OXFORD, Mich. – The families from the Oxford High School shooting are demanding a new investigation into the actions of school officials prior to four students being killed and seven others being injured.
Hana St. Juliana, Justin Shilling, Madisyn Baldwin, and Tate Myre, were killed in the Oxford High School shooting on Nov. 30, 2021. A third-party report released in 2023 claimed the shooting could have been prevented.
The families of the victims of the Nov. 30, 2021 shooting held a press conference on Monday, Nov. 18, where they urged Michigan lawmakers to mandate and fund a new investigation into the events leading up to the shooting.
The full press conference can be watched in the video player above.
It has been almost three years to the day since the shooting and the families said they are nowhere near close to understanding what led up to the deadly shooting.
The prior report into the shooting allegedly lacked subpoena power and many school employees were advised by attorneys to not participate, which left crucial questions unanswered. The only government investigations regarding the shooting were into the shooter and his parents.
While the shooter and his parents have been sentenced, there has yet to have been a state-led investigation. They said a new investigation would reveal systemic failures that allowed the shooting to happen.
The message of Monday’s press conference was clear: If nothing is learned from the tragic shooting, it will happen again.
Buck Myer, the father of 16-year-old Tate Myer, has been vocal about wanting accountability and changes that could prevent another tragedy since the shooting nearly three years ago. Monday was no different.
“Not once have you asked the victims' families how they are doing, not once have you asked the kids who were at school that day how they are doing and what do they need. Not once,” said Myre. “You haven’t asked anybody any questions to evaluate yourself -- before, during or after. Not one question to see how good of a job you’re doing. If you’re not interested in preventing gun violence and you’re not interested in supporting the victims and communities after gun violence, why do you exist? Why are you here?”
The families believe that an investigation would reveal new information that could drive change.
“We really don’t care about the mechanics of exactly how this investigation gets done. Frankly, we’re tired of the back-and-forth of the government agencies saying, ‘Oh, you should have done this,’ or ‘You should do that, we don’t have authority.' We’re done with that,” said Steve St. Juliana, the father of 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana. “We don’t care. Get the job done. It has been three years of excuses.”
St. Juliana said gun violence in schools is a growing epidemic and pointed to the rise in shootings every year since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999.
“It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. This will happen again,” St. Juliana said. “Even if this can’t be prevented, if we can come up with countermeasures that at least limit the scope, limit the aftermath, then this will all be worth it.”
The families said that they’re hopeful that Oxford Community Schools having a new superintendent and new school board members would help drive a new investigation. They called on lawmakers across the state -- from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to Attorney General Dana Nessel -- to find out what happened before and after the shooting.
