Midwest
Oxford families push for subpoenas 3 years after Ethan Crumbley killed 4 in school shooting
Although the gunman who killed their children and his parents who gave him the gun are behind bars, families of the Oxford High School shooting victims say their fight for justice is far from over.
Victims’ parents gathered for the first time without their attorneys alongside members of the Oxford Board of Education, the town’s chief of police, the county prosecutors office and other supportive parties to demand a full investigation into the events that led up to Ethan Crumbley’s Nov. 30, 2021 attack on the Michigan school that killed four students and injured seven others, including a teacher.
“This is not about identifying people to prosecute – that’s what the attorney general continues to get wrong on this,” one of the gathered group said at the Monday press conference. “While that is a part of the story, the bigger piece is to drive the chance to change the future… this is an opportunity to leverage the attack as a lesson learned.”
The parents say that they are still in the dark about what could have been done differently leading up to that day and want accountability from the school district, officials and staff who they say have escaped liability over their roles in the tragedy.
MICHIGAN SCHOOL SHOOTER ETHAN CRUMBLEY SENTENCED TO LIFE AFTER ADDRESSING COURT: ‘I AM A REALLY BAD PERSON’
Ethan Crumbley answers “yes” to charges against him during his pre-trial hearing at Oakland County Courthouse on Oct. 24, 2022 in Pontiac, Michigan. (Clarence Tabb Jr./Detroit News via AP, File)
Although the Oxford Community Schools Board published a 590-page independent investigation carried out by Guidepost Solutions, the parents said only a third of involved parties cooperated.
“In certain critical areas, individuals at every level of the district… failed to provide a safe and secure environment,” the investigation concluded.
School counselor Sean Hopkins and former Dean of Students Nicholas Ejak – “the two people with the most knowledge about the decision to allow the shooter to go back to class” – refused to cooperate with the investigation, Guidepost wrote.
Only 51 of 143 current or former Oxford Community Schools employees responded to the company for interviews. Guidepost asked the district to require employees to participate, but they did not do so.
“How do we know what we don’t know,” said Steve St. Juliana, whose 14-year-old daughter Hana St. Juliana died in the shooting, which also claimed the lives of Tate Myre, 16; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; and Justin Shilling, 17.
JENNIFER AND JAMES CRUMBLEY SENTENCED IN SON’S MICHIGAN SCHOOL SHOOTING
James and Jennifer Crumbley, parents of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, appear in court for a preliminary hearing. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
“What has the state done with [the Guidepost investigation]? They haven’t even acknowledged it,” another parent said. “There’s a lot already out there that needs to be turned into something, be turned into a countermeasure and turned into change.”
The group wants the state of Michigan to carry out and fund this investigation, and use subpoena power to force those who refused to talk before to do so now.
The majority of the information the victims’ parents have learned about the shooting came from the trials of James and Jennifer Crumbley, who became the first parents in the U.S. to be held criminally responsible for a mass school shooting carried out by their child.
Both Crumbleys were convicted of involuntary manslaughter, concluding that they were responsible for the deaths of the Michigan students because, among other things, they did not properly store the gun that their son snuck out of their house that day.
Prosecutors argued at both trials that the parents ignored indications that their son was depressed and crying out for help.
They said that the Crumbleys could have prevented their son’s actions if they had disclosed that their son had access to a gun during a meeting at school on the morning of the shooting and brought their son home after learning during that meeting of a troubled drawing he made on a math worksheet. The drawing depicted a bleeding body, a gun and the words, “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me.”
MICHIGAN SCHOOL SHOOTER’S MOM WANTS HOUSE ARREST, BACKTRACKS ON REGRETS AND KILLER’S PARENTS FACE SENTENCINGS
Four students were killed and seven others were injured on Nov. 30, 2021, when student Ethan Crumbley opened fire at Oxford High School. (Scott Olson)
Ethan Crumbley is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to all charges. He and his parents are appealing their sentences.
However, the victims’ parents on Monday insisted that the school was the fourth culprit in the massacre.
No government entity has weighed in on the Guidepost investigation or affirmed any of its findings; Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel offered three times to review the school shooting, the Detroit Free Press reported, but the Oxford School Board rejected her offers.
The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, which had representatives at Monday’s meeting, gave multiple school officials confidential immunity agreements, including Hopkins and Ejak, according to the Free Press.
Nicole Beausoleil, the mother of Madisyn Baldwin, one of four Oxford High School students who was killed by Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, reacts to the jury’s verdict of guilty on all four counts of involuntary manslaughter in the trial of Ethan Crumbley’s father, James Crumbley on March 14, 2024 at Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac, Michigan. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
“The state [has] basic immunity unless they’re the ones pulling the trigger themselves, they’re covered, they have a union,” one speaker said on Monday. “Colorado changed their law after Columbine that in cases about school violence, that that immunity was not automatic. If you were grossly negligent, you could be held accountable.”
“It’s quite clear, this is an epidemic that’s growing. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when this will happen again,” another parent said. “Even if it can’t be prevented, if we can come up with countermeasures… it’s all worth it.”
“We’re infatuated at looking at the tool instead of thinking ‘Why are people feeling this way? Why are people feeling this way, where they want to do evil things?’ We’re only looking at the gun stuff.”
