Two civil lawsuits seeking a combined $200 million have been filed against the school district in Michigan where police say a student opened fire and killed four classmates last week, an attorney for one of the victims’ families said Thursday.
Geoffrey Fieger, an attorney for the family of two siblings who attended Oxford High School near Detroit, said the district’s superintendent and others are also named in the suits.
Riley Franz, 17, was shot in the neck during the attack while he was sitting next to his sister Bella.
The suits, filed in federal court, argue that the school district did not do enough to keep students safe.
They also argue that the district ignored multiple warning signs, including threats posted by the accused shooter, Ethan Crumbley, to social media. They accuse Oxford Principal Steven Wolf of downplaying the dangers to students in the days leading up to the attack.
Jennifer and James Crumbley, the parents of the accused shooter, face four criminal counts of manslaughter related to the Oxford High School shooting on November 30. Photo courtesy Oxford Co. Sheriff’s Office
Jennifer and James Crumbley, the parents of the accused Oxford High School shooter, face four criminal counts related to the November 30 attack, which killed four students. Photos courtesy Oakland Co. Sheriff’s Office
“The horror of November 30, 2021, was entirely preventable,” Fieger said, according to the Detroit News.
Crumbley, 15, was a sophomore at Oxford High School and injured seven other students in addition to the four killed. His parents have been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter.
The parents refused to take Crumbley out of school just hours before the attack, following a disciplinary meeting about concerns for his mental health — and prosecutors said they let him have free access to a handgun that the father had bought Crumbley for Christmas three days earlier.
Two unnamed counselors are listed as defendants in the civil suits.
Copyright 2021 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.
—-
This content is published through a licensing agreement with Acquire Media using its NewsEdge technology.
The kid is most responsible, parents next and it seems to me that the school wins third as a stupidity prize for letting that kid go back to class. Unfortunately all school district taxpayers will pay for this.
SUE the teachers and admnistrators AS INDIVIDUALS. Suing the school district itself, JUST MEANS ALL THOSE TAX PAYERS will foot the bill.