Authorities say a 15-year-old sophomore opened fire at his Michigan high school, killing three students, one of whom was a 16-year-old kid who died in a deputy’s patrol car on his way to the hospital.
Eight more individuals were injured, some badly, including a 14-year-old girl who required a ventilator following surgery. Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said investigators were still trying to figure out what motivated the shooting at Oxford High School on Tuesday. Oxford is a community of about 22,000 people about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Detroit.
“The person with the most insight and motive isn’t talking,” he said late Tuesday at a news conference.
Around lunchtime, deputies rushed to the school after receiving more than 100 calls reporting a shooter. Within minutes of arriving, they had the student arrested in a hallway. He raised his arms in the air.
The 9 millimeter Sig Sauer used in the shooting was purchased by the boy’s father on Friday, according to Bouchard. Bouchard said he had no idea why the man bought the rifle, which his son had been photographing and practicing with.
The name of the youngster was not immediately released by authorities.
Tate Myre, 16 years old, Hana St. Juliana, 14 years old, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17 years old, were the three students killed. Myre died in a patrol car as a deputy sought to get him to an emergency room, according to Bouchard.
According to him, a teacher who had a graze wound to the shoulder has left the hospital, while seven kids ranging in age from 14 to 17 remained hospitalized with gunshot wounds throughout the night.
When the youngster surrendered, the gun he was carrying had seven more rounds of ammo in it, according to Bouchard.
According to Undersheriff Mike McCabe, the student’s parents instructed him not to speak with investigators. He went on to say that police must get permission from a juvenile’s parents or guardians before speaking with them.
Karen McDonald, the prosecutor for Oakland County, said in a statement that her office expects to file charges soon and that an update will be provided on Wednesday.
Authorities were made aware of social media posts claiming that the about 1,700-student school had been threatened with shooting, but Bouchard said they didn’t learn about the rumors until after the attack.
He emphasized the need of reporting such information to authorities, as well as the dangers of spreading rumors on social media before a full investigation is completed.
McCabe also dismissed the relevance of a deer skull being thrown from the school roof in early November, which he said was “completely unconnected” to the shooting. School authorities responded to the vandalism by posting two emails to parents on the school’s website, claiming that they were investigating claims of a threat against the school but had discovered none.
Bouchard said the student in detention had never been in trouble with his department before and that he was unaware of any disciplinary history at school.
“That’s part of our inquiry to figure out what transpired before this happened, and if certain indications were missed, how and why were they missed,” he said.
During the attack, the university was put on lockdown, with some students taking refuge in locked classrooms. They were eventually escorted to a nearby Meijer grocery shop so their parents could pick them up.
All of the district’s schools will be closed for the rest of the week, according to a statement.
WJBK-TV said that Isabel Flores, a 15-year-old ninth pupil, heard gunshots and witnessed another kid bleeding from the face. They immediately fled the area through the school’s back entrance, she said.
Robin Redding, a concerned parent, claimed her son, Treshan Bryant, is in the school’s 12th grade but remained home on Tuesday. Redding claimed that her son had heard threats of a shooting.
“This couldn’t possibly be random,” she reasoned.
Bryant said he got a horrible feeling when he texted numerous younger relatives in the morning and they claimed they didn’t want to go to school. He asked his mother whether he could complete his homework on the internet.
Bryant said he’d been hearing vague warnings about a shooting “for a long time now.”
Leeann Dersa held back tears as she hugged friends and neighbors at a vigil Tuesday night at LakePoint Community Church. Dersa has spent practically her whole 73-year life in Oxford. Her grandchildren went to high school there.
“Something dreadful scared us all. Dersa described the shooting as “terrible.”
Pastor Jesse Holt said that word of the massacre came into him and his wife, including texts from some of the 400-member congregation’s 20 to 25 students.
“Some were terrified, hiding beneath their desks and texting us, ‘We’re safe, we’re OK,'” says the narrator. We heard gunfire but are unharmed.’ “At least that’s how it felt like they were attempting to calm us down,” he explained.
