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Following a Texas church shooting in 2017 that left 26 people deceased and 22 injured, the Justice Department on Wednesday revealed a $144.5 million settlement with the victims.
The agreement in theory, which still requires court approval, aims to end civil lawsuits resulting from the attack carried out by a former US Air Force member, according to a statement from the department.
Because the air force neglected to input information into the FBI’s background check system that would have stopped the attacker from purchasing a gun, a federal district court judge determined in July 2021 that the government was partially at fault.
Devin Kelley had a conviction for domestic violence on his record and had been court-martialed when he committed suicide after carrying out the assault at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs.
The Justice Department challenged the Texas judge’s decision to require the government to pay more than $230 million to attack victims.
According to the Justice Department, the tentative settlement settles the negligence claims made by more than 75 plaintiffs.
Associate attorney general Vanita Gupta stated that “no words or sum of money can lessen the immense tragedy of the Sutherland Springs mass shooting.”
The statement made today concludes the legal proceedings and closes a difficult chapter for the victims of this unimaginable crime, according to Gupta.
Mass shooting victims have previously received significant financial compensation from the Justice Department.
The survivors and kin of the victims of the 2018 mass killing at a high school in Parkland, Florida, received a total of $127.5 million in March 2022.
The victims of a 2015 white supremacist shooting at a Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Justice Department struck a $88 million settlement in October 2021.
