Prosecutor reveals boy, 15, who shot four dead at Michigan high school had gun in his bag during meeting about his behavior with his parents and teachers just before the massacre and questions why he was allowed to go back to class
- Michigan gunman Ethan Crumbley likely had a weapon on him during a behavioral meeting with his parents, school officials hours before the rampage
- Crumbley, 15, killed four students at Oxford High School Tuesday in an ‘absolutely cold-hearted’ attack
- The first behavioral report from Monday came after ‘a teacher in the classroom where he was a student saw and heard something that she felt was disturbing
- On Tuesday – just hours before the shooting – ‘a different teacher saw some behavior that they felt was concerning, and they brought him down to an office
- There, Crumbley had a meeting with school officials, called in the parents, and ultimately it was determined that he could go back into class’
- Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said there was ‘very strong possibility’ that Crumbley had the weapon on him during that Tuesday meeting
- Police said that on eve of the killings, Crumbley recorded a video saying he was planning to launch an attack
- Four kids were killed: Justin Shilling, 17, Tate Myre, 16; Hana St Juliana, 14; and 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin
Michigan gunman Ethan Crumbley, who killed four students in a high school shooting, likely had a weapon on him during a behavioral meeting with his parents and school officials just hours before the rampage, a prosecutor said Thursday.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said there was ‘very strong possibility’ that Crumbley, 15, was carrying the weapon during that Tuesday meeting with his parents school officials earlier in the day and just prior the deadly rampage.
‘I think that it’s already been public that he did have the weapon. During COVID, they don’t use lockers, so they just have backpacks,’ McDonald told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Thursday.
Explaining the chain of events that freed Crumbley to allegedly kill moments later, McDonald added: ‘The event that caused the teacher concern and that had the school officials bring parents to school was — it’s hard to look at that, what was produced at that meeting, and everybody looked at, it’s very hard to look at that and say that there was no concern.
‘I think it’s already public that he did have the weapon. During COVID, they don’t use lockers, so they just have backpacks,’said Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, pictured
‘And unfortunately, he was allowed to get back to class. And we now know he had a weapon with him at that time. And that is simply tragic. And it’s my job to hold people accountable who violate the law. And that’s all I can say right now.’
Crumbley was charged as an adult on Wednesday with terrorism, murder and other counts in connection after killing four students at Oxford High School, north of Detroit, on Tuesday in a shooting described as ‘absolutely cold-hearted’ and ‘premeditated’ by law enforcement.
Now, authorities are looking into the hours and days leading into the 15-year-old’s deadly rampage, and found the first behavioral report from Monday after ‘a teacher in the classroom where he was a student saw and heard something that she felt was disturbing,’ Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard told CNN’s ‘New Day.’
On Tuesday – just hours before the shooting – ‘a different teacher in a different classroom saw some behavior that they felt was concerning, and they brought the child down to an office, had a meeting with school officials, called in the parents, and ultimately it was determined that he could go back into class,’ he added.
‘And they had a counseling session about it with school officials, and a phone call was left with the parents.’
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, pictured, told CNN that the school brought Crumbley down to an office, had a meeting with school officials, called in the parents
Now, both Jennifer and her husband James Crumbley face potential charges after a prosecutor said Thursday their actions went ‘far beyond negligence’ and that the gun used in the school shooting ‘seems to have been just freely available’ to the teenager.
The exact reason for those behavioral reports and meetings have not yet been released by authorities as of Friday.
Hours after that Tuesday behavioral meeting, authorities said Crumbley opened fire outside a school bathroom before moving through a hallway at a ‘methodical pace,’ according to prosecutors, shooting at students in hallways and classrooms before surrendering.
The tragic school shooting is the deadliest shooting at a US K-12 school since 2018, and the 32nd to occur on such a campus since August 1, CNN reported.
