An enormous $27 billion class action lawsuit has been launched by the relatives of the victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which claimed the lives of 19 pupils and two instructors.
Charles Bonner, a civil rights lawyer, said on Sunday that the class-action lawsuit would target police enforcement and the maker of the pistol used in the incident.
According to Bonner of Bonner & Bonner Law, “What we aim to do to assist serve this community is to bring a $27 billion civil rights case under our United States Constitution, one-of-a-kind in the whole globe.”
Bonner has made it obvious that he plans to pursue a lawsuit against anybody who is liable for what occurred on May 24 at Robb Elementary.
The school police, Arredondo, the city police, the sheriffs, the Texas Rangers, the DPS, and the Border Patrol are all available, according to Bonner.
The defendants, according to him, also include Oasis Outback, where the shooter purchased the pistol used in the attack, and gunmaker Daniel Defense.
The lawsuit is still in the planning stages but will likely be filed in September when the Department of Defense has finished its inquiry into the incident.
There will also be some institutional defendants, such as the “school board or such as City Council or such as the City of the Uvalde,” according to Bonner.
A local Uvalde legal office and the gun safety nonprofit Everytown have teamed up with the lawyer’s law business to take on the class action case.
Everyone in this globe is in pain and suffering as a result of what is taking on in Uvalde, he said. And it’s up to us to prevent it from happening again.
The lawyer has been visiting families at Pastor Daniel Myers’ church, Tabernacle of Worship, in Uvalde from their office in California.
According to Myers, there hasn’t been any justice or responsibility for the 19 students and the two instructors up to this point.
According to Bonner, the 14th Amendment rights of the victims and their relatives were infringed, hence a case on constitutionality has been launched.
According to the 14th Amendment, people have the right to life, but in this case, law enforcement officials have displayed a willful, knowing disrespect for human life, according to Bonner.
According to a preliminary report issued in July by the Texas House investigating committee, authorities discovered “many systemic failures” and subpar leadership on the day of the killing.
The following month, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin also made body camera video from the incident public.
The footage captures what seems to be the bewilderment Uvalde police officers had on May 24 when Salvador Ramos, 18, entered a classroom at Robb Elementary School and started shooting, killing 19 pupils and two instructors there.
Instead of confronting the mass shooter, Robb Elementary School Police Chief Peter Arredondo was seen standing outside the classroom and pleading with Salvador Ramos, who finally ignored him.
In an effort to reassure the adolescent that “this might be peaceful,” Arredondo pleaded with him to approach him and asked him to “please put your pistol down.”
Despite his best attempts, he could hear more gunshots coming from the classroom.
Sir, can you hear me? Arredondo questioned after the shots. Please put your gun down, sir, if you can hear me. We don’t want anybody else to suffer harm.
A few minutes later, a 911 operator informed the police that a kid had phoned and said that there were instructors and students trapped with the shooter.
Six minutes later, Arredondo is seen attempting to use a set of keys to unlock the door of an adjacent classroom but failing.
Another cop enters the room after receiving the keys from him. Despite the arrival of more highly armored additional police, there doesn’t seem to be much activity.
Arredondo then begs the gunman once again after another series of gunfire are fired.
He inquired, “Can you hear me, sir?” Please put your gun down, sir, if you can hear me. We don’t want anybody else to suffer harm.
An cop responds to someone who replies, “I know, I know,” stating, “That’s what we’re doing, we’re trying to get him out.”
Before police finally broke into the classroom where Ramos had locked himself and executed him, it was still at least another 30 minutes.
Arredondo informed the officers that day that Ramos had stopped firing while the scenario had evolved from an active shooter to a barricaded suspect, requiring them to use more care.
Around 12.04 p.m., Officer Gazaway enters the building gently after standing outside it. Several other cops are waiting inside the building with their guns drawn.
While others were conversing in the school’s corridor, several cops were still waiting outside outside the entrance to the building.
The video cuts out at around 12:08 p.m., only to reappear seconds later to show additional police officers waiting in the corridor, perhaps awaiting directions on what to do.
For the next several minutes, while sergeants can be seen pointing and speaking to some of the officers, Gazaway seems to walk up and down the hallway, perhaps seeking for someone to offer him guidance.
