Santa Fe High School shooting: Victims, survivors settle lawsuit with online ammunition seller

SANTA FE, Texas - Families of victims who died in the 2018 Santa Fe High School Shooting and survivors settled a lawsuit against the online companies that sold ammunition to the admitted shooter.

The settlement comes after the Texas Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Luckygunner in 2022.

The confessed shooter was 17 when he killed 10 people and wounded 13 others.

"Nothing will ever bring Sabika back," said Farah Naz, the mother of Sabika Aziz Sheikh, a 17-year-old foreign exchange student who was killed in the mass shooting. "But we hope that this agreement sends a message to other sellers of dangerous products: it’s your responsibility to prevent your products from ending up in the wrong hands."

FILE - Emergency crews gather in the parking lot of Santa Fe High School where at least eight people were killed on May 18, 2018, in Santa Fe, Texas. (DANIEL KRAMER/AFP via Getty Images)

"Sabika’s killer should never have been able to go online and buy ammunition with a few clicks," said Abdul Aziz, Sabika’s father. "I rest easier knowing that this settlement agreement will prevent future illegal sales."

"Age-verification for ammunition sales is a no-brainer, especially when the sale is conducted online," said Alla Lefkowitz, Senior Director of Affirmative Litigation at Everytown Law. "It simply should not be possible for a minor to go online and have ammunition shipped to their house, no questions asked. As we work to hold the gun industry accountable for its role in the gun violence epidemic, other online sellers should follow Luckygunner’s lead and implement age verification processes."

The lawsuit alleged that Luckygunner acted negligently and with willful blindness when it sold ammunition to the 17-year-old shooter, through two fully-automated transactions that took less than two minutes to complete. The lawsuit alleged that Luckygunner had intentionally set up an online sales system through which it would not know or verify the ages of its customers – even though federal law makes it illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase handgun ammunition (and 21 if the ammunition is bought from a licensed dealer). The lawsuit further alleged that a related company, Red Stag Fulfillment, LLC, shipped Luckygunner’s ammunition to the 17-year-old shooter without conducting any age-verification of its own, even though it knew that Luckygunner did not verify the age of its customers.

As part of the agreement, Luckygunner has agreed to maintain an age verification system at the point of sale for all ammunition sales. Under this system, anyone whose age cannot be verified or who is verified to be under 21, is refused a sale.

The remaining terms of the settlement are confidential.