Michigan high school shooter refuses to speak to police
Michigan cops remove ARMFULS of weapons from ‘bullied’ high school shooter’s home as it’s revealed he flaunted his dad’s new 9mm on Instagram before using it to kill three classmates
The Michigan high school shooter who killed three classmates and injured eight others yesterday at Oxford High School is now refusing to speak to police at the juvenile detention center where he is being held.
The 15-year-old suspect has not yet been named by police because he is a minor. It remains unclear if he will be charged as an adult or a juvenile but he is being held at Oakland County Children’s Village, where he is on suicide watch and being checked on every 15 minutes.
He is accused of opening fire at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan, on Tuesday afternoon, shooting dead Hana St. Juliana, 14, Tate Myre, 16, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17. Eight others were killed in the attack that he carried out with his father’s 9mm Sig Sauer semi-automatic handgun.
The father bought the weapon just four days ago and the shooter posted pictures of it on social media before Tuesday’s attack.
‘He had been shooting with it and posted pictures of a target and the weapon. That’s all part of what’s being looked at. We’re going to do a deep dive on the social media and all the activities of this young man,’ Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said during a Tuesday night press conference.
On Tuesday night, police were seen at the shooter’s family home removing what liked multiple, long-barreled guns.
Now, the teenage boy is refusing to speak with the authorities at the Oakland Juvenile Center and his parents have hired an attorney to represent him.
The teen’s motive remains unclear but some students at the school said he was being bullied.
‘I’ve seen him around the school. He’s a kid, he’s been picked on and stuff like this and when a kid has been picked on, people bullying him, you’re going to get this. You’re going to get this reaction,’ Treshan Bryant told ABC 7 outside the school.
Deputies rushed to the school around 12:50 p.m. as more than 100 calls flooded 911 dispatchers with reports of a shooter. They arrested the gunman, 15, in a hallway within minutes of their arrival with the help of an on-scene school resource officer. The sophomore student put his hands in the air as deputies approached, police said.
Cops recovered a 9mm Sig Sauer semi-automatic handgun, purchased by the gunman’s father on Friday. They later said the suspect had fired at least 12 rounds and had seven more rounds of ammunition when he surrendered. It is not yet clear where in the school the shooter started his rampage.
Police said it was also not yet clear what the shooter’s motive was but that they were searching his social media accounts for clues after finding pictures of him shooting the handgun at a target.
Authorities were made aware of posts on social media that said there had been threats of a shooting at the roughly 1,700-student school, but Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said they did not know about the rumors until after the attack.
Another eight people were injured – seven students and one teacher, a 47-year-old woman who was treated and discharged, according to the sheriff’s office.
All seven wounded students remain hospitalized, some with life-threatening injuries. Police late Tuesday said four were in a critical condition including a 14-year-old girl who was fighting for her life on a ventilator following surgery for chest and neck wounds at Hurley Medical Center in Flint.
It comes as chilling footage emerged Tuesday of the suspect, a sophomore at the school whom police said was refusing to cooperate, trying to convince would-be victims that it was safe to emerge from hiding.
‘Sheriff’s office,’ the boy says. ‘You can come out.’
Students exchange glances as one whispers ‘he said it’s safe to come out.’
But the teacher responds: ‘We’re not taking that risk. The gunman shouts back something inaudible before calling his classmate ‘bro’ and in that sickening moment, classmates began jumping out a window, realizing the self-professed cop was actually the shooter.
A senior at the school, Aiden Page, said his teacher locked the classroom, barricaded the door, covered the windows and instructed the students to hide after hearing two gunshots ring through the school.
‘We grabbed calculators, we grabbed scissors just in case the shooter got in and we had to attack them,’ Page told CNN, adding that one bullet had pierced a desk used to barricade the door. It was not clear if Page was in the classroom shown in the video.
The campus was placed on lockdown during the attack, with some children sheltering in locked classrooms. They were later taken to a nearby Meijer grocery store to be picked up by their parents. The district said in a statement that all of its schools would be closed for the rest of the week.
