SAN ANTONIO (Legal Newsline) – The federal government bears the bulk of responsibility for one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history, a San Antonio federal court ruled July 7.
In a lawsuit brought by families of the victims of a church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, Judge Xavier Rodriguez found the United States 60% responsible for the deaths of 26 people and injuries of 22 more.
Shooter Devin Kelley, who obtained his firearms because the Air Force failed to enter his violence issues in a national database used by gun retailers, is 40% to blame, Rodriguez ruled. If settlements aren’t reached, individual trials on damages will be scheduled for the plaintiffs.
“The trial conclusively established that no other individual—not even Kelley’s own parents or partners—knew as much as the United States about the violence that Devin Kelley had threatened to commit and was capable of committing,” Rodriguez ruled.
“Moreover, the evidence shows that—had the Government done its job and properly reported Kelley’s information into the background check system—it is more likely than not that Kelley would have been deterred from carrying out the Church shooting. For these reasons, the Government bears significant responsibility for the Plaintiffs’ harm.”
The ruling came two weeks after the Texas Supreme Court refused to hold the gun retailer – Academy Sports + Outdoors – liable. The court noted the store properly checked the National Instant Criminal Background Check System before selling to Kelley.
Kelley’s shooting spree took place in 2017 at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs after he bought a Model 8500 Ruger AR-556 rifle from Academy.
Kelley was a former member of the United States Air Force with a violent streak that included abuse of his first wife and her toddler. He was court-martialed on charges stemming from that abuse, and Kelley pleaded guilty to two of the counts.
That information should have prevented Kelley from legally purchasing firearms, but the Air Force failed to enter it into the background system.
Rodriguez wrote Texas law doesn’t prevent a negligent wrongdoer from bearing more responsibility than the intentional tortfeasor. The government was found joint and severally liable, which means it is on the hook for entire verdicts in damages trial and not just the 60% it was found responsible for.
The government also tried to blame Academy. When it tried to hide behind the Federal Tort Claims Act, which grants immunity for lawsuits regarding federal policies, Rodriguez rejected that argument, too.
“The Government could not offer any explanations for its agents’ failure to perform these nondiscretionary functions,” he wrote.
“The Court concludes that the Government failed to exercise reasonable care in performing its undertaking to collect and submit Kelley’s fingerprints and conviction information to the FBI.”