US: $127.5 Million For Parkland Shooting Families
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) – The U.S. government has reportedly reached a tentative $127.5 million settlement with the families of victims of a 2018 mass shooting at a Florida, high school.
Families had sued the Federal Bureau of Investigation over its “failure to act” on warnings that the gunman was planning an attack.
The U.S. Justice Department filed a notice in federal court Monday saying the parties are “working to finalize additional details before submission for final approval by the appropriate Department of Justice official.”
The exact terms of the settlement were not disclosed. However, The Washington Post newspaper quoted a person familiar with the negotiations saying the agreement was for about $127.5 million.
The money was to be distributed among the victims’ families from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details.
“The word ‘closure’ is not a word I like to use in these instances. Because there’s no such thing as closure for these families who have suffered the way they did,” said Kristina Infante of law firm Podhurst Orseck.
40 FAMILIES
Infante was lead counsel for the 40 Parkland families suing the Justice Department. “It’s something different than that . . . it’s turning the page.”
The Florida gunman, Nikolas Cruz, now 23, pleaded guilty last month to killing 14 students and three faculty members in the February 2018 Parkland massacre.
A jury trial is planned to determine whether he should face the death penalty or life in prison for the violence which also injured 17 others. Monday’s announced settlement comes a month after the Justice Department agreed to pay $88 million to the families of those killed at a 2015 shooting at a historic Black church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Nine African Americans were killed during a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church after the FBI did not conduct a thorough gun-purchase background check of that gunman.
The cases have underscored calls by critical legislators for stricter background checks for gun owners.
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