The Air Force must pay $230 million in damages to survivors and victims of a 2017 Texas shooting in a church, a federal judge in San Antonio ruled Monday.
The Air Force was found culpable after failing to flag the shooter’s actions in a background database, which may have stopped the shooter from acquiring a weapon and killing more than two dozen people.
The payment was determined seven months after District Judge Xavier Rodriguez ruled in July 2021 that the Air Force was 60% culpable for the actions of Devin Patrick Kelley. “The losses and pain these families have experienced is immeasurable,” wrote Rodriguez.
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Kelley was only found 40% responsible for killing 26 people with a firearm and injuring 22 others before killing himself, according to Rodriguez. The Air Force was culpable because it failed to enter Kelley’s criminal history into a federal background check database. Kelley had a string of legal troubles as early as 2012, when he was court-martialed and sentenced to military prison after assaulting his wife and child. He was later discharged from the military in 2014.
“Moreover, the evidence shows that — had the Government done its job and properly reported Kelley’s information into the background check system — it is more likely than not that Kelley would have been deterred from carrying out the Church shooting,” Rodriguez concluded in the July ruling.
A spokesperson for the Air Force told Reuters that it was aware of the award and is reviewing the decision. The damages will go to 80 victims in total.
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A representative for the Air Force did not respond to requests for comment from the Washington Examiner.