Meanwhile, police said that on the eve of the killings, the teen recorded a video saying he was planning to launch an attack at the school the next day. Crumbley is said to have echoed similar sentiments in a journal found in his backpack.
The video was not posted online and there was no advance warning, according to Sheriff Bouchard. It was discovered after the shooting.
Pictured: Jennifer Crumbley, James Crumbley parents of Ethan Crumbley, who attended Tuesday’s behavioral meeting with their son just hours before he shot four students to death
His motive remains unclear. Initially, other students at the school said he was being bullied but the police, his older brother and prosecutors say there is no evidence of that.
Crumbley, according to McDonald, wanted to murder ‘as many students as he could’.
He shot his victims at close range, wounding them in the cheeks, jaws, shoulders and necks, after opening fire in the hallways of the school.
Yesterday, prosecutors described watching ‘horrific’ surveillance video footage of the shooting.
‘What’s depicted on that video, honestly, judge, I don’t have the words to describe how horrific that was,’ Assistant Prosecutor Marc Keast told a judge yesterday.
Keast said the video of the attack showed Crumbley enter a bathroom at the school with a backpack before he emerged with a gun.
‘At that point, he deliberately aimed the gun at students and began firing at students. After students started running he continued down the hallway pointing the gun and firing (at them) and firing in classrooms and at students who were unable to escape.
Ethan Crumbley, 15, is seen in his booking photo released by Oakland County sheriff’s office and wearing a heavy suicide-prevention vest at his arraignment hearing in Pontiac on Wednesday
On an Instagram account which has since been deleted, there are sinister horror-movie style faces, along with more recent posts of a 9mm Sig Sauer pistol and a paper target with bullet holes through it (left). It was not possible to independently verify the account but police said Crumbley ‘had been shooting with [the 9mm handgun] and posted pictures of a target and the weapon’
Justin Shilling, 17, (left) died in the hospital on Wednesday morning and Tate Myre (right) died in the school on Tuesday
Madisyn Baldwin, 17, (left) and Hana St Juliana, 14, (right) died in Tuesday’s shooting rampage at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit
Oxford High School gunman Ethan Crumbley, 15, is shown in custody on Wednesday at his Zoom arraignment. He is being charged as an adult with four counts of murder, one count of terrorism and 19 other charges
Crumbley’s father James, who owns the gun he used in the attack, and his mother Jennifer are pictured on Zoom attending the arraignment
‘He methodically and deliberately walked down a hallway, aiming the firearm at students and firing. After children started running away from the defendant, he continued down the hallway again at a deliberate and methodical pace, pointing and aiming inside classrooms and at students who hadn’t had the opportunity to escape,’ Crumbley has been charged with four counts of murder and one count of terrorism. He is being held as an adult.
Crumbley was summoned to a meeting with school teachers and his parents over his ‘behavior’ on Tuesday morning before returning to class.
Three hours later, he went into a bathroom and exited with a 9mm Sig Sauer pistol, opening fire in the hallways and shooting off at least 30 rounds, reloading with a fresh magazine as students fled.
‘It’s clear that he came out with the intent to kill people. He was shooting people at close range, oftentimes towards the head or chest,’ Bouchard said.
Four teens were killed, including Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin. Justin Shilling, 17, died in the hospital on Wednesday morning.
On an Instagram account that has since been deleted, there are sinister, horror-movie style faces, along with more recent posts of a 9mm Sig Sauer pistol and a paper target with bullet holes through it.
It was not possible to independently verify the account but police said Crumbley ‘had been shooting with [the 9mm handgun] and posted pictures of a target and the weapon.’
