The mother of one of the children killed in the Uvalde school shooting has filed a federal lawsuit against local police, the school district, and the manufacturer of the gun used by the shooter.
Sandra Torres' 10-year-old daughter Eliahna was one of the 19 students killed at Robb Elementary School on May 24. When surveillance footage revealed law enforcement waited 77 minutes to enter classrooms, Torres sought answers, but she told NBC News that she has yet to receive them.
“My baby never made it out of the school,” she said. “There’s no accountability or transparency. There’s nothing being done.”
Torres' lawsuit accuses police of “complete failure” to follow active shooter protocols, as well as violations of the victims' civil rights by “barricading them” in classrooms for over an hour. The officers involved have largely been criticized for "prioritizing their own safety over the victims’ lives."
An investigation into Uvalde police in July found that despite the presence of nearly 400 officers on the scene, inaction and “egregiously poor decision-making” facilitated the deaths of 21 people.
Everytown for Gun Safety, an American nonprofit organization which advocates for gun control and against gun violence, assisted Torres in filing the suit. The claims were also filed against the manufacturer of the AR-rifle used by the shooter, in a strategy to hold gun-makers accountable for their role in violence.
In February of this year, parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting successfully won a $73 million settlement against the manufacturer of the 2012 gun. Their lawsuit argued that the company's advertising enticed and targeted “vulnerable and violent young men."
Eric Tirschwell, executive director at Everytown Law, hopes for a similar outcome in Torres' case, he told NBC: "It would be an important step forward to holding gun manufacturers to account if their marketing crosses a line."
For Torres, all she seeks are answers and accountability for her daughter's murder.
“For 77 minutes [police] did nothing. Nothing at all,” she said. “She’ll never know what it’s like to get married, to graduate, to go to her first prom."
Torres added: "Never forget their faces.”
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