Families of Uvalde shooting victims sue Meta, video game company and gun manufacturer

Exactly two years after the massacre at Uvalde school, victims’ families Friday filed multiple state lawsuits in California and Texas against social media giant Meta, Activision — creator of the popular “Call of Duty” video game — and Daniel Defensemanufacturer of the AR-15 that the teenage shooter used in the shooting.

The wrongful death lawsuits come just two days after the same group of 19 families reached a $2 million settlement with the city of Uvalde during the May 24, 2022 Robb Elementary School massacre, that killed 19 students and two teachers.

One of the two lawsuits was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Activision and Meta – Instagram’s parent company. The second action, against Daniel Defense, was filed in the Uvalde District Court.

The lawsuits were filed by attorney Josh Koskoff, who also represents the same 19 families who were part of Wednesday’s $2 million settlement.

Friday’s lawsuits claim that Instagram, Activision and Daniel Defense have been “partnering… in a scheme that preys on insecure teenage boys,” the lawyers said in a press release.

The lawyers claim that Meta and Activision “enabled and encouraged firearm manufacturers’ efforts to expand the market for their weapons by granting unprecedented, direct, 24/7 access to children.”

The lawsuits allege that the shooter, on his 18th birthday, purchased the AR-15 used in the Uvalde shooting because “he was targeted and cultivated online by Instagram, Activision and Daniel Defense. 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,” Koskoff said in a statement.

According to the lawsuits, the Uvalde shooter downloaded “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” in November 2021 and had been playing previous versions of “Call of Duty” since he was 15 years old. The video game prominently features a model of the AR-15, known as the DDM4V7, that was used in the shooting, the lawsuits allege.

“Simultaneously, on Instagram, the shooter was being courted through explicit and aggressive marketing,” the lawyers said. “In addition to hundreds of images depicting and venerating the emotion of combat, Daniel Defense used Instagram to exalt the illegal and murderous use of its weapons.”

On April 27, 2022, lawyers say, the shooter created an account with Daniel Defense and added a DDM4V7 to his online cart. Then, on May 16, 2022, just 23 minutes after midnight on his 18th birthday, he bought the gun — just eight days before the Uvalde shooting.

In an interview with CBS News on Friday, Koskoff said the two lawsuits are “working together.”

“Instagram creates a connection between… a teenager… and the gun and a gun company,” Koskoff said. “And no one has explored Instagram more for this purpose than Daniel Defense. If Instagram can stop people from posting photos of their private parts, they can stop people from posting photos of an AR-15. they do not care. They only care about driving traffic and generating attention, getting attention and getting ad revenue.”

In a statement provided to CBS News, an Activision spokesperson said “the Uvalde shooting was horrific and heartbreaking in every way, and we express our deepest condolences to the families and communities who continue to be affected by this senseless act of violence. Millions of people around the world enjoy video games without resorting to horrible acts.”

CBS News also reached out to Meta and Daniel Defense for comment on the litigation.

The same group of families also said Wednesday that they are filing a $500 million federal lawsuit against nearly 100 state police officers who participated in authorities’ botched response to the shooting, along with former Robb Elementary School principal Mandy Gutierrez, and Pete Arredondo, the school. district police chief who was fired months after the shooting.

An extensive 575-page Justice Department report released in January determined that there were a series of “cascading failures” in the law enforcement response that day. The report states that 77 minutes passed from the time police arrived on scene to the time the suspect was confronted and killed.

– Lilia Luciano, Alex Sundby, Melissa Quinn and Andres Triay contributed to this report.