OXFORD, Mich. – There’s a new lawsuit filed in the Oxford High School shooting, and this one is different because of who is involved in it.
The parents of a student who was shot are suing the district and the gun shop that sold the gun to the alleged shooter, officials say.
This is the seventh federal lawsuit filed against the district. But it is the first time we’ve seen the gun shop. They’re alleging several crimes, but it depends on whether the gun shop knew that James Crumbley intended to give the gun he was buying to his son, who was not legally allowed to own it.
Inside the newest lawsuit, Matthew and Mary Mueller, whose son was shot in the face and hand while trying to shield himself from gunfire, are suing the Oxford Community School District. Alleging the district ignored “Clear signals of impending gun violence” from the accused shooter. Their arguments are similar to other suits already in court.
But the lawsuit also names the gun shop where James Crumbley purchased the gun the shooter is accused of using to take four lives and injure more than a dozen others.
The Mueller’s, along with the Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence, is accusing Acme Shooting Goods of engaging in a straw purchase (When someone buys a gun with the intent to give it to someone who legally cannot have one). The lawsuit explicitly stated Acme “Negligently and/or unlawfully supplied the minor shooter despite actual and/or constructive knowledge that the father was engaged in an illicit straw purchase.”
In a statement today, the parents say, “While we will live with the horror of that day forever, he will live with the physical pain and trauma of being shot for the rest of his life. That pain was avoidable.”
Local 4 tried talking to the shop owner today but were immediately told to leave.
Local 4 also reached out to the district for a comment, but we could not get one back.
Officially the lawsuit accuses the gun shop of negligence, negligent entrustment, and public nuisance. They are asking for a jury trial.