[ad_1]
Helen Biesenbach leaves a message at a memorial with 26 crosses to honor the victims of the November 9, 2017 murder of First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Helen Biesenbach leaves a message at a memorial with 26 crosses to honor the victims of the November 9, 2017 murder of First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it has reached a $144.5 million interim settlement with the families of the victims of the 2017 Sutherland Springs, Texas shooting.
The shooting took place in a church and killed 25 people, including a pregnant woman. Officials put the death toll at 26, making it the deadliest mass shooting in state history.
Families of those who died sued the federal government.The shooter who was in the Air Force had a history of domestic violence and had to be flagged in background systems to prevent him from purchasing weapons. never entered that information into the database.
“The Sutherland Springs family are heroes. The state owes them a tribute,” said Jamal Al-Safar, lead trial attorney for the plaintiffs. “They’ve been through a lot of pain and loss in the most horrible ways.”
Attorney General Vanita Gupta said the announcement put an end to the lawsuit, but said “no word or amount of money can mitigate the immense tragedy of the Sutherland Springs shooting.” .
The settlement comes after months of back and forth over the case. A district court judge initially ruled that the government was responsible for 60% of the attacks that occurred because he did not enter the shooter’s domestic violence history into the background check system. A judge said the government owed the family $230 million.
But in January, the Justice Department appealed the ruling, arguing that it could not be considered primarily responsible for the attack and withholding damages. His position surprised gun control advocates and received praise from the National Rifle Association.
Wednesday’s interim settlement, if finalized, would be the third time the U.S. government has made payments to victims’ families in the aftermath of the shooting. The government also paid out victims of the 2018 shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., and his 2015 shooting at a church in Charleston, South Carolina.
[ad_2]
Source link
