Oxford High School officials in Michigan had legal grounds to search 15-year-old suspect Ethan Crumbley’s backpack and locker prior to a shooting that left four students dead, but did not do so, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said on Monday.
McDonald answered affirmatively in an interview with CNN when asked if “the school had legal grounds to search his backpack in his locker.”
She said prosecutors didn’t know if the gun was in a bad Crumbley brought to the school, stating: “we don’t know exactly if that weapon was in his bag, where it was, we just know it was in the school and he had access to it.”
McDonald also said prosecutors haven’t “ruled out charging anyone” when asked if school officials might be prosecuted, CNN reported.
Criticism over the school’s alleged handling of Crumbley in the days leading up to the shooting have been voiced by parents of students and the public.
School officials contacted the Crumbleys twice — once the day before the shooting, regarding his search for ammunition during school hours and a second time the day of the shooting when they held a meeting with his parents over a disturbing drawing.
James and Jennifer Crumbley were told by officials to seek counseling for their son within 48 hours but McDonald said “he was returned to the classroom” and was not sent him home with his parents.
The two parents have now been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of the students.
Reiterating previous comments, McDonald added that she was not suggesting that parents should be criminally prosecuted for any bad act of a child. She said that in this specific case, however, “you can’t possibly look at their actions and say that they didn’t have reason to believe that there was real concern about a violent act.”
McDonald further said that the school shooting could have been avoided if “he [Ethan Crumbley] hadn’t had access” to a firearm or if one of his parents had expressed concern about his behavior, or had told school officials that they had bought Ethan Crumbley a gun for Christmas.
Ethan Crumbley is facing 24 charges in connection to allegedly killing four students and injuring seven other people at Oxford High School last Tuesday.