Newtown families split $1.5M from estate of gunman's mother

© The Washington Post FILE - In this Jan. 3, 2013, file photo, a bus traveling from Newtown, Conn., to Monroe stops near 26 angel signs posted along the roadside in Monroe, Conn., on the first day of classes for Sandy Hook Elementary School students since the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File) BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — The families of more than a dozen victims of the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, will split $1.5 million under settlements of lawsuits filed against the gunman's mother's estate.

A lawyer for several victims' families says the settlements were finalized Dec. 17 in documents filed in Bridgeport Superior Court.

The lawsuits said Nancy Lanza failed to properly secure her legally owned Bushmaster AR-15 rifle. Her son, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, used the rifle to kill 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012. He killed his mother before the school shooting and killed himself afterward.

The families of 16 people who were killed will split $1.5 million from Nancy Lanza's homeowner's insurance.

Victims' families also are suing the maker of the Bushmaster rifle.