As cops revealed Crumbley’s ‘intent to kill’:
- The teen was arraigned in Pontiac Wednesday, sitting mute, masked and wearing a suicide prevention vest
- His parents and attorneys joined the hearing via Zoom call as Crumbley entered a ‘not guilty’ plea
- Crumbley’s older brother Eli, 18, told DailyMail.com he cannot fathom how his sibling could have snapped;
- ‘The Ethan I knew was just a smart boy who just seemed like an average kid,’ Eli said. ‘There was nothing that ever stood out to me…He woke up happy, went to school, came home and played games’;
- A high school senior described how his terrified classmates barricaded their door with chairs and desks;
Ethan Crumbley posted on Instagram four days before Tuesday’s attack to show off his father’s new Sig Sauer 9mm handgun, pretending it was his. ‘Just got my new beauty today. SIG Sauer 9MM. Ask any questions I will answer,’ he wrote in a post last week on an Instagram account that has now been deleted.
Other kids at the school say Crumbley, shown in a picture taken a few years ago, was being bullied at the school. Crumbley is shown, right, in 2017 profile about a school project
Police removed multiple long barreled guns from the Michigan school shooter’s parents’ house in Oxford, Michigan, last night. The teen used a 9mm semi automatic to carry out the attack
The Crumbley home in Oxford, Michigan, on Wednesday morning after police searched it through the night
A basketball hoop outside the home where Ethan lives with his parents. No other kids are believed to be living in the home
The school remains roped off to the public. The shooting unfolded at 12.50pm yesterday
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Nothing ever seemed off.’ Ethan Crumbley’s older brother, 18, says the school shooting suspect, 15, was an ‘average, happy kid’, got good grades, was into Minecraft and WASN’T bullied as a child
Speaking exclusively with DailyMail.com, Eli Crumbley, 18, said he can’t understand how his own sibling could suddenly snap, open fire, and kill his classmates, following the deadly rampage in Oxford, Michigan on Tuesday.
‘The Ethan I knew was just a smart boy who just seemed like an average kid,’ he said in an interview on Wednesday. ‘There was nothing that ever stood out to me. He’d never get suspended from school, or detention.
‘He didn’t suffer depression or anything like that. He woke up happy, went to school, came home and played games.’
Eli and Ethan, 15, have the same father, but different mothers. Originally from Florida, the two boys later moved to Michigan with their dad James Crumbley and his second wife, Ethan’s mom, Jennifer.
Eli, 18, (left) and Ethan, 15, (right) have the same father, but different mothers. The two boys grew up in Florida but later moved to Michigan with their dad James Crumbley and his second wife, Ethan’s mom, Jennifer
The older brother hinted at some family turmoil that prompted him to abruptly move out last March, to live with his biological mother in Florida where he grew up.
‘It mostly had to do with the relationship between my stepmother and I,’ Eli said. He wouldn’t elaborate other than to say: ‘It wasn’t as great as it could be. Moving back to Florida was the best option for me.
Ethan remained living with his parents in a small home in Oxford, less than two miles from where he opened fire.
Eli said he hadn’t spoken with Ethan or his father in two months but reached out to his dad Tuesday night only after hearing the news of a mass shooting at Oxford High School.
‘I was worried, I wanted to see if Ethan was okay because I knew he went there,’ said Eli, who also attended the school for a year. ‘And then that’s when I was receiving information otherwise.’
Unable to reach his dad, the 18-year-old called a former employer who told him that his old house in Oxford was surrounded by FBI agents.
He then learned that his own father bought the gun that Ethan used.
‘I didn’t know he had a gun till after this happened,’ he said. ‘It’s still hard to believe,’ he said. ‘I can’t believe it.’
‘As far as I knew, Ethan was always good,’ Eli added. ‘He was just quiet, kept to himself, kept his circle of friends small. He was a clean kid, didn’t smoke or do drugs, nothing.’
‘And he got good grades,’ Eli said. ‘He wanted to be an archaeologist.’
‘When I was living there, nothing seemed off, ‘ he continued. ‘We’d just walk to the bus stop in the morning, go to school, come home, maybe play some football outside or basketball. We’d just chill, wouldn’t do much.’
Ethan was on the bowling and soccer teams in middle school, he said, but didn’t play team sports in high school.
