The Department of Justice has reached a tentative agreement with the victims of a mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Tex.

The DOJ said Wednesday there was an “agreement in principle” with relatives and survivors of the November 2017 shooting, which left 26 people dead when a gunman opened fire on Sunday morning worshippers.

The U.S. government was found partly liable for the shooting in July 2021 because the Air Force did not submit Devin Patrick Kelley’s criminal history to the FBI’s background check system.

After the shooting, the Air Force admitted it had not submitted Kelley’s court-martial conviction for domestic assault to law enforcement databases, which might have stopped Kelley from buying the guns used in the shooting.

Kelley was court-martialed in 2012 for beating his wife and their child. He was demoted, given a bad conduct discharge and jailed for a year. Under federal law, Kelley’s bad conduct discharge should have prevented him from buying guns or ammunition.

After the shooting at First Baptist Church, Kelley was shot at by an armed local resident and fled the scene. He was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

“No words or amount of money can diminish the immense tragedy of the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs,” associate attorney general Vanita Gupta said. “Today’s announcement brings the litigation to a close, ending a painful chapter for the victims of this unthinkable crime.”

The tentative agreement must still be approved by U.S. attorney general Merrick Garland.

“These families fought for justice, endured and won two trials against the federal government and made this country safer as a result. But the settlement is not final,” Jamal Alsaffar, an attorney for the victims, said. “Attorney general Garland’s office still must approve it, and we urge his Justice Department to act quickly to bring some closure to these families. It’s the least they deserve.”

The Justice Department previously paid multimillion-dollar settlements to victims of mass shootings in Parkland, Fla. and Charleston, S.C.