Michigan paying $13M after shooter drill terrified psychiatric hospital for kids
A judge has approved a $13 million settlement in a lawsuit over an unannounced active shooter drill at a Michigan psychiatric hospital for children.
DETROIT — A judge has approved a $13 million settlement in a lawsuit over an unannounced active shooter drill at a Michigan psychiatric hospital for children, an event that terrified kids and staff and caused them to scramble for cover, text family and urgently call 911.
Someone at the front desk declared through a speaker system that two armed men were inside the state-run Hawthorn Center in suburban Detroit and that shots were fired, attorney Robin Wagner said.
It wasn’t true, but the message on Dec. 21, 2022, set off a frenzy.
“It was horrifying,” Wagner said Tuesday.
“Everyone went into, ‘Oh my God. This is the worst day of my life,’ ” she said. “People were hiding under their desks. They were barricading the doors, trying to figure out how to protect the children.”
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