A memorial to the victims of the 2017 shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas
HOUSTON, Feb 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A federal judge ordered the US Air Force to pay more than $230 million to the survivors and the families of the victims of a 2017 shooting at a Texas church because the Air Force had failed to report the gunman’s criminal history.
In his ruling, Judge Xavier Rodriguez of the US District Court for the Western District of Texas wrote that the Air Force could have blocked the gunman, Devin P. Kelley, who had served on an Air Force base in New Mexico, from buying the rifle he used to kill 26 people on Nov 5, 2017, at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Kelley died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound afterwards.
For its failure to report Kelley’s 2012 conviction for domestic assault, the Air Force must pay damages to the victims for their “pain and suffering, mental anguish, disfigurement, impairment and loss of companionship,” the judge wrote. He added that the case was “unprecedented in kind and scope.”
The ruling came in a lawsuit brought against the federal government by the families of the victims.
“Ultimately, there is no satisfying way to determine the worth of these families’ pain,” the judge wrote.
Rodriguez ruled that the US Air Force was “60 percent liable” for the tragedy since Kelley had threatened mass violence while in the Air Force before the attack, aligning with the victims and families who believe the massacre could have been prevented if the Air Force had submitted Kelley’s assault conviction to a national database.
The family members and victims requested around 418 million dollars and the federal government was originally only willing to pay roughly 31.8 million dollars.
The federal government has 10 days to file objections to the case, reported local media.
There are approximately 80 claimants. Payments to each victim or family member are laid out by the judge based on relation, physical harm, mental harm and future expenses and mental anguish. — NNN-AGENCIES
