Federal officials confirmed Wednesday that the Department of Justice reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with the families of most of those killed or wounded in a 2018 Florida school shooting over the FBI's failure to stop the gunman, even though it had received information that he intended to attack.
Attorneys representing the families of 16 of the 17 people killed and some of those wounded in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland had announced in November that they reached a settlement with the government over the FBI's failure to investigate a tip it received about the gunman a month before the massacre.
The family of one person killed in the massacre chose not to sue.
The government's announcement Wednesday said the settlement resolves 40 cases connected to the shooting for $127.5 million. The Justice Department's release noted that the settlement does not include an admission of fault by the federal government.
About five weeks before the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting, an FBI tip line received a call saying a former Stoneman Douglas student had bought guns and planned to "slip into a school and start shooting the place up."
"I know he's going to explode," the caller told the FBI.
That information was never forwarded to the FBI's South Florida office, and the former student was never contacted. He had been expelled from the school a year earlier and had a long history of emotional and behavioral problems.
The 23-year-old shooterpleaded guilty last October to 17 counts of first-degree murder. He will receive either a death sentence or life in prison, pending a penalty trial in April.
Additional reporting by The Associated Press. Newsy is the nation’s only free 24/7 national news network. You can find Newsy using your TV’s digital antenna or stream for free. See all the ways you can watch Newsy here: https://bit.ly/Newsy1
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