OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (WXYZ) — On November 30th last year, investigators say a 15-year-old student carried out a plot at Oxford High School, shooting eleven people.
Students Tate Myre, Madisyn Baldwin, Hana St. Juliana, and Justin Shilling lost their lives.
“It is one thing to talk about this problem in a general way and how to fix it. It is a whole other thing when you are in the room with a parent or a victim who was shot. And watch what they are going through,” said Karen McDonald, Oakland County Prosecutor.
Karen McDonald now has the heart-wrenching duty of bringing families justice and spoke to 7 Action News in an exclusive interview.
“As a mom and a member of our community I wanted to know why. How does this happen?” she said.
As McDonald sought answers, she says she has realized some justice needs to come outside the courtroom.
“The public doesn’t know anything about gun violence. We haven’t given them tools,” said McDonald.
One tool is knowing how to identify individuals in crisis and at risk of committing gun violence.
The United States Secret Service did a study on how to prevent violence at schools. It found students who seriously plotted shared intentions to attack, experienced mental health struggles, had significant interest in violence, most of the time access to guns and other weapons, and had experienced social or family trauma.
But then, once you identify someone in crisis, showing warning signs, what do you do?
“We do not ignore anything. We do not ignore anything,” said emphasized McDonald.
The State of Michigan has given students a tool to use to make sure incidents aren’t ignored. The OKAY2Say App allows anonymous tips about crimes, dangers, violence, and threats against children in schools. Studies show, if you are worried about someone’s safety or a school threat, if you see something and say something, you can save lives.
The app has been available since 2014 and shows what happens after violence in schools. In 2021, the app received 1,786 tips about school threats. A total of 1,686 were reported in December 2021, right after the tragedy at Oxford.
One mom says as investigators work to make sure they don’t ignore anything, it is important to remember the threats are sometimes false and come from children who don’t know how to properly process the complicated world around them. Her child was convicted outside of Oakland County for making a false threat against his school. She agreed to speak with 7 Action News via Zoom as long as we did not share her name to protect her family’s privacy.
“I was very shocked. I pretty much couldn’t fathom at the moment what was going on,” she said of learning about the allegations against her son.
She said she and her son had spoken about how it was inappropriate to make threats. She says he got in trouble because he made a joke online, that out of context appeared threatening. He was convicted of making a false threat. She says even if your child knows not to threaten, they may not understand the perceptions of all who may see something on social media, and this lack of understanding can lead to criminal consequences that impact the entire family.
“I can’t speak for all children. I just know my child and he didn’t think. That is how kids are. It is developmental. We want these kids to grow up so fast, but they are young,” the mom said.
She said she believes we need to prioritize helping children learn right and wrong without criminal charges when safely possible.
“How do you make sure we don’t criminalize kids who need help?” 7 Action News Reporter Kim Russell asked Prosecutor McDonald.
“Based on what is going on in the home, talking to teachers, talking to that child and looking at what is the basis of the threat,” she said.
Prosecutor McDonald says with those efforts, despite hundreds of threats, four children faced criminal charges for threats in 2021 and 42 so far in 2022 as threats increased over last year. Many more children got help through the juvenile justice system.
She says we all need to do more. She has created a commission to help create data-backed solutions, best practices, and programs. The goal is to have a response team that works in coordination with law enforcement to help individuals in crisis and prevent mass violence in schools and out of schools.
“Stop waiting for the next shooting. Stop being desensitized that we accept this as part of our society. I am never going to accept that this is part of our society,” said McDonald.
