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Michigan AG offers to conduct review of Oxford school shooting

State attorney general says more charges are possible
Oxford High School
Posted at 9:34 AM, Dec 06, 2021
and last updated 2021-12-06 09:34:52-05

The investigation continues into the moments leading up to the deadly shooting at Oxford High School, nearly a week after the shooting left four students dead and seven other people injured.

Investigators are working on the criminal case against the suspect, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, and his parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley.

This morning, the suspect's parents wake up in the Oakland County Jail, the same facility where their son is being held. Also, Oakland County Sheriff's detectives plan to interview the artist who may be linked to the parents' disappearance following charges issued late last week.

They were arrested early Saturday in a commercial space linked to the arrest.

As for the shooting investigation itself, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel offers a third-party review of the moments before the attack.

There are still so many unanswered questions, and the AG's office is offering to conduct her review to examine the tragedy as a whole.

In an interview addressing the shooting, Nessel offered to use her team to investigate any civil liability and help identify any potential policies that are needed. That investigation would be separate from the sheriff's office's investigation.

"We've heard parents who have any questions about what exactly led up to the events on Nov. 30, and now we've seen the school district wants to hire a third party to conduct an investigation," she said.

Nessel also said she doesn't find it appropriate that the Oxford School District has hired a third party to look into the shooting.

"We've seen this happen before, and unfortunately, and I'm not accusing Oxford schools of anything, but in the past, we've seen this where it's more of an effort to protect the client who hired you than to get to the truth of the matter," Nessel said.

On Sunday morning, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said the outcome would have been different if the school had contacted his department to warn them about the suspect's behavior.

"Obviously, the investigation revealed there were discusses that happened with the shooter, the day before and the day of," he said. "Certainly, we wish we were brought into the loop. We have protocols that would have been triggered that we use and that we continue to use."

Bouchard said they would have searched his home the day before and taken any weapons out of the house.

"Then our protocol triggers follow on. We go to the home, and we do a search and determine access to weapons and credibility of the threat," he said.

Nessel won't rule out the possibility of more charges from her office based on what could be found in an external review.

So far, we've received no response from the Oxford School District on this.

Staff writers at WXYZ first reported this story.