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$18M settlement for Marysville school shooting victims has left some parents unhappy

UPDATE: An $18 million settlement in the lawsuit filed against the Marysville school district was announced Monday, July 31.

The lawsuit was filed against the school district over an October 2014 shooting at Marysville Pilchuck High School left five dead. Follow this link to read the Marysville settlement document.

But some parents were not happy with the settlement -- or the school district.

"Even when they were on lockdown, they were able to go from one classroom to another," Meka Jackson, who has a daughter that is going to attend the school.

Jackson said her daughter was at school when Jaylen Fryberg opened fire on his classmates and then turned the weapon on himself.

"There's no security at that school," Jackson said. "And then I have [a child] who's about to go to that school next year."

"I'm trying to move out of the area," she added. "I'm done."

Fryberg shot five classmates, only one of them survived the incident.

The five families involved settled the lawsuit together, essentially depleting the district's $20 million insurance policy for the year.

"They wanted to move on with their lives," Lincoln Beauregard said. Beauregard is one of three attorneys who worked on the case.

"They wanted to make sure there was a learning experience," he added. "And they didn't want to pursue anything that was other than insurance money to take away from the district."

"I don;t think the school district should have paid anything," Robin Dimick said. Dimick has a child that attends the school.

The school's superintendent said this does not mean the district did anything wrong.

A court must still approve the settlement, which could take four to six weeks.

ORIGINAL TEXT: MARYSVILLE, Wash. (AP) — The families of teenagers shot by a classmate at Marysville Pilchuck High School have filed a lawsuit seeking damages from the school district and the shooter's father.

The Daily Herald of Everett reports (http://bit.ly/22ocwvP ) that the lawsuit was filed against Marysville School District and Raymond Fryberg this week and claims that school officials could have prevented the shooting.

School officials say the lawsuit is misplacing blame.

Gia Soriano, Zoe Galasso and Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, all 14, and 15-year-old Andrew Fryberg were killed in October 2014 after Jaylen Fryberg invited them to sit with him at lunch. Wounded in the gunfire was 15-year-old Nate Hatch.

Jaylen Fryberg fatally shot himself after shooting the others.

Raymond Fryberg was convicted in September of six counts of unlawful possession of a firearm. His son used one of his weapons in the school shooting.

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Information from: The Daily Herald, http://www.heraldnet.com

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