Michigan School Shooter in Custody After Attack Killing Three
A 15-year-old student opened fire on classmates in Michigan in the deadliest attack so far this year as school shootings spike following a brief lull during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
Landwebs
Students leave Michigan high school following shooting. Photo via CNN
A 15-year-old male student has been arrested in connection with a shooting that took place at Oxford High School in Michigan November 30, 2021, killing three students and critically or seriously injuring others, reports the New York Times.
The gunman fired 15 to 20 shots with a semiautomatic handgun, striking 11 people, before being apprehended by deputies in the school hallway. Authorities identified those killed as Hana St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; and Tate Myre, 16, who died in a sheriff’s squad car while on the way to a hospital.
Seven other injured students ranged in age from 14 to 17, including three who were in critical condition and another who was in serious condition. Those in critical condition included a 15-year-old boy who had been shot in the head, a 17-year-old girl who had been hit in the chest and a 14-year-old girl who had been wounded in the chest and neck. A 9-millimeter Sig Sauer handgun used in the shooting had been bought by the suspect’s father four days earlier. Officials have not identified a motive.
Education Week, which currently tracks school shootings around the country, reports that this was the deadliest attack in 2021 and that there have been 28 school shootings this year, with 20 since August 1 alone following a brief interruption to the trend due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
That falloff in numbers is probably due to the shift to remote learning for nearly all schools for part or all of 2020, which only saw 10 shootings versus 2018 and 2019, which each saw 24. Experts warn that the temporary decline does not indicate that schools became necessarily safer, but that the definition of school safety has shifted as schooling entered the home in a way it never had before.
For example, referrals to child protective services agencies fell in 2020 but that does not mean fewer children were being hurt; it reflects that schools are a main locus for reporting potential abuse.
