The Broward County, Florida, school district will pay more than $26 million to the families of 17 people killed and some of those injured in the 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
A total of $25 million will be shared by 51 plaintiffs, including families of the 17 dead as well as students and staff who were injured at the Parkland school. The families also reached a settlement with the FBI last month that will pay them over $127 million for its failure to possibly prevent the attack.
“While we recognize no amount of money can make these families whole, it is the school board’s hope that this settlement will show our heartfelt commitment to the MSD families, students, staff, faculty and to the entire Broward County community,” said Marylin Batista, the board’s interim general counsel.
Stand With Parkland, the group that represents the victims’ families, said its goal has been to hold accountable those they believe could have stopped the shooter, an expelled student with a long history of mental and emotional problems. Two students have said their warning to a school administrator that he could attack were dismissed.
“Our families will never be whole again, and there is no definitive value you can put on the lives of our loved ones who were taken from us,” the group’s statement said, but the settlement “at least affords our families some degree of closure in what has been a years-long legal battle.”
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