FBI faces wrongful death lawsuit from 2017 school shooting.
The mother of one of the 2017 Aztec High School shooting victims is suing the federal government, claiming the FBI was negligent.
Court records show that attorneys for Jamie Lattin filed the lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court over the death of Lattin’s daughter, Casey Jordan Marquez, the Farmington Daily Times reports.
Marquez and classmate Francisco “Paco” Fernandez were killed shortly after school started Dec. 7, 2017.
The 21-year-old gunman, William Atchison, ambushed Fernandez in a bathroom and then encountered Marquez in the hallway. Both teens were shot multiple times before the gunman walked the hall, firing randomly. He then killed himself as students and teachers took cover in their classrooms.
The shooting prompted state lawmakers to allocate more money for infrastructure projects to improve school security, such as fencing and controlled entrances.
This is the second wrongful death lawsuit that Lattin has filed. The first was a Dec. 6 lawsuit accusing Aztec schools and police of negligence in Marquez’s death.
In the new lawsuit, the complaint alleges Marquez died of negligent acts and omissions by FBI employees.
The lawsuit recalls the March 2016 investigation conducted by FBI agents after the agency received a targeted threat against Aztec High School that the shooter made online.
According to the lawsuit, the agency received information that the shooter posted online, seeking advice on acquiring a cheap assault rifle to commit a mass shooting at Aztec High.
It was initially traced to the shooter’s brother, which led the FBI to interview the family.
“At the time of the interviews, [the shooter] had a significant online profile as someone who was obsessed with school shootings and glorified school shooters on alt-right websites,” according to the complaint.
The agents who interviewed the shooter concluded he was just “posting these comments in jest” and that he “enjoyed acting as an internet troll” and had no plans to obtain a firearm.
The lawsuit claims the investigation closed following that interview.