Sandy Hook families reach $73M settlement with gun maker Remington

CONNECTICUT - The families of nine victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting agreed to a lawsuit settlement of $73 million with gun maker Remington Tuesday.

A 20-year-old man used a Remington-made AR-15-style rifle to kill 20 first-graders and six educators in 2012.

The families and a survivor of the shooting sued Remington in 2015, saying the company should have never sold such a dangerous weapon to the public. They said their focus was on preventing future mass shootings.

Messages seeking comment were left with lawyers in the case Tuesday. 

At a news conference on Tuesday, Nicole Hockley, whose 6-year-old son, Dylan, was killed in the shooting, said nothing will bring him back. 

"My hope for this lawsuit is that by facing and finally being penalized for the impact of their work, gun companies along with the insurance and banking industries that enable them will be forced to make their practices safer than they've ever been," she said, "which will save lives and stop more shootings."

Get breaking news alerts in the free FOX5NY News app!  |  Sign up for FOX 5 email newsletters

Rachel D'Avino had just started working as a behavioral therapist at Sandy Hook when she was killed in the massacre. Her sister Hannah D'Avino also spoke to the news conference. 

"The medical examiner could not be certain if she was shot nine or 11 times due to ricochets and re-entry wounds. And this was only her second week of school at Sandy Hook School," D'Avino said. "This should not have happened and it should not happen to anybody else."

Joshua Koskoff, an attorney for the families, said he hopes gun companies are paying attention to this case.

"We hope the gun industry takes this under advisement," Koskoff said. "We hope they realize that they have skin into the game instead of blaming literally everybody else."

The civil court case in Connecticut focused on how the firearm used by the Newtown shooter — a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle — was marketed, alleging it targeted younger, at-risk males in marketing and product placement in violent video games. In one of Remington’s ads, it features the rifle against a plain backdrop and the phrase: "Consider Your Man Card Reissued."

Remington had argued there was no evidence to establish that its marketing had anything to do with the shooting.

The company also had said the lawsuit should have been dismissed because of a federal law that gives broad immunity to the gun industry. But the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Remington could be sued under state law over how it marketed the rife. The gun maker appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.

Gun control advocates, gun rights supporters, and gun manufacturers across the country have been following this case because it had the potential to provide a roadmap for victims of other mass shootings to circumvent the federal law and sue the makers of firearms.

Remington, one of the nation's oldest gun makers founded in 1816, filed for bankruptcy for a second time in 2020 and its assets were later sold off to several companies. The manufacturer was weighed down by lawsuits and retail sales restrictions following the school shooting.

In July, Remingon offered the nine families nearly $33 million to settle their lawsuit. Each would receive approximately $3.7 million.

RELATED: Remington offers Sandy Hook families $33 million to settle

Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old gunman in the Sandy Hook shooting, used the rifle made by Remington and legally owned by his mother to kill the children and educators on Dec. 14, 2012, after having killed his mother at their Newtown home. He then used a handgun to kill himself as police arrived.

Lanza’s severe and deteriorating mental health problems, his preoccupation with violence and access to his mother’s weapons "proved a recipe for mass murder," according to Connecticut's child advocate.

With The Associated Press.