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Detroit, MI
Police search for suspect, accomplice after teen injured in shooting outside Detroit school gym
The Detroit Police Department is searching for a suspect and an accomplice in connection with a shooting last week that injured a teen outside a school gym.
The shooting happened in the 3400 block of St. Aubin, the same area where the Detroit Edison Public School Academy’s Early College of Excellence is located. Police say that at about 8:27 p.m. on Feb. 27, there was an altercation inside the gym that continued outside.
Police say the suspect allegedly fired multiple shots at the victim, striking him. The teen was taken to a hospital for treatment. His current condition is unknown.
Police say the accomplice who was with the suspect was also armed.
Anyone with information is asked to call DPD’s seventh precinct at 313-596-5740, Crime Stoppers at 800-Speak Up or DetroitRewards.tv.
Milwaukee, WI
Milwaukee Common Council opposes We Energies’ data center rate plan
Aerial view of the Microsoft’s data center in Mount Pleasant
See an aerial view of the Microsoft’s data center in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin
The Milwaukee Common Council has called on state utility regulators to reject We Energies’ data center rate proposal in its current form.
The council unanimously adopted a resolution March 3 opposing We Energies’ proposal to create a separate energy rate for large-scale data centers, saying the plan does not go far enough to protect ratepayers.
At the same time, a group of council members led by District 14 Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic is drafting a six-month moratorium on data center development in the city of Milwaukee.
We Energies’ plan “is not a good deal for Milwaukeeans,” Dimitrijevic said during a Common Council meeting March 3.
We Energies’ proposal would create a separate energy rate for “very large” customers with an expected load of 500 megawatts or more. These very large customers, which include data center developers like Microsoft and Vantage, would pay for the massive amount of new infrastructure being built to serve them.
In October, We Energies filed plans to build more than $5 billion in new solar projects and natural gas plants to meet electricity demand brought by hyperscale data centers.
The utility says its rate plan protects customers from bearing costs associated with these projects, and hold data center companies responsible for costs through the life of the new assets.
“Our proposal is fair, transparent, and establishes strong safeguards — including binding agreements so data centers owners, not other customers, pay for the infrastructure they require,” We Energies spokesperson Brendan Conway said in a statement. “That means Wisconsin families are not subsidizing these projects.”
The resolution, introduced by Dimitrijevic, calls for stronger ratepayer protections, including binding service agreements that last the life of new infrastructure and include termination charges. It also wants the “very large” customer threshold lowered from 500 megawatts to prevent avoidance by data center companies.
In filings submitted to the Public Service Commission, We Energies said it would be willing to lower the threshold to 250 megawatts.
The resolution took particular issue with We Energies’ proposed cost split for the new natural gas plants. Under the current proposal, data center companies would pay for 75% of operating and maintenance, and other ratepayers would cover the remaining 25% as well as annual fuel costs.
We Energies says the plants will serve all customers as demand for energy is projected to rise across rate classes.
“If data centers never existed, we would’ve had to have built other plants, other power generation to meet our customers’ increasing need,” Conway previously told the Journal Sentinel.
The resolution said data center companies should pay “100% of all incremental and fixed costs required to serve them, including generation capacity, operations and maintenance, and fuel costs attributable to serving the data center load.”
Council members’ concerns echo those brought by environmental and consumer advocacy groups during a public hearing Feb. 10. The Public Service Commission will rule on the proposal by May 1.
This is not the first time the City of Milwaukee has weighed in on We Energies cases brought before the Public Service Commission. It’s intervened in opposition to previous energy rate hikes proposed by the utility, arguing they disproportionately burden thousands of low-income Milwaukee households.
In December, Dimitrijevic proposed a six-month moratorium on data center development in the city. The pause will give council members time to establish a regulatory framework for large-scale data center proposals, she told the Journal Sentinel.
“Sometimes the economy moves so quickly that we haven’t been able to catch up in licensing,” Dimitrijevic said. “We have to set up a careful way to regulate it and have public input.”
A group of aldermen want to require data center developers apply for a special use permit through the Milwaukee Zoning Appeals Board, a process they say creates more transparency. Should this pass, large data center proposals would be subject to public hearings, and the Zoning Appeals Board can reject a plan based on public health concerns.
The moratorium will receive a public hearing in the next few weeks.
This article was updated to include new information.
Francesca Pica can be reached at fpica@usatodayco.com.
Minneapolis, MN
Whitefish council creates proclamation in solidarity with city, citizens of Minneapolis
WHITEFISH, Mont. — The Whitefish City Council in February presented and signed a proclamation expressing solidarity with the city and citizens of Minneapolis.
The proclamation states that Whitefish mourns the loss of life that occurred in Minneapolis and stands in solidarity with its residents.
It reaffirms the city’s commitment to equal treatment under the law and emphasizes that peaceful protest is a fundamental American right.
The proclamation was supported by five of the six council members.
Mayor John Muhlfeld said the action was meant to reaffirm the city’s values.
“A mayoral proclamation that is supported by five of six City Council members supporting solidarity with the city and citizens of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and reaffirming our supportive, just, equal and welcoming community,” Muhlfeld said. “I think this is somewhat overdue. Our town’s been through a lot over the years, This is more importantly to reaffirm our values as a council with our community because we care deeply about you.”
Over the last year, Whitefish has faced criticism amid rising tensions surrounding the Department of Homeland Security.
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View the full proclamation below.
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