The parents of two Oxford High School students are suing school officials, claiming last week’s fatal school shootings in Michigan were entirely preventable, and that the defendants created and increased the dangers then-existing at Oxford High School.
Jeffrey and Brandi Franz filed suit Thursday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on behalf of their daughters, Riley, 17, and Bella, 14. Those named are the Oxford Community School district, Superintendent Timothy Throne, Oxford High Principal Steven Wolf and Dean of Students Ryan Moore, two school counselors, two teachers and a staff member.
They further allege that the school teachers and counselors did not report Crumbley’s behavior to the school safety liaison officer and that Wolf, Moore, both counselors, one teacher and a staff member excluded the officer in meetings with Crumbley and his parents.
I have not heard a rational explanation from the school administration as to why that was not utilized, Geoffrey Fieger, an attorney representing the Franz family said Thursday afternoon at a news conference.
And as a result, by doing the things that they did or didn’t do, they placed the students in much greater danger than they would have been had they done that. The students would have been protected, and that is basically the essence in the federal complaint here.
Throne and Moore did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and CNN has been unable to reach Wolf. An email sent to an address provided for the school district’s spokesperson bounced back.
Crumbley is accused of killing four students and injuring six others and one teacher, opening fire November 30 inside the school with a 9mm handgun in the deadliest shooting at a US K-12 campus since 2018. Crumbley stood mute in court last week, a lack of plea that Michigan courts treat as a not guilty plea.
Riley Franz was among the injured students and was shot in the neck, according to the suit. Bella Franz was not shot but watched as her sister was shot, the suit says. Both girls claim, among other injuries, to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
On November 16 two weeks before the school shooting multiple concerned parents provided communications to Wolf with concerns about threats to students made on social media, the lawsuit alleges, without specifying the source of the alleged threats.
That same day, November 16, 2021, Wolf emailed parents indicating, ‘I know I’m being redundant here, but there is absolutely no threat at the HS … large assumptions were made from a few social media posts, then the assumptions evolved into exaggerated rumors, court documents say.
Crumbley’s parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges on Saturday. Prosecutors say they bought their son a firearm days before the shooting and gave him free access to the weapon, but a defense attorney rejected that assertion at the arraignment.
On the day of the shooting, when a teacher allegedly found a note depicting a wounded person, a gun and the words the thoughts won’t stop help me, neither counselors nor one of the teachers alerted the police or the school’s liaison officer, the suit alleges. At all times that day, after the note was discovered, the suit alleges that Crumbley was allowed to maintain possession of his backpack, which was never searched for a weapon.
I want you to know that, you know, there’s just a lot, there’s been a lot of talk about the student that was apprehended, Throne said in the message. That he was, you know, called up to the office and all that kind of stuff. No discipline was warranted.
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