Press Release from Berlin Rosen

 Developments follow DOJ review that found lives would have been saved if not for unprecedented failures that enabled the brutal killing of children and teachers

UVALDE, TX—Nineteen families whose loved ones were murdered or injured in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary today announced a settlement with the City of Uvalde that includes a number of stipulations and commitments intended to help the families and larger Uvalde community continue to heal from the tragic shooting.

The families also announced legal action against the Texas Department of Public Safety (TXDPS), via lawsuits against 92 individual officers as required by law, for the shocking and extensive failures of TXDPS that day. Additionally, the lawsuit names the Uvalde School District and several of its individual employees, including then-Robb Elementary Principal Mandy Gutierrez and then-Chief Pedro “Pete” Arredondo, as defendants.

“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. This settlement reflects a first good faith effort by the City of Uvalde to begin rebuilding trust in the systems that failed to protect us,” said Veronica Luevanos, whose daughter Jailah and nephew Jayce were killed. “But it wasn’t just Uvalde officers who failed us that day. Nearly 100 officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety have yet to face a shred of accountability for cowering in fear while my daughter and nephew bled to death in their classroom.”

The families’ settlement, the terms of which were reached through a yearlong restorative justice process in which impacted families were invited to participate along with the City of Uvalde, include efforts to rebuild and repair the Uvalde Police Department, including:

• implementation of a new “fitness for duty” standard for Uvalde police officers, to be developed in coordination with the United States Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services;

• a commitment from the Uvalde Police Department to provide enhanced training for current and future officers; and

• an agreement to coordinate with the families concerning the public safety risk and burden on police due to the prevalence of gun violence.

In addition to these policy changes aimed at preventing a repeat of local law enforcement failures, the settlement also includes a number of stipulations to support the Uvalde community’s long overdue healing process. The City of Uvalde commits to:

• establishing May 24th as an annual Day of Remembrance;

• creating a committee that will coordinate with the families to design a permanent memorial at the Plaza, which the City will fund;

• continuing to support mental health services for the families, survivors and the greater Uvalde community; and

• continuing to work with third party entities to bring new developments for children and families in the Uvalde area.

In addition to the impactful and long-lasting steps above, the City of Uvalde will also pay to the families from its insurance coverage a total of $2 million. Pursuing further legal action against the City could have plunged Uvalde into bankruptcy, something that none of the families were interested in as they look for the community to heal.

“There is no risk more foreseeable to our children than classroom shootings. Until the corporate enablers of mass shootings start prioritizing our children above their profits, and until state and federal governments get serious about prevention, the immense burden of protecting children in schools will continue to fall on local communities like the City of Uvalde. For 77 minutes, 26 members of the Uvalde Police Department failed to confront an 18 year-old kid armed with an AR-15, and no disciplinary action has ever been taken—no firings, no demotions, no transparency—and the families remain eager for that to change. But the healing process must begin, and the commitments made today by the City are a step in that critical process,” said Josh Koskoff, partner at Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder and attorney for the families. “The State of Texas and the school district, on the other hand, seem intent on causing these families even more hardship than the indescribable pain of losing a child. While there is nothing normal about living in a society where kids can easily get access to a military rifle, the reality is that these officers were so terrified that they chose to abandon their burden to the Uvalde community: put themselves between a very dangerous person and a child, and the families must hold them accountable.”

In the months following the Robb Elementary shooting, the families’ grief was exacerbated by the City’s restrictions and maintenance issues at victims’ gravesites at Hillcrest Memorial Cemetery, despite an influx of donated funds for that purpose. In recognition of those failures, the City also commits to:

• regular maintenance of the Hillcrest Memorial Cemetery;

• creating two additional at-large positions on the Cemetery Advisory Board to be filled by members from the families;

• reimbursing the families for the cost of repairing ornamentation at the victims’ gravesites, which the families had previously paid for themselves from donated gravesite funds which the City holds; and

• continuing to provide updated accounting of all donations the City has received in connection with the Robb Elementary shooting and the spending of such funds.