He said his brother’s biggest hobby was video games, which he’d play at night. His favorite was Minecraft.
Asked whether he knew of any other problems Ethan was experiencing, Eli noted that they had an aunt who died a couple months ago and that Ethan recently also lost his pet dog, Tank.
‘I really don’t know what his reasoning was behind this,’ Eli said.
He was surprised to hear that bullying may have been a factor. Ethan wasn’t ever bullied as a child, according to Eli.
‘I would like to talk to him,’ he said, ‘but I don’t think that’s something that’s going to happen for a while.’
At an arraignment in Pontiac, Michigan, on Wednesday Crumbley sat mute, masked and suited in a heavy suicide-prevention vest, while attorneys and his parents joined in by video conference.
The teen was charged as an adult because the crimes are ‘serious’ and the attack was premeditated.
He faces four counts of first-degree murder, one count of terrorism causing death, seven counts of assault with intent to murder and 12 counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Crumbley’s lawyer entered a ‘not guilty’ plea.
‘This was not just an impulsive act,’ said Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald earlier.
‘I am absolutely sure after reviewing the evidence that it isn’t even a close call. It was absolutely premeditated,’ she said.
‘Charging this person as an adult is necessary to achieve justice and protect the public.’
McDonald suggested she might also charge his parents, for not keeping the 9mm handgun that he used out of his reach.
The shooting spree was the deadliest on U.S. school property this year, according to Education Week. It was the latest in a decades-long string of deadly American school shootings.
Last night, officers were seen removing armfuls of long-barreled guns from the house. Most photos of Crumbley that remain online were taken at least three years ago, when he was 12.
Two of victims from yesterday’s shooting were older than 15-year-old Crumbley. The third was a year younger than him. It’s unclear if he knew any of his victims, or if they were killed at random.
Yesterday, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard revealed that Crumbley is not speaking with investigators at the juvenile facility where he is being held.
His parents James and Jennifer have hired him an attorney who has advised him to plead the fifth.
I’ve seen him around the school. He’s a kid, he’s been picked on and stuff like this and when a kid has been picked on, people bullying him, you’re going to get this.
‘You’re going to get this reaction,’ Treshan Bryant told ABC 7 outside the school.
Neither of the shooter’s parents have commented yet. His father, James, works for Autonomous Inc, an office software supply company.
He is understood to have purchased the weapon that his son used just four days ago.
‘He had been shooting with it and posted pictures of a target and the weapon. That’s all part of what’s being looked at.
‘We’re going to do a deep dive on the social media and all the activities of this young man,’ Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said during a Tuesday night press conference.
Deputies rushed to the school around 12:50 p.m. as more than 100 calls flooded 911 dispatchers with reports of a shooter. They arrested the gunman, 15, in a hallway within minutes of their arrival with the help of an on-scene school resource officer.
The sophomore student put his hands in the air as deputies approached, police said.
Cops recovered a 9mm Sig Sauer semi-automatic handgun, purchased by the gunman’s father on Friday.
Police said it was also not yet clear what the shooter’s motive was but that they were searching his social media accounts for clues after finding pictures of him shooting the handgun at a target.
Authorities were made aware of posts on social media that said there had been threats of a shooting at the roughly 1,700-student school, but Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said they did not know about the rumors until after the attack.
Another eight people were injured – seven students and one teacher, a 47-year-old woman who was treated and discharged, according to the sheriff’s office.
All seven wounded students remain hospitalized, some with life-threatening injuries. Police late Tuesday said four were in a critical condition including a 14-year-old girl who was fighting for her life on a ventilator following surgery for chest and neck wounds at Hurley Medical Center in Flint.
It comes as chilling footage emerged Tuesday of the suspect, a sophomore at the school whom police said was refusing to cooperate, trying to convince would-be victims that it was safe to emerge from hiding.
‘Sheriff’s office,’ the boy says. ‘You can come out.’