It’s difficult to understand what they were saying since there is no sound in the video.
Around 12.19 p.m., it seemed that additional cops had gathered in the corridor after several left their posts outside.
Even the ballistic vest one guy in a blue checkered shirt was sporting said “Sheriff” on it.
A guy wearing a “Texas Ranger” outfit continued to yell commands at the policemen in the meanwhile, but he eventually left the building while still on the phone.
Finally, at around 12:21 p.m., a flurry of police officers could be seen hurrying down the corridor, seemingly in the direction of classrooms 111 and 112. Ramos was shooting from these rooms.
The video concludes with Border Patrol officers entering the classrooms and shooting Ramos to death.
The video was made public in response to the Texas House of Representatives’ 77-page report, which heavily blames state and federal police for the Uvalde school shooting.
The House investigation was the most thorough investigation to date into why it took police and other officers more than an hour to confront and murder Ramos.
The investigation criticized “system failings and blatant bad decision making” by practically everyone in authority during the assault, pointing out how 376 law enforcement officers rushed to the school in a disorganized scenario characterized by a lack of clear leadership and appropriate urgency.
The report said that “other than the attacker, the Committee did not discover any “villains” in the course of its inquiry.” Instead, we discovered systematic flaws and shockingly bad judgment.
“The lack of leadership may have contributed to the loss of life as wounded victims waited for assistance for more than an hour while the assailant continued to intermittently fire his weapon.”
The 149 US Border Patrol agents and 91 state police officers present at the site, according to the report, should have assisted with the “unfolding pandemonium.”
The investigation said that law enforcement had generally behaved laxly on the site. “For many, it was because they had been provided incorrect information and depended on it,” Others had access to sufficient knowledge to know better.
Bottom line: “Law enforcement personnel failed to comply to their active shooter training, and they failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims above their own protection,” according to the study.
Mayor of Uvalde Don McLaughlin said via email that Lieutenant Mariano Pargas, who was serving as acting municipal policy head on the day of the shooting, had been put on administrative leave.
Officials from the state police have harshly criticized Arredondo’s command of the six-person police force for the school district, who they claim was in charge of the situation.
However, the research also pointed out that hundreds of officers from organizations with superior resources and training than the school police force also had a dismal track record.
According to the investigation, “despite an obviously chaotic environment, the senior officers of other responding agencies did not approach (Arredondo) or anybody else considered to be in authority to point out the absence and need of a command post, or to provide that particular help.”
These local leaders were not the only ones who were anticipated to provide the necessary leadership amid this disaster.
Numerous law enforcement agencies sent hundreds of responders, many of whom were more prepared and trained than the school district police, to the site.
No responder took the effort to set up an incident command post during this crisis, according to the study.
“Despite an obviously chaotic environment, the ranking officers of other responding agencies did not approach the Uvalde CISD chief of police or anyone else perceived to be in command to point out the absence of and need for a command post, or to offer that specific assistance,” according to the report.
The audit also discovered that the Robb Elementary School did not follow a number of fundamental safety procedures, including not having enough keys, which caused instructors to often leave doors unlocked or prop them open.
The investigation said that the school system did not pay enough attention to door and lock maintenance, noting that despite the lock in one of the rooms where the shooting occurred being known to be faulty, it was not fixed.
The investigation noted that despite being well known to be defective, Room 111’s locking mechanism “was not rectified.”
“The issue with the door locking had been brought to the attention of the administration of the school, but no formal work order for a repair was made.”
An app created to alert the school of a lockdown in the case of an emergency was little used as a result of unreliable Wi-Fi in certain areas of the school.
Teachers also often ignored lockdown alerts on the app because they had become used to receiving them in circumstances involving close border patrol activities.
Teachers at Robb Elementary often received information about illegal immigrants who were being sought by border patrol near the school, which is roughly an hour from the US-Mexico border.
Between May and February, there were 47 “lockdown” situations at the school, 90% of which included border patrol activities.
The study also showed that Ramos sent out many red flags indicating he was dangerous, but nothing was done to address them.
After one instance, on April 2, Ramos asked someone on Instagram, “Are you still going to remember me in 50 something days?”
Most likely not, was the reply.
We’ll see in May, Ramos said, “Hmm, okay.”
