Family members of Uvalde school shooting victims announced on Wednesday a $2 million settlement with the Texas city over the deadly 2022 rampage. The group also said they’re filing lawsuits against dozens of Texas Department of Public Safety officers and Uvalde’s school district.
The announcement comes nearly two years after a teenage gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School. Law enforcement officers killed the gunman in a classroom after waiting more than an hour to confront him, which was heavily criticized in the wake of the shooting.
In the settlement announced Wednesday, the city of Uvalde will pay $2 million to the families of 17 children killed in the shooting and two children who survived, according to a statement from the families’ attorneys.
“Pursuing further legal action against the City could have plunged Uvalde into bankruptcy, something that none of the families were interested in as they look for the community to heal,” the statement said.
The settlement also includes enhanced training for Uvalde police officers, supporting mental health services for the families, survivors and community members, and creating a committee to coordinate with the families on a permanent memorial.
The families are also taking new legal action against 92 state Department of Public Safety officers.
“Law enforcement did not treat the incident as an active shooter situation, despite clear knowledge that there was an active shooter inside,” Wednesday’s statement said. “… The shooter was able to continue the killing spree for over an hour while helpless families waited anxiously outside the school.”
A Justice Department report released in January called the police response a failure.
“Had the law enforcement agencies followed generally accepted practices … lives would have been saved and people would have survived,” Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters at the time.