A Family Lawsuit Against Gun Manufacturers, Firefighters and City of Uvalde, Texas, in the Six-Twelfth Elementary School Shooting

A group of parents of victims of the Robb Elementary School massacre have filed a federal lawsuit against the gun manufacturer, the school district and the city for their roles in the tragedy.

The district fire the chief of the department, Pete Arredondo, who state officials have said was the incident commander during the shooting, and also bore responsibility for the delayed confrontation with the suspect for over an hour after the shooting began. The killings included 19 children and two teachers.

“Daniel Defense chooses not to do any studies evaluating the effects of their marketing strategies on the health and well-being of Americans and chose not to look at the cost to families and communities like Uvalde, Texas,” said the complaint.

Days before the shooting, the complaint notes, the Georgia-based company tweeted an image of a toddler holding an assault-style weapon with the caption: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

The claim also says Firequest International, Inc., which manufactures accessory trigger systems, similar to illegal bump stocks, sells its products to untrained civilians, young adults and minors in Uvalde. These types of devices allow semi-automatic rifles to fire more rapidly, similar to automatic weapons.

According to the legal document the background check of the Uvalde schoolshooting shooter was clean and Oasis Outback sold him the guns and bullets knowing he was suspicious and dangerous. The store owner and staff didn’t take action on their suspicions, so it was not reported to law enforcement.

The man legally purchased two rifles at a local federal firearms licensee on two separate occasions. He also purchased 375 rounds of ammunition on May 18, according to officials.

The Uvalde High School Shooting: The Case for a Responsible Police Chief and an Unreasonably Dangerous Principal, and the Claims of Motorola Solutions and Schneider Electric

The district police chief and the former principal of the school failed to act and created a dangerous environment according to the lawsuit. The lawyer told CNN that his client wouldn’t be talking about the litigation.

Diana Olvedo-Karau said that Uvalde County officers don’t live under a rock. “Active shooter incidents happen across our nation all too often… so to step back and give the impression that because there was no policy there’s no accountability, is unacceptable, inexcusable, and shameful.”

The suit blames the acting police chief on the day of the massacre, as well as two other companies, who claim defects in their products were factors in the response to the shooting. Motorola Solutions, Inc.’s radio communications devices, which were used by some first responders, “were defective and unreasonably dangerous because they did not contain adequate warnings or instructions concerning failure during normal use,” said the claim.

Lawyers also say Schneider Electric, the manufacturer of the door locking mechanisms used at the school, “failed to lock as designed after being shut.”

Schneider Electric condemns the tragedy that occured in Uvalde, according to Venancio Figueroa III. We cannot comment further on pending litigation while we are reviewing this recent filing.

All but one of the companies that were asked to comment by CNN have not responded.

Crimson Elizondo, a former Texas Department of Public Safety officer at Uvalde Elementary, after the May 24th Robb Elementary shooting

A previous version of the story included an extra lawsuit’s name. The name has been removed from the complaint because that person is not a party.

CNN has reported that a former Texas Department of Public Safety trooper was hired by the Uvalde school district.

Crimson Elizondo was one of the state troopers who arrived at Robb Elementary within two minutes of a gunman entering the school and opening fire last May.

She no longer works for DPS. She was hired as a police officer for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, where she is supposed to protect the children who survived the Robb Elementary shooting.

Seven of the department’s officers are being investigated for what they did, or did not do, after the school police chief was fired. CNN has exclusive knowledge of Elizondo, who is one of the officers being investigated. A source close to the investigation also confirmed that to CNN.

We continue to make personnel decisions for the Police Department employees based on the information we have. An independent investigation is underway to evaluate the actions of the current officers on May 24, 2022. Additionally, we are awaiting results of a management and organizational review of the UCISD Police Department that will aid the district in taking informed actions to further ensure the safety and security of our schools,” the statement added.

The UvaldeCISD wants to recruit 10 more officers after the May 24 attack. Elizondo was hired as a police officer in the summer of 2015, but her photo and those of four other police officers, one lieutenant and one security guard are on the website under the heading “KEEP U.C.I.S.D. SAFE.”

Her new position doesn’t restrict Elizondo. Children and parents walked past her as they headed into the school year at Uvalde Elementary, the new home for the younger students who survived the Robb bloodshed.

The body camera footage was released by the mayor and some parents, including those who lost children in the massacre, recognized her from it.