A senior at the school, Aiden Page, said his teacher locked the classroom, barricaded the door, covered the windows and instructed the students to hide after hearing two gunshots ring through the school.
‘We grabbed calculators, we grabbed scissors just in case the shooter got in and we had to attack them,’ Page told CNN, adding that one bullet had pierced a desk used to barricade the door. It was not clear if Page was in the classroom shown in the video.
The campus was placed on lockdown during the attack, with some children sheltering in locked classrooms. They were later taken to a nearby Meijer grocery store to be picked up by their parents. The district said in a statement that all of its schools would be closed for the rest of the week.
Bouchard said late Tuesday that investigators were still trying to determine a motive.
‘The person that’s got the most insight and the motive is not talking,’ Bouchard said at a news conference Tuesday evening. Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe said the suspect, who is being housed in Oakland County juvenile center under suicide watch, had demanded his right to a lawyer after being advised not to speak to investigators by his parents.
A gunman who shot four teenagers dead and injured eight others – including a teacher – tried to coax more students out of hiding by claiming he was a sheriff and announcing that it was safe to come out
Oxford High students stand holding candles during a vigil at Lake Pointe Community Church after Tuesday’s shooting
Allison Hepp, 15, holds a candle while leaning against her brother Benjamin Hepp, 17, as the two stand alongside their classmates during a prayer vigil after the Oxford High School school shootings
Emerson Miller, right, leans on her friend Joselyn’s shoulder as they listen to Jessi Holt, pastor at LakePoint Community Church, during a prayer vigil at the church after the Oxford High School school shooting
The latest in a long series of U.S. school shootings will again fuel debates about gun control and mental health care, with many states allowing easy access to firearms while mental health disorders frequently go untreated. Authorities said counseling would be offered to students, staff and deputies.
President Joe Biden responded to the shooting Tuesday afternoon, saying ‘my heart goes out to the families of all those in Oxford, Michigan, experiencing the unimaginable grief of losing a loved one.’
Tributes poured in for the three slain teens, along with prayers for them, the wounded and all of their families.
Members of the football community shared their praise for Tate, a junior listed at six feet and 195 pounds whose plays drew attention from college recruiters.
‘I covered #42 for his game this season VS Chippewa Valley, which he was a stud,’ wrote sports videographer Elijah Tiernan on Twitter. ‘Prayers out to the Oxford community during these tough times.’
A petition calling for the school’s football stadium to be renamed after the standout varsity running back and middle linebacker has already garnered more than 32,000 signatures.
In a heartbreaking Facebook post before her family learned that she had not survived, Madisyn’s grandmother pleaded for any information about the high school senior, who was scheduled to be in a psychology class when the shooting occurred.
Jennifer Graves Mosqueda wrote: ‘My granddaughter Madisyn Baldwin can not be located at all!!! Madisyn is 17 and a senior in this at Oxford High School.
‘Our family are out on foot trying to find her and bring her home safe. She is not answering her cell phone, or text messages.
‘She was not in her psychology class during the shootings. WHERE SHE WAS SCHEDULED TO BE. No contact with her mother, father, stepmother, grandparents, aunts, friends, or her boyfriend!’
She went on to implore people for information and asked parents to ask their children if they had seen Madisyn.
‘I never imagined the horror we witnessed today,’ wrote Oxford Police Chief Michael Solwold in a Facebook post.
‘I saw the fear and tears in our kids faces as they were escorted out by us to safety. Although our kids were in fear I heard many as they were running out with their hands up say, thank you. It took everything in my being to keep it together to go back down the hallways to help clear classrooms.’
‘There is not enough training in the world to prepare you for your emotions when it involves your children. Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and their families, the school staff and the first responders,’ he added.
At a vigil last night at LakePoint Community Church, Leeann Dersa choked back tears as she hugged friends and neighbors. Dersa has lived nearly all of her 73 years in Oxford. Her grandchildren attended the high school.
