Uvalde victims' families reach settlement with city
Nearly two years after the harrowing shooting that claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas — and the subsequent investigations into police inaction — the families of victims are getting a sliver of justice.
In a $2 million settlement with the families of 17 of those killed announced Wednesday, plaintiffs hoped to seek justice without leaving the town in financial ruins, attorney for the families Josh Koskoff said. Parents, still grieving from the shooting, said that they’ll turn their focus toward other groups in their fight for accountability.
“No amount of money is worth the lives of our children. Justice and accountability has always been my main concern. We’ve been let down so many times, that time has come to do the right thing,” Javier Cazares, father of 9-year-old victim Jacklyn Cazares, said at a news conference, per CNN.
City officials expressed gratitude for the settlement, which will keep the community afloat and pay out a sum from insurance. The group of family members announced plans to take Texas Department of Public Safety officers and school district officials to court.
Koskoff said that it was Texas DPS who "blamed the least-equipped" Uvalde officials and law enforcement, and made "shocking and extensive failures" in its own response.
Lawsuits against Uvalde officials and police, who took over an hour to stop a shooter who killed nearly two dozen, alleged that a lack of urgency in response led to several of the deaths, a claim which a Department of Justice report backed up.
“Cascading failures of leadership, decision-making, tactics, policy, and training . . . contributed to those failures and breakdowns,” the report said. Per Koskoff, families may sue federal law enforcement at a later date for a botched response on their part.
