SAN ANTONIO — The parents of 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza, one of 19 children killed in the Uvalde school shooting, are demanding information from the maker of the AR-15 style gun used in the attack. This comes as a Uvalde teacher filed a petition seeking to hold the same company responsible.
19 children and two teachers were killed on May 24 when a gunman entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde and started shooting. Police say he was armed with an assault style rifle with high capacity magazines of ammunition.
In a petition against the company, Daniel Defense, which manufactured the gun used in the attack, Uvalde teacher Emilia Marin is seeking to investigate whether there is evidence to form the basis of an eventual claim.
The petition asks for information on company's marketing strategies, including ads posted on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. It also seeks information on whether the company provided funds to the NRA. See the full petition below:
The petition also says four Daniel Defense AR-15-style rifles were found in the hotel room of the 2017 Las Vegas shooter who killed more than 60 people and wounded more than 400 others.
In a separate action, the parents of Amerie Jo Garza issued a letter to Daniel Defense, demanding information from the company on its marketing. He has enlisted lawyers who previously worked on a historic settlement between the Sandy Hook shooting families and Remington, the maker of the AR-15 used in that 2021 school massacre.
“My purpose for being now is to honor Amerie Jo’s memory,” Amerie Jo's father, Alfred Garza III, said in a press release from his lawyers. “She would want to me to do everything I can so this will never happen again to any other child. I have to fight her fight.”
Charla Aldous, Texas Attorney from Aldous\Walker LLP says “We’ve done our own research on the company so far and based upon what we’ve seen, it looks like they have actually advertised this assault weapon, it literally is an assault weapon, to young men or young women, teens. Some of the ads even had children holding this rifle. We want to get behind it and see, you know, who they were in contact with, what their media strategy was so that we can determine to the extent we can how we can prevent this from happening again.”
KENS 5 has reached out to Daniel Defense for a comment, but has not received a response. However, the company posted the following statement on its website:
"We are deeply saddened by the recent tragic events in Texas. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and community devastated by this evil act.
As reported in Governor Abbott’s press conference, it is our understanding that the firearm used in the attack was manufactured by Daniel Defense. We will cooperate with all federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities in their investigations.
We will keep the families of the victims and the entire Uvalde community in our thoughts and our prayers."