He also stalked the ladies he played video games with and posted footage of suicides and beheadings online because he was fascinated with gore and violent sex.
After threatening a female employee, he was also dismissed from his job at a Whataburger.
Despite his aggressive actions, Ramos received no negative attention and was never reported to the police.
In the meanwhile, since the killing, demands for police accountability have increased in Uvalde. Arredondo is the only cop associated with the site of the bloodiest school shooting in Texas history who is still on leave, as of this writing.
Officers could be seen fleeing the gunshots, checking their phones, using hand sanitizer, and giving high fives as Ramos could be heard firing bullets in a classroom.
An cop whose daughter was in the classroom was briefly spotted being held by other police so that he could not try to save his daughter.
The footage shows how it took police 77 minutes to break down the door to the classrooms where Ramos shot his victims with more than 100 shots.
Ramos arrived to the school at 11:33 and wasn’t killed by gunfire until 12:50.
Before Border Patrol authorities entered the building and shot and killed the shooter, the shooting continued.
From a camera in the parking lot of Robb Elementary School, the footage starts at 11:28.
Ramos is seen ferociously spinning his vehicle around a turn and smashing into a ditch in the background. At the site of the collision, a cloud of dusty smoke is seen rising.
When two unidentified guys approach the automobile, Ramos fires rounds in their direction.
The two guys cross the street and go into Robb Elementary School as they flee for their life.
A teacher is heard telling a 911 operator: “I do not see him,” two minutes later. I’m unable to see him. The viewpoint changes to one that is directed towards Robb Elementary School. The kids are fleeing, she says. Thank God.
Oh my God, she sobs in despair, her voice breaking.
Ramos then begins firing indiscriminately towards the school while standing in the parking lot.
“Get down, get in your rooms, get in your rooms,” the instructor commands the class.
The view changes once again to witness video of Ramos casually entering the school while brandishing an AR-15.
The camera changes to CCTV footage from within Robb Elementary School’s corridors within the same minute.
Ramos walks into a corridor that is dark save for the light coming from the doorway.
He pauses briefly just before a turn as though to make sure he’s traveling in the correct direction.
He leaves his rifle at his side as he makes his way to classrooms 111 and 112, where the shooting took place, and starts to vanish down a lengthy corridor.
An elementary school child enters the frame from the foreground. He turns a bend and remains still for a little while. Then, deafening gunshots is audible.
The youngster may be seen escaping while seeming to flap his arms.
The following message is shown on the screen for 2.5 minutes: “The shooter shoots his AR-15 inside two classes.”
The first police officers arrive three minutes later; three of them—two in uniform and one in plain clothes—charge into the classroom before crouching in the corridor, while the other four quietly remain in position.
The four cops who hang back converse with one another. They are not audible to one another.
Then, there are three thunderous booms.
The plain-clothes officer runs all the way to safety behind a wall as the two uniformed officers slightly back after hearing gunshots and inspect their clothing to see whether they have been injured.
One individual seemed to be checking the time by taking his iPhone out of his pocket. Others, according to The Statesman, exchanged messages and examined floor blueprints as the minutes dwindled away.
The first significant reinforcements come exactly 19 minutes after the first police tried to subdue Ramos, when officers armed with long rifles, tactical gear, and a ballistic shield are seen entering the corridor. They maintain their secure apart from Ramos.
A police officer secures the shield against a wall.
More police officers arrive in the corridor a little over 30 minutes after the 911 call was placed, equipped with long rifles and ballistic shields. They don’t try to fight Ramos.
48 minutes after initially showing up at the school, Ramos continues to fire off four more shots. The gathered law enforcement personnel don’t initially respond much. “Shots fired” is said again.
As the cops eventually start to march down the corridor toward Ramos, there is further inaudible dialogue.
One who is leading the way looks to be dressed normally, with shorts and a bulletproof vest. He has a weapon at his disposal.
Behind him are the officers with heavier armor.
A police officer in civilian attire grabs hand sanitizer from a dispenser while wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet.
After more than 30 minutes, more cops could be seen entering the structure with weapons aimed down the corridor toward the classrooms where Ramos is hiding while wearing ballistic shields.
Finally, police enter the classroom and startle Ramos, killing him instantly. 77 minutes entirely after the horror started.