Last week, the nation was shocked by the deadliest U.S. school shooting in nearly a decade, resulting in the death of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas. Now, the victims are taking action against the maker of the semiautomatic rifle used in the massacre.
According to Reuters, the father of a 10-year-old girl slain in the school shooting and a school employee “have taken initial steps that could lead to lawsuits against Daniel Defense, the maker of the semiautomatic rifle used in last week’s massacre that killed 21 people.”
Lawyers for Alfred Garza, father of Robb Elementary School student Amerie Jo Garza, requested in a letter on Friday that Daniel Defense provide information about its marketing to teens and children, the news service reported.
“We ask you to begin providing information to us now, rather than force Mr. Garza to file a lawsuit to obtain it,” said the letter, according to Reuters.
Garza’s attorney, Josh Koskoff, led the case over the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012, which led to a $73 million settlement by gunmaker Remington in February. It marked the first significant settlement over a mass shooting against a gunmaker.
Gun manufacturers are generally shielded from lawsuits over criminal use of their firearms by a federal law called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, or PLCAA. But Koskoff told Reuters he was applying what he learned from the Sandy Hook case to his current investigation, focusing on marketing to children and teens and product placements in first-person shooter video games.
In a separate legal action, school employee Emilia Marin filed papers in Texas state court seeking an order to depose Daniel Defense and force the company to turn over documents, also related to its marketing.
