LAPEER, Mich. – A segregated area of a Lapeer County prison went into lockdown Tuesday due to a fight between the Oxford High School shooter and a fellow teenage inmate.
On Tuesday, March 19, the now-17-year-old shooter got into a fight with another 17-year-old prisoner at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections. The fight broke out in the evening in the prison’s housing unit, reportedly triggering a lockdown in that particular unit.
Prison housing units are kept separate from the general population. It’s believed the shooter is lodged in a unit that’s specifically meant for juveniles, or those under 18 years old.
The shooter was taken to the hospital, evaluated, and then released back to the prison, officials said. It was unclear if either of the prisoners involved were injured at all.
MDOC did not say what led to the fight. Officials did say that no weapons were involved, and that prison staff were able to quickly break up the fight.
Both the shooter and the other prisoner, whose identity is not being shared, are on “limited movement” while their fight is under investigation. MDOC officials say an administrative law judge will be reviewing the case.
Possible punishments for the prisoners include restrictions to their cells and/or a loss of privileges, MDOC said.
Tuesday’s fight marks the second altercation that the shooter has been involved in since arriving at this prison last December. He was arrested at age 15 on Nov. 30, 2021, just after he murdered four students at Oxford High School. He remained at the Oakland County Jail until he was sentenced in December 2023, after which he was moved to the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer.
The shooter was ordered to stay in Lapper until he turns 18 years old, which happens at the end of April this year. Once he’s legally an adult, he can be moved to a permanent prison to carry out his sentence.
More than a year after pleading guilty to 24 felony charges -- including first-degree murder and terrorism -- the shooter was sentenced to life in prison without the chance for parole. It’s believed he and his attorneys are planning to appeal the sentence, if they haven’t started doing so already.
Both of the shooter’s parents were recently found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the four children murdered by their son. The mother and father are scheduled to be sentenced in April.
Despite the conviction of the shooter and his parents, families of those killed in the shooting continue to push for more accountability. The parents of the four victims recently called for the “immediate removal” of some Oxford school board members. They are also requesting an investigation into the district itself.
---> Conviction of Oxford shooter’s parents ‘just the beginning’ for parents of murdered students
Related: Oxford counselor, admin have proffer agreements with prosecutors: What that means