Last week, three Uvalde parents filed a lawsuit against the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, former police chief Pete Arredondo, former principal Mandy Gutierrez, law enforcement officials and an AR-15 manufacturer.
The parents accuse the district and other defendants of several violations, such as negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress, which resulted in the death of 19 Robb Elementary students and two teachers.
“Due to the conduct of the school and police, and the deliberate choices of the gun makers and sellers to directly market their lethal weapons to young untrained civilians, the shooter bought and assembled a military-grade assault weapon with 30-round magazines days after his 18th birthday and entered the Uvalde elementary school unabated, wearing tactical gear,” the lawsuit reads. “The shooter was left with free range to shoot, terrorize, and kill children and teachers for over an hour.”
Failed leadership
Despite Texas school districts receiving more than $110 million to implement security measures in 2018, the district took very little action to ensure the safety of its students, the lawsuit alleges.
“…the Uvalde School District took the money but did little to prophylactically protect the students and teachers,” it reads. As a result, it continues, the shooter entered through unlocked campus doors. While school leaders were aware of the shooter’s presence, they failed to release an alert and lock down the school. The school’s intercom system was also available for use by Gutierrez but was never used. Local police were “just feet away.”
According to the filing, the district only had enough money in the budget for six police officers who oversaw nine separate schools. Robb Elementary had no “assigned” officer but merely received regular walkthroughs several times a week.
More from DA: Hackers release confidential data after LAUSD refuses to pay ‘insulting’ ransom
Losing a friend
The testimonies of three minor survivors were also detailed in the lawsuit, one of whom lost their best friend and was injured.
Prior to losing his friend, the survivor told his best friend’s mother that “he would always protect his best friend. Tearfully, he told her after, he was sorry he couldn’t.”
The survivor’s parents became aware of the shooting after receiving a phone call and rushed to the school.
“It was chaos, parents were panicked, restrained, and told by police they could not go into the school to save their children,” the lawsuit reads.
Once they arrived outside the school, his parents were told the shooter was detained by law enforcement. Yet, it was discovered later that he wasn’t and he was in the classroom with their son and his classmates.
Around 1:00 p.m., they saw their son exit the building, bloodied and being escorted to a school bus. He proceeded to exit the bus through a window and was quickly rushed to the hospital to treat a gunshot wound he received in his right leg.
Guns in the wrong hands
The manufacturer of the rifle used in the Uvalde shooting, Daniel Defense, was also criticized for its history of selling firearms to irresponsible citizens. While making millions off of sales, the lawsuit alleges, the manufacturer “does not track death, dangers, or crimes resulting from use of their guns and does not educate consumers of the dangers of use by young adults.”
Smith & Wesson-manufactured weapons were also purchased by the Uvalde shooter. The lawsuit notes that such weapons were used in several of the deadliest shootings in history:
- 2022 Fourth of July shooting in Highland Park, Illinois; 7 people were killed.
- 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida; 17 people were killed.
- 2015 shooting in San Bernardino, California; 14 people were killed.
- 2012 theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado; 12 people were killed.
“The School District acted or failed to act, at all relevant times, through its employees, agents, and/or chief policymakers, and is liable for such actions and/or failure to act,” the lawsuit alleges.
