Officials select firm to review Oakland County's response to Oxford High School shooting
(CBS DETROIT) - Oakland County officials have tentatively selected Guidepost Solutions LLC to conduct an after-action review of the county's response to the deadly Oxford High School shooting.
Officials say the firm will work alongside other partners, including the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Team (ALERRT) Center and Threat Suppression Inc., more than three years after the Nov. 30, 2021, shooting left four students dead and six others and a teacher injured.
The county says the selection will become official after a negotiated contract is signed, according to a news release.
The findings will be available to the public in mid-2025.
"Oakland County unanimously supported funding for the Oxford High School shooting after-action report," Commission Chair David T. Woodward said in a statement. "These tragedies are something we hope to never encounter. But when they do occur, we have a duty and responsibility to review and evaluate our collective response. The goal is simple: learn and improve so we can make our community safer."
County officials say the review will examine the response by law enforcement, EMS, fire and emergency management, as well as pre-incident training, and offer recommendations to improve preparedness and response efforts for future incidents. Guidepost Solutions will also involve community input through town halls, listening sessions, and interviews with victims, families, first responders and other community members.
"We are committed to an open and thorough examination of the county's response to the tragic shootings at Oxford High School by law enforcement, emergency management and all county departments activated in the moments, days and months after the shootings three years ago," Oakland County Executive David Coulter said in a statement. "The Oxford families and extended community deserve this review and we must ensure we're employing best practices moving forward with emergency plans we hope we never have to use."
The firm was hired in 2022 by the Oxford Community Schools district board to review the district's response to the shooting. The 572-page report, released in October 2023, concluded that the shooter "was not identified as a threat because individuals at Oxford High School failed to recognize on November 30, 2021, that the Shooter's conduct, statements, and drawings suggested that he might cause physical harm at the school."
The shooter, Ethan Crumbley, is serving a life sentence for the deadly shooting. Earlier this year, his defense team filed a motion in an attempt to receive a new sentence.
The shooter's parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were convicted of involuntary manslaughter, becoming the first parents in the U.S. to be held responsible for a school shooting committed by their child. The Crumbleys have since received appellate attorneys. On Dec. 2, Jennifer Crumbley asked a judge to overturn her conviction in a new motion filed in Oakland County Circuit Court.
In November, the teacher injured in the shooting, Molly Darnell, filed a lawsuit against the district and several former school officials, alleging that the district and its administrators had a duty to protect district employees and students from foreseeable threats, including a mass shooting.
Darnell, who provided emotional testimony during the shooter's Miller Hearing in July 2023 as well as during Jennifer and James Crumbley's trials, was shot in the left shoulder and had to use her cardigan as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.
In recent weeks, parents of the four students killed, Justin Shilling, Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, and Hana St. Juliana, called for a state-wide investigation into the shooting. The Oakland County Prosecutor's Office has agreed to work with Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on the investigation.
Nessel's office said it was discussing with state lawmakers and the governor's office "to ensure the office has adequate resources for a comprehensive, timely review of the Oxford matter" and looked forward to working with the prosecutor's office and the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.
