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Families of victims, school staff and survivors of the Robb Elementary School shooting have filed a $27 billion lawsuit against the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District. They are seeking damages for physical and psychological trauma caused by the May 24 attack in Uvalde, KENS5 reports, citing a lawsuit they obtained.
Children have reported nightmares, "seeing bodies," severe anxiety, changes in emotional behavior, anger, separation anxiety and thoughts of suicide as a result of the shooting, the lawsuit states. Parents also added they are "fearful for their children's safety and well-being" and are also traumatized by the events that unfolded earlier this year.
The Bonner Law Firm in Dallas and the Evans Law Firm in Uvalde are representing the parties who filed the suit.
In addition to damages, families of survivors are demanding law enforcement and schools to change their policies as both continue to receive backlash from their botched response. The lawsuit specifically names and criticizes the following parties for "fundamentally straying from conducting themselves in conformity with what they knew to be the well-established protocols and standards for responding to an active shooter":
- Uvalde CISD
- Texas Department of Public Safety
- San Antonio Police Department SWAT Unit
- Uvalde Sheriff's Office
- Border Patrol
- Daniel Defense (gun manufacturer and seller)
News of this $27 billion lawsuit comes days after Sandra Torres, the mother of shooting victim Eliahna Torres, filed a federal lawsuit against police, the Uvalde school district and the maker of the gun the shooter used in the May 24 attack. The lawsuit accuses the city, school district and multiple police departments of a "complete failure" to follow active shooter protocols. It also claims that the victims' constitutional rights were violated by "barricading them" inside classrooms with the gunman for over an hour.
To see the list of defendants, the filing and for more information about the lawsuit, click here.