That’s at least four, by my count.
In the latest lawsuit over the Uvalde school shooting, 30 family members, teachers and others are suing the manufacturer of the rifle the gunman used, the gun store where he collected it and a company that makes devices that increase the firing rate of semiautomatic weapons.
The plaintiffs include Federico Torres, whose son Rogelio was killed in the May 24, 2022 rampage at Robb Elementary School; Arnulfo Reyes, a teacher who was shot and wounded; and a fellow teacher, Tiffany Massey, who is the wife of a Border Patrol agent whose team killed the shooter.
Also among the plaintiffs are teachers who kept their students in lockdown until they were evacuated and the parents of some of those students. One of the parents who is suing is Angeli-Rose Gomez, who snuck past police lines at Robb to remove her three children from their classrooms.
The federal lawsuit, filed in Del Rio, accuses Georgia gun-maker Daniel Defense, Oasis Outback of Uvalde and Arkansas-based Firequest International Inc. of marketing and distributing unreasonably dangerous products and engaging in deceptive trade practices, among numerous other claims.
Daniel Defense made the assault-style rifle that the 18-year-old gunman, Salvador Ramos, purchased online.
Outback Oasis took delivery of the gun and transferred it to Ramos, a requirement for Internet sales.
Firequest manufactured the “hell-fire” trigger device police found next to Ramos’ body. The devices, when installed on a firearm’s trigger guard, push the trigger forward again after an initial shot, thus allowing for lightning-fast firing. The suit said Ramos ordered the device online.
The suit accuses Daniel Defense and Oasis Outback of making a negligent sale and Oasis Outback of negligence in its hiring, training and supervision of employees.
The suit seeks both compensatory and punitive damages.
I’m aware of three other lawsuits that have been filed so far. The latter of those three is a class action lawsuit that targets the city of Uvalde, Uvalde ISD, various law enforcement agencies, and government officials. The other two include Daniel Defense and Oasis Outback as defendants, and one of the also includes Firequest International. All are federal lawsuits. The class action lawsuit was filed in Austin, the other three including this one in Del Rio. I suppose it’s possible the latter three could be consolidated; I don’t know nearly enough about legal procedures to say with any certainty, I’m just noting the various ways these cases overlap and am speculating from there. The first lawsuit was filed last September, and I have no idea where any of them are in the process. It’s likely we’re still months, maybe many months, away from a courtroom. I didn’t see any other news stories about this lawsuit. Now you know what I know.