Thursday 9 June 2022 05:58 PM Families of Oxford High shooting victims sue school district and teachers for ... trends now

Victims and families in a Michigan school shooting have sued the school district - saying failing to notify police of the killer's 'concerning behaviour'.

Four victims and two families of those killed in the Oxford school shooting on November 30 are suing the Oxford school district and school administrators in federal court.

They say killer Ethan Crumbley exhibited 'concerning behavior that indicated psychiatric distress, suicidal or homicidal tendencies and the possibility of child abuse and neglect'.

Crumbley was said to have been seen by a teacher to be looking at ammunition online and is alleged to have been seen by other students to have shell casings and live ammunition on the day before the shooting.

Crumbley also brought a severed bird's head to the high school and placed it in the boy's bathroom.

While this behaviour was reported by students, school administrators including the principal and district administrators allegedly concealed the information from staff and parents, according to the filings.

They say this inaction breached the constitutional rights of the children at school to be safe.

Tate Myre, 16, Madisyn Baldwin, 17, Hana St. Juliana, 14, and Justin Shilling, 17, died in the tragic shooting.

Kylie Ossege, 17, suffered a shoulder injury in the shooting but survived and is now suing the district and administrators of gross negligence and violation of the Michigan Child Protection Law.

Attorney Wolf Mueller said: 'It is clear after reviewing documents and seeing testimony in the preliminary Exam of Crumbley's parents, that the school administrators failed the students of Oxford High School.'

He added that the inaction of administrators made the tragedy 'predictable and preventable'.

The lawsuit names Superintendent Timothy Throne, principal Steven Wolf, dean of students Nicholas Ejak, student counselor Shawn Hopkins, Superintendent Kenneth Weaver and four teachers, including a teacher who caught the alleged shooter looking at ammunition for his gun online while in class.

The lawsuit states that school administrators sent an email on November 12 after reviewing threats and said there was no 'threat to our building nor our students' and principal Wolf said that they were 'merely exaggerated rumours'.

One teacher, Pam Parker Fine, is accused of violating the law by failing to contact child protective services in response to evidence that Crumbley was researching ammunition and that Crumbley's parents did not take her call.

The law requires teachers to contact the high school's liaison officer at the police when evidence of child neglect, child abuse and danger to others was presented.

Jacqueline Kubina, a teacher who also found Crumbley looking up ammunition in class, is also accused of violating the same law.

After teacher's allegedly found Crumbley's drawings of people with gunshot wounds, the lawsuit alleges that Ejak, the dean of students, and Hopkins, a student counselor, failed to search his backpack despite having grounds to do so.

The drawings reportedly came with the inscription: 'The thoughts won't stop. Help me.'

The shooting occurred after a meeting between Ejak and Hopkins and the Crumbley family in which the shooter's parents refused to take their child home and the lawsuit says the meeting 'deliberately' took place without a safety liaison officer present to search Crumbley's person. 

The lawsuit called the defendants' actions 'reckless' and put the lives of the victims 'at substantial risk of serious and immediate harm'.