Parkland shooting families sue county officials for alleged negligence

(CNN) — Families of victims are suing the Broward County school board, the sheriff’s office and others for alleged negligence associated with the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people.

Parents of five students killed or injured in the shooting announced they were filing lawsuits Wednesday morning in Florida state court.

Lisa Olson’s son, William, was shot and survived the massacre but she said he has struggled since.

“To our family and to our son, this lawsuit will bring some accountability to the table,” she said.

The lawsuit she and her husband filed also names a school resource officer, a security monitor, the shooter, the Henderson Behavioral Health Clinic where the shooter was treated, and the state department of children and families.

The lawsuit says the school board failed to take reasonable steps to provide proper security and says the sheriff’s department “negligently implemented and executed its policies and procedures” by not going immediately into the building where the shooting has happening.

More than a dozen other lawsuits on behalf of some survivors and victims’ families will be filed by the end of the week, attorneys said at a news conference.

A spokeswoman for the Broward County Sheriff’s Office said, “We make it a practice not to comment on pending litigation.”

The school district said it “does not comment on potential, pending or ongoing litigation,” according to Cathleen Brennan, a spokeswoman for Broward County schools.

In December, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by 15 survivors of the massacre, rejecting their argument that authorities’ failure to prevent the shooting violated their 14th Amendment rights to due process.

The students had sued a similar list of plaintiffs, alleging they failed to protect them.