An eye-popping $27 billion lawsuit has been announced following the deadly Uvalde school shooting earlier this year. The lawsuit, which is still being drafted, plans to name the school board; federal, state, and local authorities; gunmaker Daniel Defense; and Oasis Outback, the gun store that sold the gunman the rifle. The lawsuit will also likely name the shooter’s uncle who allegedly drove the teen to the gun store.
The class action suit will be filed on behalf of all individuals impacted by the elementary school shooting. As of now, the represented plaintiffs are none of the families who actually lost children during the school shooting.
Charles Bonner, the lead attorney filing the lawsuit, is working with other firms including a local firm in Uvalde to bring forward the complaint. Bonner, who is based in California, has traveled to Uvalde and set up a temporary base in order to speak with families and other victims who want to potentially join the class action. Bonner explains he will seek to go after as many individuals and organizations accountable as possible. In doing so, he says that the lawsuit aims to reach some semblance of justice and accountability.
In an interview with a local station, KSAT-TV, Bonner contends that the victims, their families, and survivors experienced a violation of their 14th amendment rights. Bonner explains that the victims had a right to life and that was taken away from them following the poor response from responding officers. “We have the school police, OK, Arredondo , we have the city police, and we have the sheriff and we have the Texas Rangers, the DPS, and we have the Border Patrol,” he explained regarding likely defendants. “There will be some institutional defendants, including the school board or the city council,” Bonner later added.
Bonner took critical aim at law enforcement agencies, explaining that they showed a “deliberate, conscious disregard of those lives.” He added, “Everyone in this world (is) hurting and bleeding about what is happening here in Uvalde. And it’s up to us to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Bonner’s notice of the lawsuit heavily rests on the July 17th report that was released by the Texas House investigative committee. The report detailed a systematic failure by responding officers and several police agencies that responded to the shooting. As a result of law enforcement's “faulty assumptions and poor decisions,” it took over 70 minutes for officers to enter the classroom and stop the shooter.
When asked about the massive $27 billion figure, Bonner explained that in order for something to be done, there needed to be an “expensive” consequence.
The lawsuit is set to be filed in late September, during the same time frame when the investigation into the shooting is set to be completed.
