On November 30, a tragedy occurred at Oxford High School in Michigan. A 15-year-old sophomore, Ethan Crumbly, canvassed the hallways with 9mm SIG Sauer handgun. The deranged teenager shot and killed four students.
Crumbly wounded seven other people, including a teacher. It was horrific. However, what has unfolded during the days following the deadly shooting is equally disturbing. Evidence is surfacing that there were demonstrative red flags that should have been heeded as a warning.
Parents of the deceased students have filed at least two, multi-million dollar lawsuits. In light of possible negligence by school officials, lawyers for the plaintiffs allege school officials have failed to preserve critical evidence or destroyed it all together.
An acting attorney, Nora Hanna, chastised Oxford school officials for blatant misconduct. “Not only did defendants fail to take necessary steps to preserve the evidence, but they willfully destructed the evidence by deleting the web pages and social media accounts,” she said.
Siblings and parents of those who survived the shooting insist that posts and profiles have been deleted or hidden. They asked a U.S. District judge to order school officials to preserve all evidence and to further compel social media platforms to restore missing profiles and posts.
A lawyer for the Oxford school district admonished the requests as “disgusting lies.” Timothy Mullins insists that school officials are providing every piece of evidence and information that is requested of them.
However, the deeper investigators dig into this horrific tragedy, more evidence supports that it could have and should have been prevented. Legal experts anticipate that Oxford school officials could be trying to avoid culpability in the deaths.
If it can be proven this deadly incident could have been prevented, someone will certainly face consequences. Two such people already facing potential consequences for their role are Crumbly’s parents. They each face lengthy prison sentences if found guilty.
James and Jennifer Crumbly have each been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter. Beyond reports that both Crumbly parents were aware of the unstable mental state of their son; other reports are exposing how much Oxford school officials may have known.
The current lawsuits aim to expose that school officials were alerted prior to the shooting about worrisome social media posts by Crumbly. The lawsuit names the Oxford High School principal, the district superintendent, the dean of students, and at least two teachers.
Other than blatant denials asserting that evidence or information has been hidden or destroyed, the Oxford school district has not commented on the pending lawsuits. What Ethan Crumbly did, on November 30, was horrific.
However, if the tragedy could have been prevented, that makes a senselessly horrific event even worse. If true, someone must be held accountable for neglecting their solemn responsibility to keep the students at Oxford High School safe. They failed miserably.
