Uvalde families reach settlement, launch historic lawsuit against 100 officers for school tragedy response

The families of 19 victims of the Uvalde school shooting announced on Wednesday they reached a settlement with the city but at the same time sued over 90 state police officers who were part of the force's botched response to the situation, The Associated Press reported.

The settlement amounts to $2 million and also includes the promise of higher standards and better training for local police.

As for the lawsuit, families said they seek accountability for the response to the shooting, in which 21 people, including 19 fourth-graders and two teachers, were killed by a teenage gunman.

Close to 400 federal, state and local officers were at some point at the scene, but they waited over an hour to enter the school. The lawsuit alleges state troopers did not follow their training and responsibility to engage with the shooters despite students and teachers did.

"The protocols trap teachers and students inside, leaving them fully reliant on law enforcement to respond quickly and effectively," the families and their attorneys said in a statement. Footage that surfaced in the following months showed police waiting in the hallway while the shooter, 19-year-old Salvador Ramos, was inside the classroom.

The images caused generalized uproar as it showed police refusing to engage for about an hour. Ramos was killed 84 minutes after arriving at the school.

"TXDPS had the resources, training and firepower to respond appropriately, and they ignored all of it and failed on every level. These families have not only the right but also the responsibility to demand justice," said Erin Rogiers, an attorney for the families.

The lawsuit comes months after the Department of Justice released a damning report that found "cascading failures" in law enforcement's response to the situation.

The lengthy report, extending over 600 pages, also concluded that police officers "demonstrated no urgency" in setting up a command post and didn't treat the situation as an active shooter one.

"As a consequence of failed leadership, training, and policies, 33 students and three of their teachers — many of whom had been shot — were trapped in a room with an active shooter for over an hour as law enforcement officials remained outside," reads a paragraph of a statement released by Attorney General Merrick Garland along with the report.

Five officers lost their jobs, including two Department of Public Safety officers and Uvalde's school police chief, Pete Arredondo, who was the on-site commander during the attack. Arredondo is among the defendants of the families' lawsuit. Another one filed in December 2022 against local and state police, the city and other school and law enforcement seeks at least $27 billion and class-action status for survivors.