Whitmer calls for $1 million in state money toward Oxford High School shooting investigation
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is proposing $1 million in state funding toward a review of a deadly November 2021 Oxford High School shooting.
Four students were killed in the shooting on Nov. 30, 2021: Madisyn Baldwin, Hana St. Juliana, Tate Myre and Justin Shilling.
Whitmer's office made the investigation funding request in a recently filed executive budget for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, a report that is required by state law. While the state budgets begin Oct. 1, the governor and lawmakers need to meet planning deadlines so that appropriation bills can be presented and signed.
The $1 million is listed as a one-time general fund allocation "to support a review," made under the attorney general's budget as a supplemental request for fiscal year 2025.
Supplemental budget items can be submitted at any time of year.
The request does not provide details about how that investment would assist in the investigation.
The idea of a state investigation over the Oxford shooting incident has been suggested and discussed as time goes on. Some think the attorney general's office could take on the role of looking at long-range prevention and solutions that the families have asked for, and the Oakland County prosecutor's office agreed in November to work with the Michigan Attorney General on the case.
A private, independent investigation by Guidepost Solutions was released in October 2023. But families of the shooting victims said that the report left "crucial questions unanswered."
The shooter, Ethan Crumbley, was sentenced in December 2023 to life without the possibility of parole, while his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were sentenced in April 2024 to 10-15 years in prison after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
James Crumbley and Jennifer Crumbley have since asked for new trials.
The video above previously aired on Dec. 1, 2024.
