CONSEQUENCES: Uvalde Families Sue State Police, School District for Response to School Shooting.

Families of children killed in the mass shooting at an elementary school here two years ago and survivors filed a lawsuit Wednesday against 91 state police officers and the local school district, calling their response the “single greatest failure of law enforcement to confront an active shooter in American history.” . . . A gunman killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers while nearly 400 officers from some two dozen state and federal agencies waited to intervene for more than an hour, even as children repeatedly called 911 from inside the classroom.

The suit, filed on behalf of families of 17 of the children killed and two of the surviving victims in federal court in the Western District of Texas, is against individuals because of immunity protections for state departments, those involved with the suit said. Among its claims are that the defendants violated the 14th Amendment constitutional rights of the victims and survivors.

A spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety declined to comment.

We need a federal civil rights law allowing for damages from police departments and officials for failure to protect, with no sovereign immunity.