Mich. HS bigs could face raps
Prosecutor furious at "ignored' red flags
Michigan school officials could still be criminally charged for ignoring multiple red flags ahead of the deadly mass shooting at Oxford HS, the local prosecutor warned in a new interview.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald had already lashed out at how “angry” she was that Ethan Crumbley, 15, was allowed to remain in class before he allegedly killed four classmates in Oxford, Mich., on Nov. 30, the deadliest school shooting of the year.
Asked Monday on NBC’s “Today” show if it was “possible that school officials could face charges,” McDonald conceded, “It’s possible, yes.”
The warning came as Oxford Community Schools Superintendent Tim Throne said he ordered “a third-party investigation” into the school’s handling of what led up to the shooting to ensure “we leave no stone unturned.”
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel tweeted Sunday that her office had offered to lead the “full and comprehensive review.”
McDonald has already made the decision to charge Crumbley’s parents, James and Jennifer, with involuntary manslaughter in the case. On the Friday after Thanksgiving, the pair allegedly bought their son the 9 mm Sig Sauer handgun he allegedly used in the slayings days later.
The local prosecutor said the parents allowed the teen access to the weapon knowing he was exhibiting disturbing behavior. The school is also accused of being aware of enough troubling issues involving Ethan to demand that he should have been yanked from classes.
Meanwhile, a former neighbor of the family says she warned authorities years earlier about Ethan’s parents’ alleged neglect of him before last week’s slaughter.
Kayla LeMieux said she alerted child-abuse authorities that the pair would leave their son — then 8 or 9 years old — home alone while they went out bar-hopping, according to a report in the Detroit Free Press.
“When they were gone, he would come knock on our door,” LeMieux, 28, told the newspaper.
LeMieux said she notified child protective services but doesn’t know if they took action — claiming that the alleged neglect continued.
Additional reporting by Jorge Fitz-Gibbon