Uvalde families reach settlement with city ahead of 2-year mark

[red dog 1]

ABC News
May 22, 2024


Nineteen families whose loved ones were killed or hurt in the Uvalde, Texas, mass shooting announced they've reached a settlement with the city and county of Uvalde.

"For two long years, we have languished in pain and without any accountability from the law enforcement agencies and officers who allowed our families to be destroyed that day," Veronica Luevanos, whose daughter Jailah, and nephew Jayce, were killed, said in a statement Wednesday.
"This settlement reflects a good faith effort, particularly by the city of Uvalde, to begin rebuilding trust in the systems that failed to protect us."

The settlement comes as families approach the two-year mark of the May 24, 2022, massacre at Robb Elementary School, during which an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 students and two teachers.

When the gunfire broke out that day, officers from Uvalde Police, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Texas Department of Public Safety were among those who rushed to Robb Elementary.
But law enforcement waited some 77 minutes before breaching a classroom and killing the gunman.


More:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/uvalde-families-reach-settlement-city-county-ahead-2/story/?id=110446153

[WhiskeyGrinder]

1. Two million dollars, among other things.

As part of the settlement, Uvalde will pay the families a total of $2 million from its insurance coverage, according to a statement from attorneys Josh Koskoff and Erin Rogiers.

In addition, the city pledged to institute several policy changes to the police department, such as a new “fitness for duty” standard for police officers. The city will also establish May 24 as an annual Day of Remembrance, will create a committee to coordinate designing a permanent memorial and will support mental health services for the families, survivors and community, the attorneys said.

The terms of the settlement were reached through a “restorative justice process” between impacted families and the city, the attorneys said. Pursuing further legal action against Uvalde could have bankrupted the city, a result that none of the families wanted, they added.

In a statement, Koskoff called the settlement a step in the healing process, and the mother of a student who was killed said it reflected a “good faith effort.”

[brush]

2. Two million to each family? That's a start. If it's just two million all together...well...

there's going to be trouble.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. All together. They didn't want to bankrupt the city.

[brush]

5. That's chump change. The city must have insurance, and all those other LEO/county/state...

entities must have also. Two million is not close to the end of this.

[malaise]

4. No settlement is enough

But it’s a start