Bouchard said late Tuesday that investigators were still trying to determine a motive. The suspect has not been named because of his age, but could be identified if he is charged as an adult over the killings.
‘The person that’s got the most insight and the motive is not talking,’ Bouchard said at a news conference Tuesday evening. Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe said the suspect, who is being housed in Oakland County juvenile center under suicide watch, had demanded his right to a lawyer after being advised not to speak to investigators by his parents.
The latest in a long series of U.S. school shootings will again fuel debates about gun control and mental health care, with many states allowing easy access to firearms while mental health disorders frequently go untreated. Authorities said counseling would be offered to students, staff and deputies.
President Joe Biden responded to the shooting Tuesday afternoon, saying ‘my heart goes out to the families of all those in Oxford, Michigan, experiencing the unimaginable grief of losing a loved one.’
Tributes poured in for the three slain teens, along with prayers for them, the wounded and all of their families.
Members of the football community shared their praise for Tate, a junior listed at six feet and 195 pounds whose plays drew attention from college recruiters.
‘I covered #42 for his game this season VS Chippewa Valley, which he was a stud,’ wrote sports videographer Elijah Tiernan on Twitter. ‘Prayers out to the Oxford community during these tough times.’
A petition calling for the school’s football stadium to be renamed after the standout varsity running back and middle linebacker has already garnered more than 32,000 signatures.
In a heartbreaking Facebook post before her family learned that she had not survived, Madisyn’s grandmother pleaded for any information about the high school senior, who was scheduled to be in a psychology class when the shooting occurred.
Jennifer Graves Mosqueda wrote: ‘My granddaughter Madisyn Baldwin can not be located at all!!! Madisyn is 17 and a senior in this at Oxford High School.
‘Our family are out on foot trying to find her and bring her home safe. She is not answering her cell phone, or text messages.
‘She was not in her psychology class during the shootings. WHERE SHE WAS SCHEDULED TO BE. No contact with her mother, father, stepmother, grandparents, aunts, friends, or her boyfriend!’
She went on to implore people for information and asked parents to ask their children if they had seen Madisyn.
‘I never imagined the horror we witnessed today,’ wrote Oxford Police Chief Michael Solwold in a Facebook post.
‘I saw the fear and tears in our kids faces as they were escorted out by us to safety. Although our kids were in fear I heard many as they were running out with their hands up say, thank you. It took everything in my being to keep it together to go back down the hallways to help clear classrooms.’
‘There is not enough training in the world to prepare you for your emotions when it involves your children. Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and their families, the school staff and the first responders,’ he added.
At a vigil last night at LakePoint Community Church, Leeann Dersa choked back tears as she hugged friends and neighbors. Dersa has lived nearly all of her 73 years in Oxford. Her grandchildren attended the high school.
‘Scared us all something terrible. It’s awful,’ Dersa said of the shooting.
Pastor Jesse Holt said news of the shooting flooded in to him and his wife, including texts from some of the 20 to 25 students who are among the 400-member congregation.
‘Some were very scared, hiding under their desks and texting us, `We’re safe, we’re OK. We heard gunshots, but we’re OK.’ They were trying to calm us, at least that’s how it felt,’ he said.
Police late yesterday confirmed the ages and injuries sustained by the eight wounded victims.
Four students were in a critical condition. Among them, a 15-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to the head and a 14-year-old boy with gunshot wounds to the jaw and hand. Both were being treated at McLaren Hospital.
Two girls – aged 14 and 17 – were in critical condition being treated at Hurley Medical Center in Flint and St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Pontiac.
The 14-year-old was on a ventilator following surgery, police said.
Three students, two boys aged 15 and 17 and a girl aged 17, were listed as ‘expected to survive’ after being shot in the leg, hip and neck respectively.
A 47-year-old teacher was discharged from McLaren Lapeer after being shot in the shoulder.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
