$27 billion Uvalde class-action lawsuit likely to target law enforcement, gun manufacturer for 'deliberate, conscious disregard' for human life

A class-action lawsuit on behalf of the victims and survivors of the Uvalde school shooting that occurred three months ago will soon be filed, and it is likely to name as defendants several law enforcement agencies and at least two firearms businesses.

Back on May 24, a shooter shut himself inside two adjoining classrooms in Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and terrorized children and teachers for over an hour before law enforcement breached the door and killed him. In all, 19 students and two teachers were murdered in the attack, and several others were wounded.

Last week, Charles Bonner of the Law Offices of Bonner & Bonner — located in the Bay Area — announced that he would soon file a $27 billion lawsuit on behalf of the Uvalde victims. He has been meeting with survivors and family members at a local church to discuss a possible lawsuit which will hold law enforcement accountable for their actions that day.

"Up to right now, there's been no accountability, there's no justice for those 19 children and the two teachers," said Daniel Myers, the pastor of Tabernacle of Worship church where Bonner and the victims have met.

Defendants in the lawsuit will likely include: Uvalde city police, Uvalde police chief Pedro "Pete" Arredondo, sheriffs, Texas Rangers, Border Patrol, and the Texas Department of Public Safety. The lawsuit will also likely target Daniel Defense, which manufactured the gun used by the shooter, and Oasis Outback, which sold it to him. Members of the Uvalde school board and city council may also be named.

Bonner claims that by their actions — and in many cases, their inactions — these individuals, businesses, and law enforcement agencies violated the victims' constitutional rights.

"People have a right to life under the 14th Amendment, and what we’ve seen here is that the law enforcement agencies have shown a deliberate, conscious disregard of the life," said Bonner, who is also representing victims of the recent mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.

The civil rights lawsuit will be "one-of-a-kind in the whole world," Bonner continued.

The lawsuit is expected to be filed soon.

"Now it's time for all of us to stand up and demand change and protection," a statement on the Bonner & Bonner website says.

Other attorneys from a separate California law firm are preparing to file a federal lawsuit regarding the shooting on behalf of three individual families. Though it will not be a class-action suit, it will likely include many or all of the same defendants as the class-action suit filed by Bonner.