A student mourns the loss of her friend during a community vigil at Pine Trails Park on February 15, 2018, in Parkland, Fla.
Brynn Anderson / AP
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Brynn Anderson / AP
A student mourns the loss of her friend during a community vigil at Pine Trails Park on February 15, 2018, in Parkland, Fla.
Brynn Anderson / AP
The United States has agreed to pay families affected by the Parkland school shooting millions of dollars in 2018, years after lawyers first filed a lawsuit against the government accusing an FBI agent of misdemeanour. rate prior to the shooting.
The shooting took place on February 14, 2018, in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Schoolwhere Nikolas Cruz opened fire, killing 17 people and injuring at least 17 others.
40 civil cases, including 16 of the 17 families of those killed, will receive a settlement of $127.5 million, according to a statement of the Ministry of Justice.
“It is an honor to represent the Parkland families, who, through infinite grief, have dedicated themselves to making the world a safer place,” said their lead attorney, Kristina Infante. reported, the Associated Press reported. “While no solution can restore what the Parkland family has lost, this settlement marks an important step towards justice.”
In their lawsuit, the families accuse the FBI of negligence. They say the office received advice about Cruz, including his hoarding of weapons and his desire to shoot down a school, but that agents were unable to intervene and stop the violence.
Weeks before the shooting, a tipper told the FBI that Cruz was “about to blow up,” and that he was “going to go into a school and start bombarding the place.”
Although the DOJ said the settlement was “not due to an admission of fault by the United States” in its statement.
Cruz pleaded guilty to 17 counts of first-degree murder and an additional 17 counts of attempted murder in October 2021.
He initially pleaded not guilty to all crimes, but his lawyers said they would not contest his guilt. Instead, the group of public defenders representing Cruz asked the court to sentence him to 17 life sentences in an attempt to avoid the death penalty. prosecutors are looking.
