OXFORD (WWJ) - The parent of a teen who died in the Oxford High School mass shooting almost one year ago is accusing the state of Michigan and the Michigan State Police for failing to follow up on "highly disturbing" reports leading up to the tragedy.
WWJ's Charlie Langton said Oxford parent Steve St. Juliana — whose 14-year-old daughter, Hana, was murdered along with three others inside the school on Nov. 30, 2021 — filed a notice with an intent to sue MSP on Sept. 22 with primary focus on the student safety program, OKAY2SAY, which allows students to confidentially report tips on potential harm.
"The attorney alleges in the filing that the State Police received various tips... yet theses tips were ignored by Michigan State Police, therefore creating some responsibility," WWJ legal analyst Charlie Langton reported. "They allege that had the Michigan State Police followed up on the OKAY2SAY, that the shooting at Oxford High School may have been prevented."
In the filing obtained by The Detroit News, the document goes on to allege Sate Police “rather than assess the risks and intervene as it had done in previous cases...turned its back on Hana and the other students and permitted the threats to become deadly.
“My daughter’s death could have been prevented if the State Police did what the law required. I want to bring this to light so that the Michigan State Police never miss such clear signs of a school shooting ever again," St. Juliana said.
Langton said the filing of the notice of intent to sue in the Michigan Court of Claims is the first step in filing a lawsuit; it would be one of several civil cases currently pending in Detroit U.S. District Court surrounding the tragedy last year where fellow Oxford High School student Ethan Crumbley, 16, shot and killed four students, including Hana St. Juliana, Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; and Justin Shilling, 17.
Crumbly also wounded six more students and a teacher -- he was 15 years old at the time.
Last month, Crumbly admitted to the killings in court, pleading guilty to 24 charges, including terrorism, and four counts of murder. Prosecutors said on Tuesday that they will seek a life sentence, with no chance for parole.
According to The Detroit News, Michigan State Police spokesperson Shanon Banner said the State Police did not receive any information related to the shooting, nor about Crumbley himself.
“We act promptly on all credible tips we receive, sharing information with school officials and law enforcement,” Banner continued via The Detroit News. “The violence carried out at Oxford High School is every parent’s worst nightmare, and our most sincere condolences go out to everyone who lost loved ones or was affected by this heinous crime. Out of respect for the families, we will not publicly dispute the allegations made in the Notice of Intent, except to say that OK2SAY did not receive any tips related to the violence carried out at Oxford High School or the individual who committed this crime.”
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As outlined in the filing, students and parents within Oxford Schools said there were numerous social media posts and concerning events that foreshadowed the mass shooting.
Pitt mentioned in the filing that the threats revolved around an Instagram post of a planned attack by a senior on Nov. 19 warning of a “countdown clock” at the school. The older student also allegedly put a decapitated deer’s head in the school courtyard, painted messages in red paint on school windows, and was suspected of spreading fear about occultism and devil worship, the Detroit News reported.
Officials sent home letters to parents and students earlier that same month, assuring them the threats were being looked into, but did not clarify if any of the incidents posed a threat to students and staff.
The senior high school student was suspended over the incidents and the case was investigated by the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, the filing added.
Piit and St. Juliana claim in court documents that the an uneasy atmosphere the threats created, although vague and anonymous, contributed to Crumbley's actions.
“I’ve seen pages of disturbing and shocking emails about a school under siege with threats of violence,” said Pitt in response. “I was unnerved when I read all of this and wondered why nothing was done to protect students from what was clearly an escalating situation.”
Featured on a marked-up math worksheet the same day as the school shooting are the phrases "My life is useless," "Blood everywhere," and "The thoughts won't stop, help me."
There are also sketches of a gun, a bullet, and a person who appears to be shot and bleeding.
The drawing is said to have been seen by a teacher, who reported it to school authorities. Crumbley and his parents were then called into the Oxford High School front office on the morning of Nov. 30, just several hours before the mass shooting took place that killed four students and wounded several others.
A second version of the drawing showed what appeared to be several modifications and additions to the paper.
The gun, the bullet and the bleeding victim have all been crossed out in the modified version, as well as the phrases "blood everywhere," "help me," and "my life is useless."
Instead, phrases like ”video game this is," "we're all friends here," "harmless act," "I love my life so much!!!!" and "OHS rocks!" have been added to the paper.
“I think he was in the middle of a situation which officials weren’t taking as seriously as they should have,” Pitt said in the court filing. “Instead of stepping up security — banning backpacks or having them searched or sent through metal detectors — they were more concerned with downplaying matters in emails to concerned parents. And local law enforcement agreed there was no perceived threat.
“He was given a license to take his gun to school because he knew school officials weren’t taking matters seriously,” Pitt added.
As reported by the Detroit News, Pitt wrote in the Court of Claims documents that “the dereliction of duty by the MSP ‘shocks the conscience’ because the risk of foreseeable harm was exceedingly high, the likelihood that the incidents of school violence unless abated by security measures would continue to escalate was almost a certainty. … the responses of OHS and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department was grossly inadequate and the MSP failure to follow up with the known and escalating reports of school violence as required by law was appalling based on the information available to MSP.”