Feb. 14 (UPI) — The parents of a teenage girl who died in the Parkland, Fla., school shooting in 2018 have filed a new lawsuit against the federal government.
Andrew Pollack and Shara Kaplan, parents of Meadow Pollack, filed the complaint Wednesday in federal court in Florida. They accused the government of failing “to take any action whatsoever” to prevent the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The shooting killed 17 people, including 14 students and three teachers. Meadow Pollack was 17 at the time of her death.
“The FBI knew that Nikolas Cruz had the desire and capability to carry out a mass school shooting,” on or before the date of the shooting, the lawsuit states.
“The FBI had non-discretionary obligations, governed by established protocols, to handle and investigate tips concerning potential school shootings in a reasonable manner — at minimum not ignore the information entirely — and to act against Cruz to prevent him from committing the mass shooting that took the life of Meadow Pollack,” the document continued.
Meadow Pollack’s parents said that had the FBI investigated Cruz, he wouldn’t “have succeeded in carrying out his attack.”
The lawsuit seeks damages for wrongful death, and pain and suffering.
Andrew Pollack and Kaplan previously sued Scot Peterson, the former Broward County Sheriff deputy who failed to enter the school building during the shooting. A 33-year law enforcement veteran, Peterson resigned from his post after video emerged showing he never entered the building after the shooting started.
Peterson faces seven counts of child neglect, three counts of culpable negligence and one count of perjury after an investigation into the shooting.
Cruz faces 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder for the shooting. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. His trial will likely begin in the summer.
