School officials unknowingly gave Michigan shooting suspect his backpack with gun and magazines, lawyer says
A high school counselor and a dean unknowingly gave a shooting suspect a backpack containing the pistol and magazines officials say he used to kill four people
A high school counselor and a dean unknowingly gave a shooting suspect a backpack containing the pistol and magazines officials say he used to kill four people and injure seven others in Oxford, Michigan, last year, a lawyer representing victims’ families said Thursday.
The exchange happened in the hours before the shooting, in a meeting at which the suspect, then 15, had been summoned after a math teacher found a notecard on his desk showing a gun, a bullet and several disturbing phrases, including “blood everywhere” and “the thoughts won’t stop,” lawyer Ven Johnson told reporters.
Details of the exchange came from depositions school officials provided after several families sued the Oxford Community School District in federal court last year.
The suit, which seeks $100 million in damages, accused the district of gross negligence and argued that the Nov. 30 shooting was “entirely preventable.”
During the meeting with counselor Shawn Hopkins and dean Nicholas Ejak, the student became "really worried" about missing chemistry class and asked for his homework and backpack, Johnson said.
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