OXFORD, Mich. (WWJ) -- The Oxford community is in mourning following Tuesday’s shooting at Oxford High School that left three students dead and eight other people, including a teacher, injured.
Hundreds and hundreds of people poured into churches for a number of vigils Tuesday night, including at LakePoint Community Church on Drahner Road, where people were pressed to the glass as others continued to stream in the building and cars lined up on Drahner as people came to mourn those who were lost.
As candles were lit, students, families and other community members shared hugs, shed tears and counted their blessings.
WWJ’s Zach Clark reported many people were “in a daze” as they come to terms with the tragedy that rocked their tight-knit community.
“Honestly, I can’t hold any of my thoughts,” Kelly Hale said.
Hale, whose son was inside the school at the time of the shooting, described the scene in the parking lot outside of Oxford High School as horrific -- like “something out of a fictional movie.”
But the scene at LakePoint Tuesday night was something far more peaceful, as the community came together.
“I’m just thankful that so many are gathering in the community,” she said. “We need to be unified, we need to love each other in order to heal from this. I’m thankful for my church for organizing this.”
While Oxford High School has an enrollment upwards of 1,800 students -- one of the larger schools in the state of Michigan -- many have long felt Oxford is a small, tight-knit community.
"Just about all of Oxford hurts," Pastor Jesse Holt said at LakePoint Community Church.
Holt asked students who were at the school Tuesday -- including one who was hit by gunfire and released from a hospital -- to stand as he prayed for them.
"Father, I pray that you would bless them in what they do. I pray for the next coming days that if there is anxiety, there are nightmares, there are difficulties that come from it, that you will give them peace as I have prayed," Holt said during the vigil.
Authorities say the shooter, a 15-year-old boy whose name has not been released, began firing a semiautomatic handgun around 12:51 p.m. Within a matter of five minutes, Oakland County Sheriff’s deputies took him into custody without incident.
Authorities released the names of the deceased students late Tuesday night: 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana, 16-year-old Tate Myre and 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin.
Of the eight others who were injured, three students were in critical condition, one was in serious condition and three were stable. A 47-year-old teacher was treated and released from a hospital.
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Owen Avey, a senior at the school, told WWJ it was a “frantic frenzy” as he and other students fled to safety.
“I wanted to go back and, like, help assure the pack that was behind me,” Avey recalled thinking as he was already outside the school “(I wanted to) go back to that group of people to reassure them that everything was going to be okay.”
Other vigils were held Tuesday night at St. Joseph Catholic Church in nearby Lake Orion and Kensington Church of Lake Orion.
Stay tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 for the latest details on this developing story. >>> LISTEN LIVE!
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