SOUTHFIELD (WXYZ) — A judge is moving to dismiss federal claims families filed hoping to hold Oxford Community Schools accountable in the mass shooting in November 2021 that led to the deaths of four students and other injured.
Students Justin Shilling, Hana St. Juliana, Tate Myre and Madisyn Baldwin were killed after a fellow student opened fire.
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While the shooter was sentenced to life without parole in December 2023 and his parents were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison last April for involuntary manslaughter, families told me they are going further to push back on the federal court ruling.
“I wish that we could just move on and look at a decision that’s made by the court and say oh wow, we tried. But this is our lives. Our lives are forever changed. Four people are dead, four families are devastated, countless more people have been injured physically and mentally. We don’t get to move on,” said Linda Watson, a mom whose son was shot and survived the mass shooting.
Expressing her disappointment in the recent decision by a federal appeals court judge to dismiss civil lawsuits following the mass school shooting, Watson and other families not holding back.
“We were really hoping that we could make some gains in that area to prevent something like this from happening again,” Watson said.
Craig Shilling, who lost his son Justin, also responded to the court ruling obtained by 7 News Detroit.
“The school is the only entity that’s involved that hasn’t really been looked at,” Craig Shilling said.
In part of the filing, federal Judge Kelly Stephens wrote school counselors “displayed the opposite of callous indifference toward the risk they perceived.”
The filing also said the school’s action of summoning the shooter’s parents and insisting on counseling within 48 hours or intending to call Children’s Protective Services “excludes a finding that it was conscience shocking.”
The ruling essentially says staff did not abuse authority and infringe on students’ rights. That’s despite the fact that threatening drawings and online searches found to have been made by the shooter did not prompt counselors to search his backpack.
“It’s definitely a blow. It takes a lot out of you,” Craig Shilling said. “We’re working really hard trying to get this done, and it takes a lot out of you. We still haven’t even had the investigation, we haven’t even dove into the school, we haven’t really looked at all the aspects of what’s going on.”
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Appeals are still underway involving renewed filings in the state court. There, the defense also maintains school staff did nothing wrong and took steps to mitigate risk rather than increase it.
Families I’ve talked to for years are continuing to push back while both the shooter and his parents remain in prison.
“We’ve got to keep the pressure on the AG. We have to make sure that we get this investigation done. I feel the fact it was dismissed was because they don’t have all the information,” Craig Shilling said.
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“This case should be the case that is really in the mind of every school, every administration, every parent, when you think about school safety,” Watson said.
I also reached out to the school district Friday for a response, but they declined an interview. They instead referred us to the court ruling, saying it speaks for itself.
