Parents react to independent investigation into Oxford High School shooting
By Gino Vicci
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PONTIAC, Michigan (WWJ) — A nearly 600-page independent investigation report finds that the Oxford High School shooting could have been prevented if proper training and guidelines had been in place.
Nicole Beausoleil, the mother of Madisyn Baldwin, one of the four students who was killed in the Nov. 30, 2021 shooting, said she was shocked but not surprised after examining the report outlining what investigators discovered on the days leading up to and the day of the shooting take took the lives of Baldwin, Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana and Justin Schilling.
“Honestly, I am enraged with it, I really am,” Beausoleil said. “I knew that there was preventable measures. I knew that there were things that were failures. I knew that there were a lot of missteps. I didn’t know the severity of them.”
Beausoleil says it was a slap in the face to the victim’s families that some Oxford school district employees did not fully cooperate with the company the district paid to conduct the investigation that took nearly two years.
The report, conducted by Guidepost Solutions, says the district failed to adhere to its threat assessment policies on the day of the shooting when four students were killed and seven others were injured, including one teacher.
Beausoleil and other parents are part of a civil lawsuit against the school district. The suit is aimed at holding the district accountable.
Regardless of what the investigation revealed, Beausoleil questions how those involved can sleep at night knowing they could have prevented this tragedy.
“So this report is out, you can’t hide behind it, and us families, we’re going to continue to fight, so be ready,” Beausoleil said.
Currently, Oxford Community Schools is protected by governmental immunity. It is unclear whether or not this new report will have an impact on the district’s ability to be protected by this defense.
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