DOJ reaches settlement with families of Sutherland Springs shooting victims

OAN Geraldyn Berry
UPDATED 4:57 PM – Wednesday, April 5, 2023

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that the families of the victims of the 2017 mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas have reached a settlement of $144.5 million.

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta mentioned that the settlement, which is subject to final approval, puts an end to the legal dispute. However, she emphasized that no amount of money can reduce the impact of the Sutherland Springs mass shooting on the victims’ families.

A district judge had initially held the government accountable for 60% of the incident due to its failure to report the shooter’s record of domestic violence to the background check system. The families of the victims subsequently filed a lawsuit against the federal government, which led to the ruling that they were due $230 million in compensation.

Interestingly, the settlement represents the third time that the US government has compensated the families of mass shooting victims. In addition to Sutherland Springs, compensation was also provided to those impacted by the 2015 Charleston, South Carolina church shooting and the 2018 high school shooting at Parkland, Florida.

The November 2017 shooting took place at a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs and resulted in the death of 25 individuals, including a pregnant woman. Devin Patrick Kelley, the shooter, was a former Air Force personnel who had a history of domestic violence, which should have been flagged in the background check system to prevent him from obtaining a firearm. However, the relevant records were never incorporated into the database by the Air Force.

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