Trey Paul, FISM News
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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday it had reached an “agreement in principle” to settle claims with the survivors and families of the 26 victims of a 2017 mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas for $144.5 million.
Justice Department Reaches Multimillion Dollar Civil Settlement in Principle in Sutherland Springs Mass Shooting https://t.co/EYiA3GGsiQ
— DOJ Civil Division (@DOJCivil) April 5, 2023
The settlement, which includes more than 75 plaintiffs, now requires approval by U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez in San Antonino effectively ending the government’s appeal of his order that it pay $230 million.
AIR FORCE FAILED TO REPORT SHOOTER’S VIOLENT HISTORY
According to a federal court ruling in 2021, the U.S. government was liable for damages in the shooting which also left 22 people wounded. It happened 31 miles east of San Antonio.
The shooter, 26-year-old former Air Force airman Devin Patrick Kelley, opened fire during a Sunday Service at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs while wearing a skull mask. He later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head after a police chase.
A judge ruled the U.S. Air Force failed to exercise reasonable care when it didn’t submit Kelley’s criminal history to the FBI’s background check system. Kelley admitted in a 2012 court martial to domestic violence for hitting his former wife and infant stepson.
In 2021, Judge Rodriguez found the Air Force 60% responsible because it failed to enter Kelly’s plea in a database used for background checks prior to gun purchases. “The trial conclusively established that no other individual — not even Kelley’s own parents or partners — knew as much as the United States about the violence that Devin Kelley had threatened to commit and was capable of committing,” Judge Rodriguez wrote.
In 2021, the government reached settlements of $88 million and $127.5 million with victims of mass shootings at a Charleston, South Carolina church and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, over alleged oversights that may have also prevented those massacres.
“No words or amount of money can diminish the immense tragedy of the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs,” Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in this news release from the DOJ. “Today’s announcement brings the litigation to a close, ending a painful chapter for the victims of this unthinkable crime.”
Jamal Alsaffar, the lead attorney representing the Sutherland Springs families, noted the settlement isn’t final and is now urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to quickly approve it.
“The Sutherland Springs families are heroes. The country owes them a debt of gratitude. They have gone through so much pain and loss in the most horrific way. But despite that, these families fought for justice, endured and won two trials against the federal government, and made this country safer as a result,” Alsaffar said in a statement.
“But the settlement is not final,” he added. “Attorney General Garland’s office still must approve it, and we urge his Justice Department to act quickly to bring some closure to these families. It’s the least they deserve.”
Judge Rodriguez ordered the Air Force to pay damages to the victims, ranging in age from five to 72, for their “pain and suffering, mental anguish, disfigurement, impairment and loss of companionship.”
Stephen Willeford, a resident of Sutherland Springs who confronted the shooter, told the BBC his small, rural community is still devastated by what happened in 2017. “We will always miss those that we lost that day,” he said.
Willeford said he grabbed his own rifle and ran barefoot from his house to the church when he heard guns going off. “When you hear the shots, you can’t take time to put shoes on when you know each shot may cost someone their life,” he said.