On November 5, 2017, 26 people were killed and 22 others injured when Devin Patrick Kelley opened fire during a Sunday service at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs….reports Asian Lite News
A judge has ordered the US Air Force to pay more than 230 million in damages to survivors and victims’ families of a 2017 Texas church shooting.
In an ongoing civil lawsuit, US District Judge Xavier Rodriguez on Monday ruled that the federal government failed to flag a conviction that might have kept the gunman from legally buying the weapon used in the shooting, reports Xinhua news agency.
On November 5, 2017, 26 people were killed and 22 others injured when Devin Patrick Kelley opened fire during a Sunday service at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs.
Kelley died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound afterwards.
Rodriguez had ruled in July 2021 that the Air Force was “60 per cent 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 and the federal government was originally only willing to pay roughly $31.8 million.
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.
Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden hadannounced a new set of actions aimed at reducing gun violence across the country.
The Biden administration will crack down on illegal flow of guns, help prosecutors bring cases against those using “ghost guns” — unserialised and untraceable firearms — to commit crimes, and pursue unlawful gun sellers, among other things, White House said.
Biden paid a visit to New York City last week, where he called for more funding for community policing and law enforcement agencies.
“The answer is not to abandon our streets,” said the President during an event at the headquarters of the City of New York Police Department in Lower Manhattan.
“The answer is not to defund the police…. It’s to give you the tools, the training, the funding to be partners, to be protectors.”
Biden was joined on the visit by US Attorney General Merrick Garland, as well as Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
The US reported 20,794 gun violence deaths in 2021, up from 19,490 deaths in 2020 and 15,474 fatalities in pre-pandemic 2019, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
There have been 1,554 gun violence deaths in the United States so far this year, the data showed.
