlong restorative justice process, Koskoff said.
The agreement, according to Koskoff, activates policy changes from UPD, including:
- The implementation of a new “fitness for duty” standard for Uvalde police.
- The commitment of enhanced training from UPD.
The settlement also establishes May 24 as an annual Day of Remembrance, calls for the creation of a public memorial at the Plaza, supports mental health services for families and survivors, and brings new developments for children and families in the Uvalde area.
The settlement with the city was capped at $2 million because the families said they didn’t want to bankrupt the city where they still live and to allow the community to continue to heal. The settlement will be paid from the city’s insurance coverage.
The City of Uvalde released the following statement after Wednesday’s news conference:
“Today, we are thankful to join the victims’ families in arriving at an agreement that will allow us to remember the Robb Elementary tragedy while moving forward together as a community to bring healing and restoration to all those affected. We will forever be grateful to the victims’ families for working with us over the past year to cultivate an environment of community-wide healing that honors the lives and memories of those we tragically lost. May 24th is our community’s greatest tragedy.”
Jerry Mata, Tess Mata’s dad, said after the news conference that his work is far from finished.
“Just because we settled doesn’t mean we’re gonna stop,” Mata said. “We’re going to continue. The failures are still out there.”
A criminal investigation into the police response by Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell’s office remains ongoing. A grand jury was summoned this year, and some law enforcement officials have already been called to testify.
Another lawsuit filed in December 2022 against local and state police, the city, and other school and law enforcement, seeks at least $27 billion and class-action status for survivors. At least two other lawsuits have been filed against Georgia-based gun manufacturer Daniel Defense, which made the AR-style rifle used by the gunman.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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