“Uvalde is a city in need of healing, and this settlement, the terms of which were reached through open, difficult conversations, is an important step forward in that process. The families we represent have every right to be distrustful and angry. I am in awe that, despite that, they agreed to find a way forward so this community can start to heal,” said Erin Rogiers, partner at Guerra LLP and another attorney for the families. “Law-enforcement’s inaction that day was a complete and absolute betrayal of these families and the sons, daughters and mothers they lost. 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, both for their own loss and to prevent other families from suffering the same fate.”

According to the lawsuit filed against 92 individual Texas DPS officers, the officers were trained on Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT), the preeminent active shooter response training in the United States. ALERRT dictates that first responders’ main priority in a situation like Robb Elementary is to, first, stop the killing, then stop the dying, then evacuate the injured. Inherent in these best practices is the prioritization of victims or potential victims over the safety of officers.

Robb Elementary students and teachers were diligently trained to follow their own lockdown protocols during a school shooter event: turn off the lights, lock the door and remain absolutely silent. By design, these protocols trap teachers and students inside, leaving them fully reliant on law enforcement to respond quickly and effectively. The complaint details how the longer law enforcement prolongs a lockdown, the higher the likelihood that students and teachers will be shot, die from their wounds and experience extreme terror and trauma.

Earlier this year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) unveiled a 610-page Critical Incident Review of the law enforcement response to the shooting at Robb Elementary, confirming that failures at every level–including in leadership, decision-making, tactics, policy and training–contributed to officers’ inaction for over an hour. The most significant failure that day, according to the DOJ report, was that law enforcement did not treat the incident as an active shooter situation, despite clear knowledge that there was an active shooter inside, and did not use the available resources and equipment to push forward immediately and continuously to eliminate the threat. Instead, the shooter was able to continue the killing spree for over an hour while helpless families waited anxiously outside the school.

The settlement and lawsuit are on behalf of families and individuals represented by Josh Koskoff, Alinor Sterling, Katie Mesner-Hage and Colin Antaya of Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder PC and Erin Rogiers of Guerra LLP.  The 17 slain children whose families are plaintiffs in the legal actions taken today are Jacklyn Jaylen Cazares, Amerie Jo Garza, Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, Tess Marie Mata, Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, Maranda Gail Mathis, Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo, Jailah Nicole Silguero, Makenna Lee Elrod, Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, Eliahna Amyah Garcia, Jose Manuel Flores, Jr., Rojelio Fernandez Torres, Uziyah Sergio Garcia, Eliahna Torres and Layla Marie Salazar; the families of A.J. Martinez and Miah Isabel Cerrillo, who survived the shooting, are also included.

In addition to the 19 families represented by the legal team that negotiated the settlement and will file the primary lawsuit against TXDPS, a number of attorneys are collaborating with that team, representing additional families and intending to file similar cases in the coming days. Those attorneys include: Jamal Alsaffar and Tom Jacob of National Trial Law, Shreedhar Patel and Charles Soechting of Simon Greenstone Panatier PC, Reynaldo Diaz Accident & Injury Attorneys PC, Lang Law Firm and Law Office of Fidel Rodriguez, Matthews & Forester, Robert Wilson of Thomas J. Henry Injury Attorneys.

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About Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder PC

Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder, based in Connecticut, is a nationally recognized law firm that, in 2022, achieved landmark legal victories on behalf of nine families of the Sandy Hook School shooting. The firm has also achieved record verdicts for people who suffer serious harm from violation of their civil or constitutional rights, medical malpractice, dangerous products, negligence, corporate or governmental abuse and commercial misconduct.

About Guerra LLP

Guerra LLP stands on a strong foundation of hard work and dedication, fueled by an unwavering passion for helping others. The firm is based out of San Antonio, Texas but is a true nationwide practice recognized for trailblazing legal victories for clients in class actions, mass torts, environmental torts, civil litigation, commercial litigation, product liability, and personal injury. We are proud to help bring justice to the community of Uvalde that is located close to home.