(WXYZ) — Parents of students at Oxford High School are expected to attend an emotional school board meeting more than a year and a half after a deadly mass shooting to demand more answers.
Tonight at 6:30 p.m. Oxford parents say they plan to take part in crucial public comment to question school board members about the 2021 shooting that led to deaths of four students, Hana St. Juliana, Tate Myre, Madisyn Baldwin, and Justin Shilling, and left seven others wounded.
"They dropped the ball man. They dropped the ball on every front," said Johnny Gjokaj.
Gjokaj says he still feels trust in the board is absent.
"You just kind of lose faith, as a parent when you become that helpless in a situation, it’s the most terrible thing in the world," he said.
While civil lawsuits have revealed some information and criminal prosecutions against the shooter and his parents have provided more facts, parents like Andrea Jones say they’ve yet to hear a full account from the district, and are disappointed some staff have declined to answer questions in an independent review that remains underway.
"This is the only investigation we are going to get. If your stance is you’ve done nothing wrong, then why not comply?” said Jones.
The shooter, just 15 years old at the time he admittedly brought a handgun and fired countless times, committing murder and an act of terrorism.
An attorney for the district told us by phone the school made the best possible decisions based on what they knew at the time, but parents say specific questions involving failures and the decision not to search the shooter’s backpack remain.
"Why they didn’t search the backpack is the biggest question at hand. So many red flags and leaks, that should have prompted that search," said Jones.
A presentation on the Guidepost Solutions independent report is expected tonight. The full report is expected to be released in the fall.
