By Phil McCausland -
NBC
News
The victims of the 2017 mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, in which 26 people were killed, have announced a $144.5 million settlement in principle with the Department of Justice to settle a lawsuit against the federal government.
The settlement, which still needs to be approved by Attorney General Merrick Garland, would end a years-long legal battle following a federal judge's ruling that the government had some responsibility for the massacre by failing to include the criminal record of the man. killer in a database that would have prevented him from buying firearms.
Kenneth and Irene Hernández before a monument with crosses in the church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, in November 2017. Eric Gay / AP file
Lawyer Jamal Alsaffar called the families heroic, saying "the country owes them a debt of gratitude" for going ahead with the lawsuit despite thus having to relive the shooting.
Despite the "pain and loss" they have suffered, he said, the legal battle is not over for the families: "These families fought for justice, endured and won two lawsuits against the federal government and made this country more sure. But the deal is not final," Alsaffar said, "the attorney general has yet to approve it, we urge your Justice Department to move quickly to bring closure to these families. It's the least they deserve."
[A suicide note and a lot of shooting information: the findings in the house of the shooter who killed six in a Nashville school]
In July 2021, a judge found the government partially responsible for the shooting for failing to provide records that could have prevented former Air Force member Devin Kelley from acquiring the weapons he used in the Sutherland First Baptist Church shooting. Springs.
The Government was ordered to pay 230 million dollars to the more than 80 survivors and relatives of the victims, but the Department of Justice appealed the sentence.
Government lawyers argued in court that even if the Air Force -- which failed to inform the FBI of Kelley's arrest and court martial in 2012 for domestic violence -- had complied with the law, he would have found another way to acquire a weapon to commit the act.
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Shooting victims said this year that the Justice Department's arguments had left them frustrated, confused and angry.
Many considered the allegations appeared to undermine the background check system, one of the priorities of President Joe Biden's gun control policy.
Survivors and gun-safe advocates said they feared that if the Justice Department won the case it could undermine laws that guarantee more safety.
“If I had the opportunity to meet with the president, I would ask him: 'Why?
Why are they doing all this [gun reform] and yet they are fighting it here,” said Juan Macías, who was shot numerous times in the shooting.
