OXFORD, Mich. (WXYZ) — Parents of the victims in the Oxford High School shooting are calling on the attorney general to investigate any potential wrongdoing on the part of the school.
Following guilty verdicts in the trials of Jennifer and James Crumbley, parents of the shooter, the victims' families are turning to holding school leaders accountable.
On Monday, the mother of Madisyn Baldwin joined the fathers of Tate Myre, Justin Shilling and Hana St. Juliana to speak with reporters. They say more than two years after the shooting, they do not have answers from school leaders on what went wrong the day of the shooting.
"We want a full investigation, so that we can get the full story of that day and drive change from it because we don’t know what to change if we don’t know the full story," said Buck Myre, father of Tate Myre. "Why can’t we look at this and say what can we do to get better, what could we have done before the shooting to prevent it."
The four parents pointed to a phone call made to the shooter's parents in the days leading up to the shooting in which a school administrator mentioned the shooter looking up bullets in class. They also mentioned the meeting between the school's dean of students, a school counselor, the shooterand his parents hours before he fired his first shot. The victims' families say there were clear systemic failures on behalf of the school.
"Oxford knew he had access to a gun, then now you throw in the saber test, which is a mental health evaluation, which he scored red on. So, you’ve got this Saber assessment, you know he had access to a gun, you’ve got his murder plan right in front of you. You can’t recognize that he’s at the top of the mountain in crisis? And they don’t have to answer to that," Buck Myre said."You had all the signs in the world and all the information in the world to search the backpack. So I’ve said it before. He didn’t walk into that school with guns blazing. He walked out of that counseling office with guns blazing."
The parents say their biggest roadblock to getting the answers they want is governmental immunity, which is a legal doctrine that prevents the school from being sued or held liable for injuries.
"There’s so many different things that they could be held accountable for and try to make that change but instead of making the change and hiding behind governmental immunity, you’re also creating excuses for who should be doing what in the school," said Nicole Beausoleil who is the mother of Madisyn Baldwin.
Nessel offered to conduct an investigation shortly after the 2021 incident, however the school district declined her offer. She went on to offer once more in May 2022, but her offer was again rejected.
There was a third-party investigation done, but parents say it didn't go far enough and could not conclude answers they wanted due to governmental immunity.
"The overall picture was never drawn clear enough to be able to call out the specific individuals involved and that’s what we’re trying to implement," said Craig Shilling, father of Justin.
In addition to accountability from school leaders, the families are now recommending the creation of a state agency focused on firearm violence prevention and state-wide task forces and commissions responsible for:
- Investigating the response to the shooting
- Developing the framework for fully-funded, mandatory statewide threat assessment policies and procedures that include the structure and resources to oversee and hold schools accountable for implementation
- Supporting legislation requiring independent investigations and after-action reports immediately following any mass shootings
- Reviewing and revising the terms of governmental immunity in the state of Michigan
"Our kids are gone and there’s nothing that’s going to bring them back. We’re here fighting for everybody else’s kids," said Steve St. Juliana, father of Hana.
The Oakland County Prosecutor's Office says based on the current facts of the case, there is no basis to criminally charge any school administrators. However, they are not immune to the possibility of charges.
7 Action News reached out to the attorney general's office for a response and received the following statement:
The Attorney General has offered earnestly and repeatedly to conduct an independent and thorough investigation, her initial offer to the School Board dating back to December of 2021. She offered again in May of 2022, and in both instances, her offer to conduct an investigation was soundly rejected by the School Board. We know now, based on other investigations and the School Board’s past statements and behavior, that they are unwilling to waive privilege and allow the investigation by this department.
Absent that, the Department of Attorney General is unable to launch a criminal investigation under its own authority without probable cause that a crime has been committed. To launch our own criminal investigation, we must secure court orders for search warrants, and those must be predicated, in this instance, on probable cause that the school committed illegal acts. To date, we have not been provided any information that would establish probable cause for search warrants, and are therefore unable to launch our own criminal investigation at present.
Similarly, the Department has no authority to launch a civil investigation into a school district. We have spoken with several legislators about potentially changing this, to provide specific authority to investigate school shootings. The Attorney General has criminal investigative authority in all 83 counties but no civil authority over school districts and their staff. When and where the Attorney General pursues civil investigations and actions it is authorized by specific legislation, such as our frequent work enforcing the Michigan Consumer Protection Act. In this civil regard we have no different authority than that of the Oakland County Prosecutor’s office, who did conduct a thorough criminal investigation that ultimately found no wrongdoing by the school district.
Attorney General Nessel has met with individual family members multiple times both in public and private settings, and on multiple occasions with the broader affected community. She has met with the families and students in her office, hosted two townhalls in Oxford, and put effort toward hearing all who wanted her ear during these lengthy events. We understand the families are hurting and are understandably upset, but this does not change the law. The law falls short of their wishes here, in that we do not have the authority to fulfil a civil investigation in this way, nor a criminal investigation absent probable cause of criminal activity.
She has heard the families, survivors, and victims, and will continue to listen to them. But this investigation request is not presently possible to fulfill.
Danny Wimmer
Spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office
