The gunman who killed the children and the parents who gave them the guns are behind bars, but the families of the victims of the Oxford High School shooting say their fight for justice is far from over.
The victims' parents, along with members of the Oxford School Board, the town's police chief, the county attorney's office and other advocacy groups, met for the first time without lawyers to provide a complete account of the events leading up to Ethan Crumbley's November incident. demanded an investigation. On March 30, 2021, a school in Michigan was attacked, killing four students and injuring seven others, including a teacher.
“This is not about identifying people to prosecute, and that's what the attorney general continues to misunderstand about this case,” one member of the assembled group said at a press conference Monday. “That's part of the story, but the bigger part is promoting the opportunity to change the future…This is an opportunity to leverage the attack as a lesson learned.”
Parents say they are still in the dark about what could have been done leading up to that day, and are demanding accountability from the school district, staff and officials who they say shied away from responsibility for their role in the tragedy. Ta.
Michigan shooter Ethan Crumbley tells court: “I'm a really bad person'' and sentenced to life in prison
Ethan Crumbley answers “yes” to the charges against him during a pretrial hearing in Oakland County Court on October 24, 2022 in Pontiac, Michigan. (Clarence Tubb Jr./Detroit News, via AP, File)
The Oxford Community Schools Board released the results of a 590-page independent investigation carried out by Guidepost Solutions, but parents said only a third of those involved had cooperated.
“In certain key areas, individuals at all levels of the district…failed to provide a safe and secure environment,” the investigation concluded.
Guidepost wrote that school counselor Sean Hopkins and former dean of students Nicholas Ejac — “the two people most knowledgeable about the decision to allow the shooter to return to class” — refused to cooperate with the investigation. .
Of 143 current and former Oxford Community School employees, only 51 responded to interviews with the company. Guidepost asked the district to require its employees to participate, but it did not respond.
“How can we know what we don't know?” Steve St. Juliana said. Her 14-year-old daughter, Hannah St. Juliana, was killed in the shooting, as was Tate Mire, 16. Madisyn Baldwin, 17 years old. and Justin Schilling, 17 years old.
Jennifer and James Crumbley sentenced in their son's Michigan shooting case
James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, appear in court for a preliminary hearing. (AP Photo/Paul Sancia, File)
“What did the country do? [the Guidepost investigation]?Another parent said, “They don't even acknowledge it. There's already so much that needs to be changed, addressed, changed.”
The group wants the state of Michigan to conduct and fund the study and use subpoena power to force people who have previously refused to speak to speak now. .
Most of the information the victims' parents learned about the shooting came from James and Jennifer Crumbley, the first parents in the United States to be held criminally responsible for their child's school shooting. This is what I learned from the trial.
The Crumbleys were both found guilty of manslaughter and found responsible for the Michigan student's death, including for failing to properly store the gun their son had smuggled out of the house that day.
Prosecutors argued in both trials that the parents ignored signs that their son was depressed and needed help.
The Crumbleys revealed that their son had obtained a gun during an assembly at school the morning of the shooting, and after learning of the controversial drawings their son had drawn during the assembly, they brought their son home. Had they returned, they said, they could have prevented their son's actions. For math worksheets. The painting showed a bleeding corpse, a gun, and the words, “I can't stop thinking. Help me.”
Michigan shooter's mother retracts house arrest, says she is remorseful, demands sentencing for killer's parents
On November 30, 2021, student Ethan Crumbley opened fire at Oxford High School, killing four students and injuring seven others. (Scott Olson)
Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty to all charges and is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. He and his parents are appealing the verdict.
However, the parents of the victims claimed on Monday that the school was the fourth culprit in the massacre.
No government agency was involved in Guidepost's investigation or endorsed its findings. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has offered to reconsider school shootings three times. detroit free press However, the Oxford Education Board rejected her offer.
The Oakland County Prosecutor's Office, whose representatives attended Monday's meeting, granted confidential immunity agreements to multiple school officials, including Hopkins and Ejak, according to the Free Press.
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Nicole Beausoleil, the mother of Madisyn Baldwin, one of the four Oxford High School students killed by Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, was a member of the jury in the trial of Ethan Crumbley's father, James. Reacting to guilty verdicts on all four counts of manslaughter. Crumbly, March 14, 2024, in Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac, Michigan. (Bill Priano/Getty Images)
“Nation [has] “As long as you didn't pull the trigger yourself, you have basic immunity. They're covered, they have a union,” one speaker said Monday. “Colorado, after Columbine, has “We have changed the law so that immunity is not automatic.” . If there is gross negligence, you may be held liable. ”
Another parent said, “This is clearly an outbreak of infection. The question is not if it will happen, but when it will happen again.” “Even if you can't prevent it, if you can take measures… it's worth it.”
“We're obsessed with looking at tools instead of thinking, 'Why do people feel this way? Why do people feel this way and want to do bad things?'” is only looking at things related to guns. ”
