Follow-Up: Pulse Nightclub Shooting

In this blog post, our Delray Beach personal injury lawyers will provide an update on a tragic personal injury issue we’ve blogged about in the past. The deadly and atrocious Pulse nightclub shooting. The Pulse shooting has been in the news as of late, and we will fill you in on the updates.

Pulse Nightclub Victims’ Families Sue Social Media Corporations

In June, you may recall that we wrote about possible issues of negligence in the Pulse nightclub shooting. Specifically, we queried whether victims of the horrible shooting and/or their loved ones might have a cause of action, based on negligence, against the security company for failing to properly outfit and equip its security guard, who was tasked with providing security for the Pulse nightclub. Of course, as we noted at the time, a security guard cannot be expected to stop every threat. Nevertheless, when lives are lost, investigating what could have been made safer is always warranted. Tragedy like this should bring about positive change. Perhaps we can learn how to better protect ourselves from these types of terrible events.

But recently, a different type of lawsuit has arisen from the shooting. Victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting, as our Delray Beach personal injury lawyers understand, have sued various social media websites for allegedly providing aid to ISIS, even if indirectly. (You will recall that the deranged Pulse nightclub shooter pledged his allegiance to the ISIS terrorist group during the horrific shooting.) According to CBS News, the families of three victims of the shooting have filed lawsuits against Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet (Google, and its subsidiary, YouTube), arguing that the shooter became radicalized through ISIS propaganda found on the various social media platforms. The suit claims that the social media companies should be doing more to remove the presence of these terrorist propaganda accounts and to detect “replacement” accounts created once a former account is deleted.

Do you think these lawsuits are valid? Without knowing too much more about them, it seems a bit of a stretch to make these types of allegations. Maybe when we hear more we will change our opinion. But, perhaps, tragedies like this can make social media change their ways. Maybe they can stop being a platform for ISIS type activities.

Recently, the FBI arrested the wife of the man who carried out the deadly terrorist attack in Orlando. She was charged with obstructing the investigation of the mass shooting, law enforcement officials said.  Noor Salman, whose husband, Omar Mateen, killed 49 people and wounded dozens in an Orlando nightclub, was also charged with aiding and abetting by providing material support, the officials said.

She was taken into custody by F.B.I. agents at her home outside San Francisco, where she had been living with her young son. Prosecutors had been weighing charges against her for months in the aftermath of the attack by her husband on June 12, 2016. Investigators interviewed Ms. Salman for hours after the attack and came to believe she was not telling the truth about her husband’s plans to carry out the rampage.

If you have any questions about this or any other personal injury-related issue, or if you or someone you love has been injured due to the negligence or wrongdoing of another, please contact our Delray Beach personal injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Aronberg & Aronberg. To schedule a free consultation with one of our personal injury lawyers, please contact us by calling 561-266-9191 or by e-mailing daronberg@build.simple.biz. We look forward to assisting you.

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