Families of those killed in the Uvalde shooting, in the US state of Texas, and surviving victims took Meta to court on Friday, May 24, as well as the video game publisher Activision and the manufacturer of the The murder weapon, Daniel Defense, accused of having contributed to the killer’s act.
Two years ago today, on May 24, 2022, a former Robb Elementary School student, Salvador Ramos (18 years old at the time), entered the premises, armed with a rifle AR-15 assault rifle, before firing. He caused the death of nineteen children as well as two teachers and left seventeen injured before being shot dead.
“There is a direct link between the conduct of these companies and the Uvalde shooting,” said attorney Josh Koskoff, who represents the relatives and survivors who have decided to take legal action, in a statement. After the Sandy Hook school massacre in 2012, Mr. Koskoff made a name for himself by obtaining, in 2022, the payment of $73 million (€67 million) from the American arms manufacturer Remington. damage to the families of nine victims.
“A three-headed monster.”
For him, in the Uvalde affair, Meta, Activision and Daniel Defense form “a three-headed monster”, which “knowingly exposed” Salvador Ramos “to the weapon, led him to see it as a way to solve his problems, and trained him to use it.” He pointed out the responsibility of Instagram, a subsidiary of Meta, which “allows” according to him “arms manufacturers to come into contact with consumers”, including those of a young age.
As for Activision, the publisher “should stop training and accustoming children to kill,” insisted the lawyer. The Activision Blizzard studio was purchased in fall 2023 by Microsoft. He is notably the publisher of the shooting game Call of Duty, which features a character forced to kill his opponents with firearms or knives to fulfill his mission or to defend himself.
The summons against Meta and Activision were filed in a Los Angeles court and the one against Daniel Defense in Uvalde.
Nearly a hundred police officers also brought to justice
“The Uvalde shooting was horrific and tragic and we express our support for the families and individuals who remain affected by this senseless act of violence,” responded an Activision spokesperson to Agence France-Presse (AFP ). She added that “millions of people play video games around the world without subsequently committing horrible acts.”
The same families and survivors sued nearly a hundred Texas State Police officers on Wednesday, accusing them of making mistakes during the shooting. A report from the Ministry of Justice, published in January, pointed to a “cascade of failures” in the reaction of the police.
Relatives of the victims also announced on Wednesday that they had reached an amicable agreement with the town hall of Uvalde, which provides for the payment of 2 million dollars (approximately 1.84 million euros) in compensation.