‘Scared us all something terrible. It’s awful,’ Dersa said of the shooting.
Pastor Jesse Holt said news of the shooting flooded in to him and his wife, including texts from some of the 20 to 25 students who are among the 400-member congregation.
‘Some were very scared, hiding under their desks and texting us, `We’re safe, we’re OK. We heard gunshots, but we’re OK.’ They were trying to calm us, at least that’s how it felt,’ he said.
Police late yesterday confirmed the ages and injuries sustained by the eight wounded victims.
Four students were in a critical condition. Among them, a 15-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to the head and a 14-year-old boy with gunshot wounds to the jaw and hand. Both were being treated at McLaren Hospital.
Two girls – aged 14 and 17 – were in critical condition being treated at Hurley Medical Center in Flint and St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Pontiac.
The 14-year-old was on a ventilator following surgery, police said.
Three students, two boys aged 15 and 17 and a girl aged 17, were listed as ‘expected to survive’ after being shot in the leg, hip and neck respectively.
A 47-year-old teacher was discharged from McLaren Lapeer after being shot in the shoulder.
A petition calling for the school’s football stadium to be renamed in honor of Tate Myer has already garnered more than 28,000 signatures
Students, parents, teachers, and community members gather for a vigil at the Lake Point Community Church following a shooting at Oxford High School on Tuesday in Oxford, Michigan. Three teens were killed and eight others wounded
Authorities did not immediately release the suspect’s name, but Undersheriff McCabe said deputies arrested him within minutes of arriving at the school in response to a flood of 911 calls about the attack.
He said the deputies also recovered a semi-automatic handgun and several magazines used to store ammunition that the suspect used in the attack.
‘He fired multiple shots,’ McCabe said. ‘Somewhere in the area of 15 to 20.’
McCabe said the suspect’s parents visited their son where he’s being held and advised him not to talk to investigators, as is his right. Police must seek permission from a juvenile suspect’s parents or guardian to speak with them, he added.
Police said the gunman’s father had purchased the gun but that it was not clear why. He the teen shooter posted pictures of him practicing shooting at a target.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald issued a statement yesterday evening saying her office expects to issue charges quickly and that an update would be given Wednesday.
McDonald promised swift justice, saying in a statement: ‘It is our intent to review it [the investigation] thoroughly and issue appropriate charges quickly. The suspect will remain in custody pending those charges.’
McCabe said he wasn’t aware of any prior run-ins the suspect had with law enforcement or if he had any disciplinary history at school.
Masses of stunned students, some crying and others huddled together, emerged from the school following the massacre.
‘It’s a very tragic situation, obviously,’ Undersheriff Mike McCabe said during a press conference. ‘You never want to prepare for something like this, but you have to, and the school district has done a wonderful job preparing.’
Oxford Community Schools superintendent Tim Throne had little to add at the scene, saying he wasn’t sure which students were shot and which one pulled the trigger.
‘You certainly can pray for our families here in Oxford and our students,’ he said. ‘I’m learning information in real time just as you are.
‘Of course, I’m shocked.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer also condemned the tragedy, saying the killings were ‘every parent’s worst nightmare.’
‘Gun violence is a public health crisis that claims lives every day. We have the tools to reduce gun violence in Michigan.’
Whitmer added that: ‘no one should be afraid to go to school, work, a house of worship, or even their own home.
‘This is a time for us to come together and help children feel safe at school.’
Parents walk away with their kids from the Meijer’s parking lot, where many students gathered following a deadly shooting
A woman is seen embracing a student at the Meijer store in Oxford, Michigan following the shooting that killed three students
A visibly-stunned woman hugs her child as they emerge from the Meijer store, which was being used as an emergency shelter for staff and students
Swarms of police officers swooped in and arrested the suspected gunman within five minutes
Isabel Flores told WJBK-TV that she and other students heard gunshots and saw another student bleeding from the face.
