Oakland County sheriff calls for reform following Christmas Eve shooting
(CBS DETROIT) — As the Oxford community is still mourning after the Christmas Eve shooting that left one dead and others injured, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard addressed the media Monday to detail how the early release of dangerous felons from the system often leads to tragic consequences.
Just under a week after that tragic Christmas Eve shooting in Oxford, Bouchard said Monday that if the suspect, 29-year-old Malik Webb, had not been granted parole in July even after he had been charged seven times with weapon offenses and even once charged in prison with a weapons offense, this shooting would've never happened.
"People that have a violent history of committing a violent act or are carrying or using a weapon illegally need serious penalties. When you have an individual that has been charged seven times for weapon offenses on the street in possession of a gun illegally to murder someone on Christmas Eve, we have a problem," said Bouchard.
Bouchard mentioned that while he's in favor of other approaches with non-violent offenders of the law, violent people cannot have another chance to pose a threat to innocent civilians.
"When we release them should be related to when we're at a high degree of confidence that they're not going to hurt somebody else or their sentence has ended, but nothing other than that should be the consideration."
He also spoke about the random nature of this shooting and how it's especially sad and frustrating that it was a good Samaritan, 71-year-old Barbara Wolf, who lost her life, and of course that it took place in a community already devastated with a history of gun violence.
On Monday, Bouchard said Wolf's daughter has a long road ahead in the hospital, and a 56-year-old Oxford man who was shot in the arm has been released from the hospital.