The statement from family representatives calls for all department officers to be suspended pending a third-party investigation, and its results “must be released” to the public as well as families of the victims.

“Our children have been taken from us. The safety of children in the community is the top priority, and we will not stop fighting until we have answers.

He told CNN that the school board met with him and agreed to pull such officers from campus to off-campus roles. He says he will continue to hold a vigil outside the school board offices until all officers are suspended.

In a redacted internal memo to the organization’s director obtained by CNN, DPS cited “actions which may be inconsistent with training and requirements” as the reason for the officers being referred for investigation.

Sources familiar with the inquiry told CNN that Elizondo was not properly equipped and said to investigators that she was not comfortable going inside the school without her gear.

She does not approach the school but stays with officers outside until there is a call that there is gunfire inside.

The Uvalde tragedy: The aftermath of the first shooting and its aftermath to the police and the media, and a lawsuit by the district attorney’s office

After that, there plays out on the recordings the more than one hour of confusion and delay before anyone goes to help the trapped staff and students in rooms 111 and 112, the catalog of errors that has become part of the Uvalde tragedy.

She offered to help another colleague and went to get supplies for him. She was away from the school when the gunman was shot and killed.

Within moments, the body camera recordings show, the hallway where so many had stood became a scene of carnage as officers got students out of the classrooms and assessed their injuries.

Elizondo was soon there, urging students to “go, go, go” if they were able, and not to look at their injuries or the blood on the floor. She comforted one boy as an officer checked his wounds, telling him time and again that she was there with him, that he would be OK and that his parents would soon be told.

Two weeks later official notes of a meeting showed McCraw telling captains, “No one is losing their jobs.” He told CNN that he had been quoted as saying that no one would get a pass.

He said he would let the public know when he could, however the local district attorney wanted him not to do so until criminal investigations are complete, a process he has acknowledged could take years.

A coalition of news organizations including CNN is suing the DPS for records relating to the investigation that have been withheld from the media and public.

Elizondo, 52, a Los Alamos police officer in the Uvalde elementary school district: After a day on the life after Robb Elementary school massacre

A database compiled by The Texas Tribune shows Elizondo’s base salary at $59,715, up 12% from a year ago. She joined the department in 2018.

The position requires an ability to handle personal danger and be willing to be exposed to people with guns under intense threatening conditions.

As she got on the school bus back to Robb Elementary after being released from the hospital, she said something to another officer. It was terrible.

The school district later announced the suspension of its police force operations and placed a lieutenant and another top school official on leave as part of its investigation.

On Friday, the school district said in a statement that it had placed the officer who took over for Mr. Arredondo, Lt. Miguel Hernandez, and another district employee, Ken Mueller, on administrative leave. The director of student services, Mr.Mueller, has decided to retire.

On Wednesday, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District board voted to allow Gary Patterson to serve as the interim superintendent. Two staff members will continue to search for a permanent replacement, the board voted unanimously.

Last week, he decided to step aside due to continued backlash over how the law enforcement and officials reacted to the massacre at Robb Elementary School.

“I am truly grateful for your support and well wishes. After much prayer and discernment, I made the decision to retire, stated the October 10 post on social media. “My wife and I love you all and this community that we both grew up in, and therefore the decision was a difficult one for us.”

The May 24, 2012, School Shooting: More than Just a Few More Police Officers That Will Be Out of the School, Not the State Police

In the months since the shooting, however, it’s become clear the failures that day went far beyond the scope of the small school police force. According to a preliminary report by a Texas House of Representatives investigative committee, 376 officers from local, state and federal agencies were on the scene of the massacre.

The sister of a teacher who was killed in a shooting at her school has called on the board to step down and for the vice principal and principal to be removed.

In a social media post, he wrote, “My heart was broken on May 24th and I will always pray for each precious life that was tragically taken as well as their families.”

CNN reported for months about the law enforcement response to the shooting, including that Nolasco had vital information about the shooter that was not shared during the incident. It was just the latest revelation of senior law enforcement officers not taking command or following protocol to stop an active shooter and get swift treatment to victims.

Several officers arrived on the scene minutes later after the bandit entered the school. After taking fire from the gunman, they retreated to a hallway while the gunman remained inside the classrooms for a total of 77 minutes before a tactical unit forced their way in and killed the shooter, according to a timeline from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The grieving families of the students who died at Uvalde High School in the worst school shooting in the US since 2012 were made to suffer because of the apparent stonewalling by some officials after the shooting.

