Family of Highland Park parade shooting victim file wrongful death lawsuit against Smith & Wesson
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (CBS) — A family of one of the seven victims killed in the Highland Park July 4th Parade shooting in 2022 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the manufacturer of the guns used in the shooting.
The family of Eduardo Uvalde, a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, is suing Smith & Wesson, the maker of the M&P 15 — the AR-15-style weapon — used in the shooting.
A group of survivors and families of children present that day are also part of the suit.
The suit filed in Illinois state court on Friday alleges that the maker continued to market and sell its M&P 15 and also pushed it on teenagers despite it being used in four mass shootings — including in Aurora, CO, San Bernardino, CA, Parkland, FL, and Poway, CA. — in the past decade.
Families say that the company's decision to continue to market and sell the weapon, particularly to teenagers, constituted a negligent entrustment and violated an Illinois state consumer protection law in promoting the lethal and criminal use of the weapon.
Uvaldo was shot and killed at the parade just shy of his 70th birthday. Several members of his family were also present on that day.
"Eduardo was a kind, loving, hardworking man who adored his family. He was taken too soon: because of the actions of both a disturbed young man and the greedy corporation that made and marketed his weapon," Uvaldo's family said in a joint statement. "As we work to honor his memory, part of that is fighting to keep other families from knowing this indescribable pain. The shooter may be facing justice, but he could not have acted with that weapon if not for the choices and actions of Smith & Wesson."
Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder, which previously represented the nine Sandy Hook families in the settlement against Remington, and Rapoport Weisberg & Sims P.C. will represent the plaintiffs.
The suit also involves Budgsunshop.com, LLC and Red Dot Arms, Inc. for selling the weapon to an individual prohibited from owning it.
"While the abhorrent conduct started with Smith and Wesson, it was carried through to completion by a series of other bad actors who contributed to this tragedy," said Matthew Sims of Rapoport Weisberg & Sims, P.C.
