Uvalde families sue makers of AR-15, ‘Call of Duty,’ Meta over mass shooting

(UVALDE, Texas.) — Families of the Uvalde victims have filed a lawsuit against Daniel Defense, the makers of the AR-15 assault rifle, and Activision, the publisher of the first-person shooter video game series “Call of Duty,” and Meta, the parent company of Instagram, over what they claim was their role in promoting the gun used in the shooting.

The suit alleges the companies partnered to market the weapon to underage boys in the games and on social media.

The lawsuit filed on Friday, marked two years since the shooting took place.

Salvador Ramos — the 18-year-old shooter who killed 19 students and two teachers and wounded 17 others — purchased the DDM4V7 rifle a week before the shooting, months after he began playing a version of the game and made several Instagram posts about weapons, Josh Koskoff, the attorney representing the families, alleged.

“This three-headed monster knowingly exposed him to the weapon, conditioned him to see it as a tool to solve his problems and trained him to use it,” Koskoff said in a statement.

Daniel Defense, Activision and Meta did not immediately comment to ABC News on the lawsuit.

Activision said in a statement to the New York Times that that “we express our deepest sympathies to the families” in Uvalde, but added that “millions of people around the world enjoy video games without turning to horrific acts.”

The suit contends the “Call of Duty” franchise contains realistic depictions of gun violence where “the weapons are authentic”

“They are designed to perfectly imitate their real-life counterparts in look, feel, recoil and accuracy,” the suit contends.

The attorneys added, “With Instagram’s blessing and assistance, purveyors of assault weapons can inundate teens with content that exalts lone gunmen, exploits tropes of sex and hypermasculinity and directs them where to buy their Call of Duty-tested weapon of choice.”

“According to one firearms marketing agency, ‘there are some major loopholes in … advertising regulations for Facebook and Instagram,’ allowing organic posts promoting firearms to infiltrate the platform,” the suit alleges.

The shooter, who was killed during the shooting by law enforcement, was “being courted through explicit, aggressive marketing,” on Instagram, the suit alleged.

He downloaded the 2019 game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare,” in November 2021, the suit claimed. He has been playing a mobile offshoot of the game since he was 15, according to the suit.

After he purchased the game, the shooter allegedly began “researching firearms on his phone and browsing Daniel Defense’s website,” according to the suit.

The shooter allegedly created an account on Daniel Defense’s website and put the DDM4 V7 in his cart, the lawsuit contends.

“The shooter became consumed with anticipation, compulsively googling how many days remained until his birthday on May 16,” the suit alleges.

Friday’s suit is the latest in the court criminal and civil court actions taken since the shooting.

This week, 19 families reached a settlement with the city of Uvalde. The city will pay out a total of $2 million from its insurance coverage.

As a part of the settlement, the families said they were involved in the efforts to improve the Uvalde Police Department. The settlement also mandates ways the city should support the community as residents heal, including creating a committee to design a permanent memorial funded by the city.

The families this week also announced lawsuits against 92 Texas Department of Public Safety officers. The lawsuit names the Uvalde School District and several of its employees as defendants, including the then-principal and then-school district police chief.

The families also plan to sue the federal government, their attorney said, noting that over 150 federal officers were at the school.

ABC News’ Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.