One of the first officers that arrived on the scene was talking to a colleague who inquired if she had any children at the school.

A Texas state police captain tried to delay a law enforcement team entering the classrooms to end the Robb Elementary massacre and is now among those under investigation after an account from someone at the scene that he ordered his officers to stay out of the school in the initial response to the shooting, sources tell CNN.

“Hey, this is DPS Captain Betancourt. It needs to be the team that is going to make the most of it. He ordered the team to stand by when he heard the radio broadcast on May 24, which was captured on multiple officers’ body-worn cameras.

A lieutenant in the department wrote about how he was driven from 40 miles away to the scene at speeds up to 130 mph, after hearing someone shout out.

A DPS sergeant added in his memo: “As this was clearly against established training, we both decided to enter the building where the shooter was located.”

In the course of the investigation, Betancourt told investigators he had no first-hand knowledge of what was going on, including that a specialized Border Patrol tactical unit, BORTAC, was confronting the shooter, according to sources familiar with the investigation. He said he issued the order for the team to stand by as he thought a better unit was on its way, sources said.

The officers under investigation have not been made public. The involvement ofBetancourt is confirmed to CNN by other sources. Another of the seven, Crimson Elizondo, left DPS to work for the Uvalde school district this summer and was fired after CNN revealed what she said and did on the day of the massacre.

Interviews from the days after the event offer the first direct accounts from the officers being scrutinized by the inspector general, according to sources described to CNN.

Betancourt told investigators he had a clear memory of being in Eagle Pass, Texas, with other officers when the first call of a shooting came in at about 11:50 a.m., he said, but it was unclear how major the situation was. They left as details became available and he said that they stopped to get gas in Uvalde.

He arrived at about 1:45 p.m. He assumed Nolasco was the on-scene commander when he was outside the school.

Betancourt was asked if he talked with anyone about why entry was not being made to the classrooms and he said he did not, sources told CNN, remembering only that there was talk about negotiating with the shooter.

He said to investigators he issued the order to “stand by” based on information from Nolasco and thinking there was a better SWAT team still heading to the school, sources said.

At least two officers said it was Betancourt who alerted them to the ongoing attack at Robb Elementary, the sources familiar with the investigation told CNN.

Questions are being raised about a claim by Betancourt that he only became involved later when he received a text from the sergeant about an active shooter incident.

Report of an Independent Review on the Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco’s Failure to Acquire an Active Shooter Response Policy

McCraw and other DPS leaders have refused to discuss the internal investigations or release information until the investigations are complete at the request of local District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee. She has said she will charge anyone who committed a crime at Robb Elementary, including law enforcement officers.

The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement is the regulatory agency for peace officers in Texas, and CNN obtained documents that show Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco didn’t complete an active shooter training course.

During a contentious Uvalde County Commission meeting, Richard Carter, an attorney with expertise in police actions, presented the results of an independent review which the county hired him to conduct at the time of the Robb Elementary.

The training of active shooter is not required for people who are not police officers. Texas law of law enforcement agencies do not require an active shooter response policy, according to the report.

For more than 90 minutes, the county commissioners reviewed the report behind closed doors with victims’ family members. Community members called for Nolasco’s ouster at the meeting following CNN’s reporting last week about his failure to mount a response at the school and his failure to share critical information about the shooter.

The course his officers have taken is the one he has not taken. He plans on doing that in the immediate future,” Carter said. Before he received his training he wanted to make sure that all of his people knew how to go out.

CNN has also reached back out to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement to clarify the contents of Nolasco’s training history, and has not received a response.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/12/us/uvalde-sheriff-office-policy-review/index.html

Is there a policy for active shooters in the local sheriff’s office? A community member expresses shock when the shooting happened

Whether the sheriff’s office had an active shooter policy, however, is “no excuse for what happened” the day of the shooting, one community member said in a public comment portion of the meeting Monday.

Carter did not examine the actions of the agency’s personnel on the scene of the shooting, he said, which, along with the broader law enforcement response, have been highly scrutinized.

I can not believe that there was no policy in place when it came to the mass shooting that happened just in Texas. Berlinda Irene Arreola said that it was a total shock.

“My son and my daughter-in-law just can’t keep it together to be able to enjoy the holidays. It will be very sad this year, it’s going to be different. Very sad,” she said.

According to CNN, Pargas quit from the police department because he knew children needed help but didn’t organize it.