PONTIAC (WWJ) — More than two years after then-15-year-old Ethan Crumbley opened fire inside Oxford High School, killing four students, both of his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, have been convicted of involuntary manslaughter for their roles in the mass shooting.
In two separate trials, prosecutors proved both parents were grossly negligent and failed to take action that may have prevented the shooting that killed Madisyn Baldwin, Justin Shilling, Tate Myre and Hana St. Juliana.
Now, the parents of the four victims are shifting their focus and re-asserting their call for accountability on the part of the Oxford School District, which they say has been “uncooperative.”
Buck Myre, father of shooting victim Tate Myre, said Oxford School administrators continue to hide behind "governmental immunity" protections, which prevents the school from being sued or held liable for injuries.
“What we’ve witnessed over the last two and a half years is the government being able to hold people accountable, with holding all three in that family accountable,” Myre said. “And now, here we are… the school, which had the epic, epic failures, they get to walk away with basically no skin in the game.”
That’s why the families are calling on Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel to open a state investigation into the district, and in turn use any potential wrongdoings to help enact change.
"We want a full investigation, so that we can get the full story of that day and drive change from it because we don’t know what to change if we don’t know the full story," Myre said. "Why can’t we look at this and say, 'what can we do to get better, what could we have done before the shooting to prevent it?'"
Nessel’s press secretary replied to WWJ’s request for comment with the following statement:
“The Attorney General has offered earnestly and repeatedly to conduct an independent and thorough investigation, her initial offer to the School Board dating back to December of 2021. She offered again in May of 2022, and in both instances, her offer to conduct an investigation was soundly rejected by the School Board. We know now, based on other investigations and the School Board’s past statements and behavior, that they are unwilling to waive privilege and allow the investigation by this department.
Absent that, the Department of Attorney General is unable to launch a criminal investigation under its own authority without probable cause that a crime has been committed. To launch our own criminal investigation, we must secure court orders for search warrants, and those must be predicated, in this instance, on probable cause that the school committed illegal acts. To date, we have not been provided any information that would establish probable cause for search warrants, and are therefore unable to launch our own criminal investigation at present.
For more on the Attorney General’s personal insistence on providing such an investigation in 2021, please see her attributions in this contemporary article.
Similarly, the Department has no authority to launch a civil investigation into a school district. We have spoken with several legislators about potentially changing this, to provide specific authority to investigate school shootings. The Attorney General has criminal investigative authority in all 83 counties but no civil authority over school districts and their staff. When and where the Attorney General pursues civil investigations and actions it is authorized by specific legislation, such as our frequent work enforcing the Michigan Consumer Protection Act. In this civil regard we have no different authority than that of the Oakland County Prosecutor’s office, who did conduct a thorough criminal investigation that ultimately found no wrongdoing by the school district.
Attorney General Nessel has met with individual family members multiple times both in public and private settings, and on multiple occasions with the broader affected community. She has met with the families and students in her office, hosted two townhalls in Oxford, and put effort toward hearing all who wanted her ear during these lengthy events. We understand the families are hurting and are understandably upset, but this does not change the law. The law falls short of their wishes here, in that we do not have the authority to fulfill a civil investigation in this way, nor a criminal investigation absent probable cause of criminal activity.
She has heard the families, survivors, and victims, and will continue to listen to them. But this investigation request is not presently possible to fulfill.”