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Parkland school shooting: Victims' families settle lawsuit against U.S. for FBI’s failure to stop gunman

By Bradford Betz
Published  November 23, 2021 6:45am EST
Parkland Shooting
FOX News

Families of Parkland shooting victims watch as suspect pleads guilty

Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty to murder on Wednesday in the 2018 shooting massacre in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead. Afterward, he apologized for the crime, adding 'I do not care if you do not believe me.'

Family members of nearly all of the victims in the 2018 Parkland, Florida, high school massacre have settled a lawsuit against the federal government over the FBI’s failure to act on a tip that the gunman was planning a school shooting, Fox News has confirmed. 

The lawsuit included 16 of the 17 killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The seventeenth victim’s family chose not to sue.

Fox News has reached out to their lead attorney, Kristina Infante, for comment. 

The government will pay about $130 million to the families, The New York Times reported.

Raw: Nikolas Cruz apologizes for Parkland massacre

After pleading guilty to killing 17 students, Nikolas Cruz apologized for the crime and said he struggles with nightmares. He also made comments about marijuana and racism in the U.S.

Andrew Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter Meadow died in the shooting, commended the FBI for accepting responsibility for its inaction, comparing it to the Broward County school district and sheriff's office, the school security staff, and the psychologists who treated the shooter. 

He believes they all failed to stop the shooter and have ducked responsibility.

FORMER BROWARD COUNTY COP DEFENDS ACTIONS AT PARKLAND AHEAD OF CRIMINAL TRIAL

"The FBI has made changes to make sure this never happens again," Pollack said.

About five weeks before the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting, an FBI tip line received a call saying a former Stoneman Douglas student Nikolas Cruz 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.

Parkland victim's mother champions alert system law

After Alyssa Alhadeff was killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, her mother championed a law requiring Alyssa's Alert panic button systems in all Florida schools. Starting this school year, they're required across all 67 districts.

But that information was never forwarded to the FBI's South Florida office and Cruz was never contacted. He had been expelled from the school a year earlier and had a long history of emotional and behavioral problems.

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Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty last month to 17 counts of first-degree murder. He will receive either a death sentence or life in prison after a penalty trial that is scheduled to start in January.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Get updates from this story on FOX News