The U.S. Department Of Justice is said to have reached a $144.5 million settlement with the survivors and families of those killed in the 2017 shooting at a Texas church that killed 26 people. According to CNN, on Wednesday, a judge held the Air Force primarily responsible for the massacre after former airman Devin Patrick Kelley opened fire on innocent people at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, becoming one of the state’s deadliest shootings in the state’s history.
Kelley, who served almost five years in the Air Force, had a history of violent behavior, such as his discharge from the air service branch in 2014 for bad conduct when it came to light that he had been convicted of assaulting his then-wife on an Air Force base. He was further accused of beating his stepson so badly that it cracked the boy’s skull, though neither incident was alerted to the FBI, which would have prevented Kelley from being able to purchase weapons under the NCIS background check system.
RELATED: 2 Dead, 5 Injured Following Shooting At Memphis Restaurant Owned By Yo Gotti’s Mother
U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez had previously agreed that if the Air Force had reported the assault conviction, it would have been more than likely that the massacre that killed 26 people and injured a further 22 may have never taken place, to begin with. He ruled that AF was “60% liable” for what ended up transpiring at the church. The settlement is still subject to court approval, per the Justice Department.
“No words or amount of money can diminish the immense tragedy of the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs,” Vanita Gupta, who is the associate attorney for the Justice Department expressed in a statement. “Today’s announcement brings the litigation to a close, ending a painful chapter for the victims of this unthinkable crime.”
Following his discharge in 2014, Kelley was reported to have purchased four firearms, three of which he carried to the church where he killed close to three dozen people. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after being shot by two men who heard the screams of petrified people at the house of prayer.
RELATED: 1 Dead, 3 Injured After Deadly Shooting Outside Trader Joe’s In Los Angeles
An autopsy later revealed that Kelley, who was 26 at the time of the massacre, had drugs in his system.
Meanwhile, Jamal Alsaffar, who represented the victims in the lawsuit, added that the families have been fighting for justice for years and that the U.S. ultimately owed them a “debt of gratitude” after enduring so much pain in the most horrendous way. The lawsuit was first filed back in 2018, with Rodriguez initially ordering the government to pay up $230 million, which the Justice Department later appealed.
“It is more likely than not that Kelley would have been deterred from carrying out the Church shooting.”