Jury Awards Survivor of 2017 Plano Mass Shooting $85M

A jury awarded the lone survivor of a 2017 mass shooting in Plano more than $85 million dollars in damages.

Carly Shockey was at the home of Meredith Hight when Hight's estranged husband showed up during a football watch party and fatally shot Hight and seven other people, according to a medical examiner.

Shockey, who was 25 at the time, was shot in the face.

Responding police fatally shot the estranged husband, Spencer Hight. An autopsy revealed his blood alcohol content at the time of his death was .33, four times the legal limit.

A lawsuit, filed in March of 2018, accused Local Public House in Plano of negligence for serving alcohol to a Hight.

The suit alleges the gunman, Spencer Hight, went drinking at the bar twice the afternoon of the shooting.

During the first visit at 2:39 p.m., he ordered two gin and tonics, according to a recent Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission report.

Police believe Hight went back to his apartment and drank more before returning to the bar four hours later, at 6:38 p.m., and ordering a Miller Lite.
Minutes later, he ordered another Miller Lite along with a shot of lemon vodka, according to a bartender's initial account.

According to the TABC report, the bartender told investigators she then saw Hight with a knife and allegedly texted a co-worker: "Spencer has a big knife on the bar and is spinning it and just asked for his tab and said I have some dirty work to go do."
Shortly after, a bartender said Hight pulled out a pistol on the bar's patio, according to the report.

When a second bartender followed Hight to his car to put the pistol away, Hight reportedly "fell backward," so the bartender "propped Hight up," the report said. They returned to the patio where the second bartender pointed out to Hight how drunk he was. Hight's alleged response was that he "couldn't do the things I want to do tonight without being this intoxicated."

The report says the second bartender called a supervisor to ask if he should call police. The bartender told police he was told no.

It's believed Hight then drunkenly drove to his estranged wife's home and killed eight people.

The lawsuit filed by Shockey is against the private club, the private club owners and a bartender who was working at the time.

The private club has since shut down after having its liquor license revoked by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission in 2018.

It's unlikely Shockey will see much of the $85 million award since Hight is deceased and the private club is out of business.

A grand jury declined to indict one of the bartenders who served Hight at the private club back in 2019.

A second bartender was named in the lawsuit filed by Shockey, and was found to be 20% responsible for the injuries she sustained during the shooting.