(Washington) The US Department of Justice on Wednesday agreed to pay $127.5 million to victims of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, to end lawsuits related to alleged federal police misconduct before the tragedy.
Posted at 6:07 p.m.
Updated at 6:39 p.m.
“The agreement resolves 40 complaints” but “is not an admission of guilt by the United States,” the ministry said in a statement, without giving further details.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers said in November that they were ready for a “historic agreement”.
On February 14, 2018, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas School in Parkland, from which he had been expelled the previous year. He had left 17 dead and fifteen wounded, in what was one of the worst school massacres in the United States.
In October, he pleaded guilty and a jury will determine his sentence after a trial in April. Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty.
In parallel with the criminal case, several families of victims and survivors had filed a civil complaint against the United States, accusing the FBI of not having followed two “tips” informing it of the dangerousness of the young man.
Forty days before the tragedy, a woman who knew him had called the federal police to say that he was ready to “explode”. He “will slip into a school and start shooting,” she feared.
“The FBI did nothing” about this information, according to their complaint. “Because of his negligence, Cruz was able to kill 17 students and teachers,” added the plaintiffs in their request for damages.
Psychiatric history
Five months before the events, the owner of a YouTube channel had also reported a comment left under one of his videos in which a surfer by the name of “nikolas cruz” had claimed that he would become “a professional school shooter”.
FBI agents had questioned the owner of the chain without establishing a link with Mr. Cruz.
Despite a heavy psychiatric history, the young man had also been able to legally buy an assault rifle.
The drama of Parkland had aroused immense emotion throughout the United States, and a historic mobilization had been led by several young survivors and the parents of victims.
It culminated on March 24, 2018 when the “March for Our Lives” brought together 1.5 million people across the country, the largest national demonstration for better control of firearms in the entire history of the United States. , suggesting to some the possibility of legislative change.
This has not happened, and on the contrary, firearms sales have increased in recent years in the United States, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mass shootings remain a scourge in the country, but blockages in Congress, under the influence of the arms lobby, make any major progress on the subject unlikely.