The parents of three children who survived the Uvalde, Texas school shooting have sued the school district, several former officers, the company that manufactured the guns used in the violence, and others.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Del Rio, Texas, appears to be the first over a mass shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers in May. The plaintiffs are the parents of three children, one of whom was shot and wounded and two who were present during the shooting at Robb Elementary School.
“The horrors at Robb Elementary School were only possible because so many people in positions of power were reckless, reckless and reckless,” plaintiffs attorney Stephanie Sherman said in a statement.
The defendants named in the lawsuit are the city of Uvalde; former police chief Pete Arredondo, who was removed amid harsh criticism of law enforcement’s response to the shooting in August; Mandy Gutierrez, principal of the school; Daniel Defense, maker of the gun used by the shooter; and Motorola Solutions, which reportedly created communications equipment used by first responders that failed to work as intended.
The city of Uvalde declined comment and the other defendants could not immediately be reached for comment.
The complaint includes claims of negligence and intentional emotional distress. It seeks unspecified monetary damages from individual defendants and companies.
Uvalde officials faced harsh criticism after nearly 400 law enforcement officers waited outside school classrooms for more than an hour before confronting and killing the shooter. a report of the state legislature blamed “Systemic failures” and poor leadership for the response, which he found, may have contributed to the death toll.