Families in Uvalde took more legal action Friday on the second anniversary of the Robb Elementary School attack, suing Meta Platforms, which owns Instagram, and the maker of the video game “Call of Duty” over claims the companies bear responsibility for products used by the teenage gunman.
They also filed another lawsuit against Daniel Defense, which manufactured the AR-style rifle used in the May 24, 2022, shooting — and has already been sued.
It added to mounting lawsuits over the attack and came as the small Texas city gathered to mourn the anniversary of one of the deadliest school shootings in US history.
The gunman killed 19 students and two teachers before officers finally confronted and shot him after waiting more than an hour to enter the fourth-grade classroom.
Some of the same families on Wednesday filed a $500 million lawsuit against Texas state police officials and officers who were part of the botched law enforcement response that day.
More than 370 federal, state, and local officers responded but waited more than an hour to confront the shooter inside the classroom as students and teachers lay dead, dying or wounded.
Friday’s lawsuits are not the first to accuse technology companies of having a role in radicalizing or influencing mass shooters.
Families of victims in a May 2022 attack on a Buffalo, New York, supermarket sued social media companies, including Meta and Instagram, over content on their platforms.
A separate lawsuit filed by different plaintiffs in December 2022 against local and state police, the city, and other school and law enforcement, seeks at least $27 billion and class-action status for survivors.
At least two other lawsuits have been filed against Daniel Defense.