They then ran from the area through the rear of the school, said Flores, a 15-year-old ninth grader.
A man whose daughter attends Oxford High shared the text exchange they shared above as the shooting unfolded
Student Abbey Hodder, 15, told the Detroit Free Press she was in chemistry class when she heard the sound of glass breaking.
‘My teacher kind of ran out and was scrambling,’ Hodder said. ‘The next thing I knew I saw he was pushing tables. It’s part of school protocol to barricade, so we all knew, barricade, barricade down. And we all started pushing tables.’
Rick Alan, whose daughter Katelynn attends Oxford high, said he received a frightening text message as the chaos was unfolding.
‘Dad I love you,’ it said. ‘There is a shooter at our school and I love you so much and you are the best dad I could have ever asked for.’
She emerged from the school uninjured after sending the messages.
‘I pray that no one ever gets this text message from their child,’ her dad wrote on Facebook.
Senator Rosemary Bayer issued a statement shortly after the shooting, calling it ‘horrifying.’
‘The news of today’s school shooting at Oxford High school is simply horrifying,’ she tweeted. ‘On top of an already difficult situation with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, our students now have to face this traumatic situation in a place that is supposed to be a safe space for students and growth.’
A police road block restricts access to Oxford High School following the shooting
Eight people were injured in the shooting, and two were undergoing surgery
A concerned parent, Robin Redding, said her son, Treshan Bryant, is a 12th grader at the school but stayed home Tuesday. Redding said her son had heard threats that there could be a shooting.
‘This couldn’t be just random,’ she said.
Bryant said he texted several younger cousins in the morning and they said they didn’t want to go to school, and he got a bad feeling. He asked his mom if he could do his assignments online.
Bryant said he had heard vague threats ‘for a long time now’ about plans for a shooting.
School administrators posted two letters to parents on the school’s website this month, saying they were responding to rumors of a threat against the school following a bizarre vandalism incident.
According to a November 4 letter written by Principal Steve Wolf, someone threw a deer head into a courtyard from the school’s roof, painted several windows on the roof with red acrylic paint and used the same paint on concrete near the school building.
Without specifically referencing that incident, a second post on November 12 assured ‘there has been no threat to our building nor our students.’
‘We are aware of the numerous rumors that have been circulating throughout our building this week. We understand that has created some concern for students and parents,’ the administrators wrote. ‘Please know that we have reviewed every concern shared with us and investigated all information provided. Some rumors have evolved from an incident last week, while others do not appear to have any connection. Student interpretations of social media posts and false information have exacerbated the overall concern.’
Undersheriff McCabe said that authorities were aware of allegations circulating on social media that there had been threats of a shooting at the roughly 1,700-student school before Tuesday’s attack, but he cautioned against believing that narrative until investigators can look into it.
Both the sheriff and undersheriff emphasized that yesterday’s shooting was unrelated to the deer head or any earlier investigation by their office.
‘That was a different incident, different student,’ McCabe said.
Police said they arrested a 15-year-old boy, who was a sophomore at the school
Armed officers are seen at the scene of the deadly shooting, which left two students in surgery
Video footage from ClickOnDetroit shows a line of ambulances in the school’s parking lot and a medical ambulance grounded on the rooftop. A father on scene told Fox News that his son barricaded himself in a classroom when gunshots began ringing out. The dad said his child is safe.
Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan also issued a statement, expressing her own shock.
‘I am horrified by the shooting at Oxford High School today,’ she tweeted. ‘I’ve been talking with Oxford leaders, parents and students and we are all praying for the health of those injured, and the well-being of all our young people, many of whom are in shock.’
The shooting happened in Oxford, a town of about 22,000 people about 30 miles north of Detroit.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks at a news conference in Oxford Tuesday. She said gun violence is a public health crisis
Ambulances and medical crews are seen tending to the wounded following the shooting
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