'The incident changed my life forever' - victim in subway shooting sues gun maker

Record ID: 1675188

  • Title: 'The incident changed my life forever' - victim in subway shooting sues gun maker
  • Date: 1st June 2022
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK , UNITED STATES (JUNE 1, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SANFORD RUBENSTEIN, ATTORNEY FOR SUBWAY SHOOTING VICTIM ILENE STEUR, SAYING: "Unfortunately, she suffered horrific physical injuries, as well as psychological injuries, which will be with her for the rest of her life. She's under the care of physicians for her physical injury. She needs a second surgery. And she also is under the care of mental health professionals with regard to the psychological damage which has been done to her as a result of being an innocent victim on a train, shot."
  • Embargoed: 15th June 2022 20:27
  • Keywords: Frank James Glock Ilene Steur subway shooter
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions,United States
  • Reuters ID: LVA006215801062022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: VIDEO AS INCOMING
    A New York woman who was injured during the April 12 mass shooting aboard a New York City subway car has sued Glock Inc, arguing the gun manufacturer should have known its weapons could be purchased by people with criminal intent.
    Brooklyn resident Ilene Steur, 49, is seeking to have the Georgia-based company and its Austrian parent, Glock Ges.m.b.H, compensate her for physical injuries and emotional pain she suffered after she was shot on the northbound N train while on her way to work, according to the complaint.
    "She suffered horrific physical injuries, as well as psychological injuries, which will be with her for the rest of her life," said her attorney Sanford Rubenstein. "The consequences of the shooting have been horrible in terms of her physical injuries, as well as the mental stress and the psychological injuries she suffered as the result of a bullet entering her buttocks, fracturing her sacrum, causing her to need a colostomy bag. She's had one surgery. She may need another surgery. She has suffered horribly through no fault of her own. An innocent victim, a passenger on a train."
    Rubenstein issued Steur's statement:
    "The incident that took place on April 12, 2022, changed my life forever. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. I always see on the news about people, innocent people, getting shot, and my heart goes out to the victims and their families. I never thought I would be one of those victims. There has to be better control of who gets their hands on these guns."
    Her lawsuit comes after New York state in 2021 passed a law allowing people affected by gun violence to sue gunmakers for creating a "nuisance" that endangers public safety and health. Steur asked a judge to order Glock to "eradicate the effects" of its marketing practices.
    "We believe this law can be a model all over the country for states to enact if Congress and the president do not change the law as it is now, because this, we believe, creates a pathway for victims of gun violence to be successful when a manufacturer and distributor of guns engages in marketing efforts which are unreasonable and which create a public nuisance," Rubenstein said.
    New York police said Frank James used a Glock pistol he bought in Ohio to open fire after setting off two smoke bombs during the rush hour attack, injuring two dozen people, including ten who were shot. James, 62, pleaded not guilty.
    "The defendants' marketing and distribution practices made it far more likely that criminals, including Frank James, would obtain their weapons," Steur's lawyers wrote in a complaint filed on Tuesday (May 31) in Brooklyn federal court.
    "The surge of gun violence in our country must be brought to an end," Rubenstein said. "The lawsuit filed yesterday is an effort to hold accountable a gun manufacturer whose marketing strategies we allege results in guns being put in the hands of those who kill and maim innocent victims. Those who manufacture and distribute guns have a moral responsibility to work with government to end the epidemic of gun violence and mass killings in our country."
    Last week, a federal judge in Albany threw out a lawsuit by a group of gun manufacturers and others challenging the nuisance law's constitutionality.
    Glock did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
    The suit comes amid a renewed push to reform U.S. gun laws following a string of mass shootings, including the subway attack, a May 14 racist shooting in Buffalo, New York, that killed 10 people, and an elementary school shooting last week in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed.
    (Production: Roselle Chen)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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