(WWJ) – A revised lawsuit has revealed new allegations regarding what school officials knew in the days leading up to the deadly Oxford High School shooting.
The federal lawsuit brought by a group of students and Geoffrey Fieger's law firm has been revised to include new information about the alleged shooter, Ethan Crumbley, according to a report from the Detroit Free Press.
It says that Crumbley brought bullets to class the day before the shooting -- and that he wasn't just researching ammunition on his phone, like school officials had said, according to the Freep.
The lawsuit also alleges that Crumbley left a bird’s head in a jar filled with yellow liquid inside a school bathroom about three weeks before the shooting that claimed the lives of 14-year-old Hanna St. Juliana, 16-year-old Tate Myre, 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin and 17-year-old Justin Shilling, while six other students and a teacher were wounded.
The lawsuit claims school officials knew Crumbley brought the bird’s head to school, per the report, and told parents in an email that there was nothing to worry about.
Specifically, after that incident, an email went out to school parents that said “please know that we have reviewed every concern shared with us and investigated all information provided…[w]e want our parents and students to know that there has been no threat to our building nor our students."
Eventually the school’s principal sent another email to parents two weeks prior to the shooting that said “there is absolutely no threat at the HS,” noting that “large assumptions were made from a few social media posts, then the assumptions evolved into exaggerated rumors.”
The Free Press reports nearly a dozen new charges have been added to Fieger’s lawsuit. Nora Hanna, an attorney who works for Fieger, told the Free Press the new charges allege school officials “accelerated the teen’s ‘murderous rampage’” by not acting sooner.
“Given what they knew, the lawsuit states, school officials made the situation worse,” the story says.
Related
The lawsuit alleges the principal “excited Ethan Crumbley by pulling him out of class, warning him that Child Protective Services might be called, thereby encouraging Crumbley to accelerate his timetable for murder.”
Attorneys added that removing Crumbley from class in front of his peers and making him sit in the office for an extended amount of time the morning of the shooting “further escalated” his plan.
Crumbley has been charged with 24 counts in the Oxford High School shooting, including terrorism and murder. His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Last Friday Crumbley waived his right to a probable cause hearing at the Rochester Hills District Court, which is usually held to determine if a case will go to trial with evidence presented ahead of time.
Related
