'Some Culpability': Oxford Schools May Face Lawsuit, Lawyer Says

OXFORD, MI — A Northville lawyer believes the Oxford School District will face a lawsuit for not preventing the deadly Nov. 30 shooting that killed four students and wounded seven other people at Oxford High School by accused gunman Ethan Crumbley.

Mike Kelly, a lawyer in Northville who specializes in representing students who face school expulsion, told Patch on Wednesday that the school administration had the ability and resources to do more, even when parents decline to remove a student from the school.

"The administration should have enlisted the school resource officer for assistance, or contacted CPS directly," Kelly said. "The school could have kept the student secluded from other students for the remainder of the day. Instead, the administration assumed the risk that Ethan Crumbley posed no risk of harm to himself or others by remaining in class."

Furthermore, Kelly said he believes the school's independent third-party investigation will "not satisfy" the concerns of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel or the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office.

So determining the success of any prospective civil lawsuit could take time, Kelly said.

"So it will likely be several weeks or months before we’ll know what the school knew, when they knew it, what steps were actually taken, and whether the administration could have done more," Kelly said.

Overall, Kelly told The New York Times "there is some culpability and responsibility here on the part of the school."

A law professor from George Washington University filed a criminal complaint against Oxford school officials, accusing them of "gross negligence homicide."

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald also criticized the school for the actions they took leading up to the deadly shooting.

"You can’t even in an airport mention anything that even remotely indicates that there might be some sort of violence on a plane," McDonald said, according to The Associated Press. "You’ll be immediately extracted. And yet we have a kid who is ... saying some pretty concerning things and he was allowed to go back to school, and neither parent mentions that he had access to a weapon."

Oxford Community School District Superintendent Tim Throne said in a short video that "no discipline was warranted" after a meeting between school officials and Crumbley and his parents, despite concerning behavior.

The school district declined Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's offer to lead an independent investigation into the actions that school officials took prior to the deadly shooting. The district opted for a private security firm instead.

Nessel said she was "extremely disappointed" that the school district declined her offer, but did say the office will conduct a review.

"What we can’t do is nothing. It’s not appropriate," Nessel told reporters, according to The Associated Press. "I really do think it’s incumbent upon the Michigan Department of Attorney General and the top law enforcement official in the state to conduct a further review."