The U.S. government has agreed to pay almost $128 million to the families of the victims killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, ending lawsuits that charged that the FBI was warned of the imminent attack but failed to act.
The Parkland, Florida, shooting left 17 people dead and 17 wounded. Some 40 lawsuits were filed on behalf of families of the 16 victims. The U.S. Justice Department announced this week but did not say how the funds would be distributed.
“Although no resolution could ever restore what the Parkland families lost, this settlement marks an important step toward justice,” the families’ lead attorney, Kristina Infante, told the Associated Press.
Nikolas Cruz, a former student at the school, pleaded guilty in October to 17 charges of murder and attempted murder. But weeks before the shooting, a tipster reportedly told the FBI that Cruz was “going to explode,” and that he “was going to slip into a school and start shooting the place up,” according to news reports.
The bureau also was told that Cruz had stockpiled weapons, but agents failed to intervene, the lawsuits charged.
This settlement resolves all of the cases but it does not amount to an admission of fault by the United States, the DOJ said in the statement.
Top photo: A commemoration event of the 2018 shooting, held on the fourth anniversary last month in Parkland. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP)
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