DOJ Tentatively Settles for $144.5 Million with Sutherland Springs Shooting Victims

The Justice Department has reached a $144.5 million settlement with the families of 26 people killed in a 2017 mass shooting at a church in Texas after an acrimonious legal battle in which the government claimed it was not liable for its failure to update the national firearms background check system. The settlement is among the largest of its kind, exceeding previous ones the department reached over mass shootings that stemmed from the government’s failure to take steps to prevent mass shootings by sharing intelligence and other information that might have been used to stop them.