Last week, the shooting at Oxford High School claimed the lives of four students and left several others injured. Now two lawsuits following the incident is being filed.
According to the Detroit News, on Thursday, lawyer Geoffrey Fieger announced that he filed one federal lawsuit on behalf of students and siblings Riley Franz, 17, and Bella Franz, 14. It was announced that two $100 million lawsuits against the school district and the school’s employees will be filed. Riley was shot in the neck while next to Bella during the shooting.
In the lawsuits, the defendants include Superintendent Timothy Throne, High School Principal Steven Wolf, Dean Ryan Moore, and unidentified counselors, teachers, and staff members. School officials are accused of failing to prevent the shooting from taking place, which caused both physical and physiological effects on the students.
The lawsuit also mentioned several warnings that were reportedly ignored before the shooting actually took place. Some of those warnings were social media posts. Principal Steven Wolf is being accused of downplaying the threats from November 16th. The lawsuit states that he sent a letter to parents that day and said, “I know I’m being redundant here, but there is absolutely no threat at the HS…large assumptions were made from a few social media posts, then the assumptions evolved into exaggerated rumors.”
Fieger said in a statement, “The horror of November 30, 2021 was entirely preventable.”
The shooting suspect, Ethan Crumbley, reportedly made social media posts before the shooting. One post was a tweet on Twitter that read, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. See you tomorrow Oxford.”
According to the lawsuit, both the principal and superintendent reviewed the post the day of the shooting.
The lawsuit continued to state, “Despite the posts and knowledge of threats of violence, defendant Throne sent correspondence and emails to parents at Oxford High School reassuring them that their children were safe at Oxford High School. By virtue of defendant Throne’s actions, he substantially increased the harm to plaintiff’s Minors.”
TSR STAFF: Jade Ashley @Jade_Ashley94