Two companies that sold ammunition to the accused Santa Fe High School shooter have reached a settlement with families of victims of the May 2018 massacre.
Online ammunition seller Luckygunner, LLC and a related company, Red Stag Fulfillment, LLC, in 2020 were sued by Santa Fe families, who accused the companies of enabling “illegal and negligent actions” by selling and shipping more than 100 rounds of handgun ammunition to then-17-year-old Dimitrious Pagourtzis.
MORE ON CASE: Accused Santa Fe HS shooter may be committed long-term to mental health facility
Under federal law, it’s illegal to for people younger than 18 years old to buy handgun ammunition. Licensed dealers are prohibited from selling ammunition to people younger than 21 years old.
Everytown Law, the gun violence prevention organization that represented one of the families in the lawsuit, announced Thursday the case had been settled. The organization also said the companies agreed to “maintain an age verification system at the point of sale for all ammunition sales.” The agreement is the first of its kind, the organizations said.
“Age-verification for ammunition sales is a no-brainer, especially when the sale is conducted online,” said Alla Lefkowitz, the senior director of affirmative litigation at Everytown Law. “It simply should not be possible for a minor to go online and have ammunition shipped to their house, no questions asked. As we work to hold the gun industry accountable for its role in the gun violence epidemic, other online sellers should follow Luckygunner’s lead and implement age verification processes.”
Under the system, anyone whose age cannot be verified or who is verified to be younger than 21 years old is refused a sale, according to the news release
SURVIVORS SPEAK OUT: Santa Fe school shooting survivors feel betrayed by state’s response, want more after Uvalde
Last year, the Texas Supreme Court rejected Luckygunner’s efforts to claim it was immune from lawsuit under federal law. That decision led to the settlement. Other terms of the agreement are confidential, according to the Everytown press release.
Everytown’s attorneys represented the family of Sabika Aziz Sheikh, a 17-year-old exchange student from Pakistan who was one of the eight students and two teaches killed in the May 18, 2018, shooting.
“Sabika’s killer should never have been able to go online and buy ammunition with a few clicks,” Abdul Aziz, Sabika’s father, said in the release. “I rest easier knowing that this settlement agreement will prevent future illegal sales.”
john.ferguson@chron.com