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The U.S. Justice Department has reached a tentative $144.5 million settlement with victims and relatives of those killed in the 2017 mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, and plans to end its appeal of a lawsuit that found the U.S. Air Force partially responsible for the attack.
Notice of the agreement, which must be approved by a federal judge and a top Justice Department official before being finalized, is expected to be filed Wednesday before the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, where the case is pending.
The tentative settlement was announced in separate statements by an attorney for the families and the Justice Department, which described it as an “agreement in principal.”
“No words or amount of money can diminish the immense tragedy of the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs,” Vanita Gupta, the associate attorney general whose portfolio includes the Justice Department’s civil division, said in a statement. “Today’s announcement brings the litigation to a close, ending a painful chapter for the victims of this unthinkable crime.”
Twenty-six people were killed and another 20 injured in the November 2017 shooting at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, an attack that has left lingering physical and emotional scars on the rural Texas community more than five years later.
Dozens of victims sued the U.S. Air Force in 2018 after the branch said it did not report gunman Devin Kelley’s history of violence, including a 2012 conviction for domestic assault, to the FBI’s background check system. That conviction, which led to Kelley’s dismissal from the Air Force, should have prevented the former airman from being able to buy the guns he used in the attack.
In a July 2021 ruling, U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez found the Air Force was “60 percent liable” for the attack. He cited the background check failures and other disturbing details uncovered at trial, including that Air Force officials were aware Kelley had previously researched and threatened a mass shooting and had a history of severe mental health issues that led officials to declare him to be “dangerous” and “a threat” — information they did not share with others.
