Student kills 3, wounds 8 in Michigan high school shooting
A teen opened fire with a semiautomatic handgun at his suburban Detroit high school on Tuesday, killing three students and wounding eight people, Michigan authorities said.
The Oakland County sheriff’s office said the 15-year-old sophomore started shooting inside Oxford High School shortly after 12:51 p.m. At least one of the wounded was a teacher, Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe said.
The suspect was arrested at the scene and cops recovered the gun. The shooter fired between 15 and 20 rounds.
“Deputies confronted him, he had the weapon on him and deputies took him into custody,” McCabe said. “The whole thing lasted five minutes.”
McCabe said a deputy stationed at the school and one of the first deputies to arrive at the scene arrested the suspect.
The three students killed were a 16-yearold boy and two girls, ages 14 and 17, McCabe said. The undersheriff said two of the victims were undergoing surgery and the other six were in stable condition with “various gunshot wounds.”
No other information on the suspect, including a possible motive, was made available. McCabe said the suspect had asked for an attorney and did not speak to police after being taken into custody. The undersheriff said the suspect’s parents did not give permission for law enforcement to interview him.
Police will be looking through social media posts for additional evidence and hope to receive a search warrant for the suspect’s house soon, McCabe said.
Robin Redding, the mother of a senior at the school, had heard rumors of a shooting at the school before Tuesday. Treshan Bryant, her son, had also heard vague threats and did not attend classes on Tuesday.
“Kids just, like they’re just mad at each other at this school,” Redding said.
According to Fox 2 Detroit, the school district investigated social media rumors of a shooting earlier in November and found there were no threats to students or the building. An incident involving a severed deer head and graffiti found in a courtyard at the school was also reportedly investigated.
Police said that incident was unrelated and involved a different student.
After multiple police units, a SWAT team, a helicopter and several EMS vehicles responded to the school on Tuesday, police conducted a secondary search of the school for additional victims. McCabe said they were not looking for any other suspects.
“There were no other guns, no other shooters,” McCabe added. “As far as we know.”
McCabe said police knew how the student got the gun into the building, but are “not going to say [how] right now.”
McCabe said about 100 911 calls were made to report the shooting.
“I am horrified by the shooting at Oxford High School today,” U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat who represents the area, said in a statement. “I’ve been talking with Oxford leaders, parents and students and we are all praying for the health of those injured, and the well-being of all our young people, many of whom are in shock.”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called the shooting “every parent’s worst nightmare” at a news conference
“Gun violence is a public health crisis that claims lives every day. We have the tools to reduce gun violence in Michigan. This is a time for us to come together and help our children feel safe at school,” Whitmer said in an earlier statement.