Families of survivors of the Robb Elementary School shooting are pursuing litigation against the package shipping companies UPS and FedEx for allegedly violating state and federal law and its own corporate safety standards.
The lawsuit was filed on the two-year mark of the shooting, which saw a gunman enter the school and murder 19 children and two teachers. The families said that the shipping companies bear responsibility for the trauma and distress caused to the survivors of the massacre.
On the day of the shooting, the gunman was armed with a weapon that was ordered online and shipped to Oasis Firearms in Uvalde where it was then picked up by the shooter.
The lawsuit claims that the companies then shipped an enhanced trigger system to the gunman’s house. This allowed the gunman to convert it into a fully automatic or semi-automatic weapon.
The lawsuit cited the UPS Conditions of Carriage as proof of a violation. The UPS conditions state that, “Shipments must not contain goods which might endanger human or animal life or any means of transportation.”
The families also said that the shipment of a hellfire trigger device to the gunman’s house was a violation of school zone area protections. The gunman’s house was less than 1,000 feet away from the Robb Elementary school zone.
According to the lawsuit, the gunman was not 18 years old when he purchased the weapon and hell-fire trigger online. It claimed that FedEx shipped the AR-15 and then Oasis Firearms illegally transferred the gun to the shooter even though he was 17 at the time of the purchase. The shooter was also able to purchase ammunition from Oasis that was used in the massacre.
This lawsuit was filed on the same day that families of victims and survivors also filed wrongful death lawsuits against the Instagram parent company Meta, the maker of the Call of Duty video game Activision, and Daniel Defense, the company which manufactured the AR-15 style assault rifle that the gunman used.
In a statement, UPS said, "Our hearts go out to the Uvalde victims and their families. Shipping firearms and components is highly regulated; UPS complies, and requires its customers to comply, with all applicable federal laws. The lawsuit has no merit, and we will defend accordingly."
