The maker of the rifle used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting has offered some of the victims' families nearly $33 million to settle their lawsuit over how the company marketed the firearm to the public.
Lawyers for now-bankrupt Remington filed the offers late Tuesday in Waterbury Superior Court in Connecticut. The nine families suing the company, who are being offered nearly $3.7 million each, are considering the proposals, but their lawyers say they deserve much more. The attorneys estimated the wrongful death claims totaled more than $225 million, and if you add in punitive damages, more than $1 billion.
A Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle made by Remington was used to kill 20 first graders and six educators at the Newtown, Connecticut school on Dec. 14, 2012. The 20-year-old gunman killed his mother at their Newtown home before the massacre, then killed himself with a handgun as police arrived at the school.
Relatives of nine victims killed in the shooting say in their lawsuit that Remington should have never sold such a dangerous weapon to the public and allege it targeted younger, at-risk males in marketing and product placement in violent video games.
They say their focus is on preventing future mass shootings.
Remington, based in Madison, North Carolina, filed for bankruptcy last year for the second time in two years. Its assets were later sold off to several companies.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press.
