Uvalde shooting victims' parents sue Meta, 'Call of Duty' maker and weapons manufacturer

Many of the family members whose children were killed in the Robb Elementary School mass shooting in Uvalde two years ago are suing Instagram, the maker of the video game "Call of Duty" and an AR-15 manufacturer, claiming the three played a role in enabling the mass shooter who killed 19 children and two adults in Uvalde in 2022.

The wrongful death suits were filed in Texas and California against Meta, Instagram's parent company; Activision, the video game publisher; and Daniel Defense, a weapons company that manufactured the assault-style rifle used by the mass shooter in Uvalde. The filings came on Friday, the second anniversary of the shooting.

A news release sent Friday by the law offices of Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder PC and Guerra LLP said the lawsuits show that, over the past 15 years, the three companies have partnered in a "scheme that preys upon insecure, adolescent boys."

Salvador Ramos, the lone gunman in the Robb Elementary massacre, purchased the rifle he used in the shooting minutes after he turned 18, according to the release. Days later, he carried out the worst school shooting in the state's history, where hundreds of law enforcement officers waited more than an hour before entering the classroom.

“There is a direct line between the conduct of these companies and the Uvalde shooting," Josh Koskoff, attorney for the families, said in the news release. "This three-headed monster knowingly exposed him to the weapon, conditioned him to see it as a tool to solve his problems and trained him to use it."

Ramos regularly played "Call of Duty," a popular first-person shooter video game, and the release states that the weapon used by Ramos was featured in the most recent version of the game that he had been playing.

The lawsuit filed in Texas in the Uvalde state District Court against Daniel Defense states that the company uses Instagram and "Call of Duty" to "build a profile" on adolescent boys and target them with advertising so they will buy an AR-15 as soon as they turn 18.

Ramos began researching firearms on his phone and browsing Daniel Defense's website weeks after he downloaded the newest "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" game, according to the release.

The lawsuit filed in California against Activision and Meta states that other mass shooters have mentioned or played "Call of Duty," including the shooters of the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting in which 17 died in 2018, and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, where 26 died in 2012.

On Wednesday, 19 families of the Uvalde victims announced a lawsuit against the Texas Department of Public Safety and 92 named DPS troopers who responded to the scene of the Robb Elementary shooting. It contends that the officers received active shooter training but failed to follow national standards and best practices.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Parents of Uvalde shooting victims sue Meta, Activision, AR-15 maker