An attorney who has represented victims of mass shootings says suing over the Robb Elementary school shooting could be an uphill climb.
Houston attorney Erik Knockaert is not involved in any case out of Uvalde. He says sovereign immunity makes it hard to sue any sort of governmental entity. Qualified immunity protects law officers. He says according to a supreme court decision, police who are plainly incompetent or knowingly violate the law are not covered.
"You have to look at the timeline and figure out what happened, what they knew, and what decisions they made," Knockaert said. "That's going to be very factually specific. If there is anything we've seen from the news in Uvalde it's that the story has been changing by the day."
Some first responders are facing mounting criticism over what is perceived to be a delayed response to the massacre.
As many as 19 officers were in the school before the shooter was killed. A young girl in the classroom called 911 several times while officers were outside the door. In one call, she said several were dead. In a later call, she said eight to nine students were still alive.
The shooter entered the school at 11:33 and police, using a key from a janitor, did not enter the classroom and shoot the killer until 12:51.
He says there is a law that protects gun manufacturers. There can be a liability if a sale violated a state law or someone in the sale process knew that the shooter shouldn't have a gun.
"The problem with the increase in mass shootings is that to try to find liability with these situations, it can be hard to find a good precedent," Knockaert said. "You are by definition having to forge some new legal pathways forward. In a state like Texas, I'm not sure what appetites the courts will have."
A judgment was entered after trial in the Sutherland Springs case in which Knockaert has a client. That lawsuit stemmed from the fact that the Air Force did not report the shooter's previous assault conviction to the FBI.
However, in this case, the shooter, who bought his weapons the day after his 18th birthday, did not have a criminal record that would have kept him from purchasing them.
Knockaert says the families could try to sue the shooter's family but there likely won't be much there.
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