The families of 19 victims from the Uvalde elementary school shooting in Texas have initiated a $500 million federal lawsuit against nearly 100 state police officers involved in the law enforcement response that day.
Ven Johnson, the lawyer representing families affected by the 2021 Oxford school shooting in Michigan, appeared on “Truth Voices Now” to discuss the Uvalde lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday.
“Full and complete accountability of anyone and everyone where the mistakes were made that could have prevented injury and death — all of us should be on the same page,” he stated. “That’s what we all want.”
A 600-page Justice Department report published in January detailed “cascading failures” in training, communication, leadership, and technology on that day.
The attacker in the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers in a fourth-grade classroom. Heavily armed officers waited over an hour to confront and neutralize the 18-year-old shooter.
The lawsuit argues that state troopers failed to adhere to their active shooter training and did not engage with the shooter, even as the students and teachers inside were following lockdown protocols.
“You had 370 different responding officers — federal, state, and local — and you had 70 minutes … before (officers) went in to confront the shooter in the room where they knew he was the entire time,” Johnson remarked. “My heart breaks for these families.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
