Outside investigation into Oxford High shooting to be public by Oct. 30
The second report into the events surrounding the 2021 Oxford High School shooting will be made public on or before Oct. 30, an attorney hired by the district said during a board meeting Tuesday night.
The report will look at "the events leading up to, on the day of, and following" the shooting, according to Guidepost Solutions, the third-party firm conducting the investigation.
Nov. 30 of this year will mark two years since the shooting, which ended with four students dead, as well as six students and a teacher injured. The four students who died were Hana St. Juliana, 14; Tate Myre, 16; Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17. Parents of the victims are still searching for answers about how the attack could have been prevented.
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The release date came as Ron DeWaard, an attorney with the Varnum law firm, presented a letter of understanding between Varnum, the law firm hired to help the district with the investigation and litigation around the shootings, and Guidepost Solutions, the organization the board hired to investigate the shooting.
The letter stresses the independence of the investigation, DeWaard said. It appears the letter attempts to address community members skeptical of the report commissioned by Oxford's school board in May 2022.
"The review has always been completely independent of the board," DeWaard said, adding that the board has never been briefed on findings of the investigation before its release.
Guidepost this month issued a statement online updating the community on the progress of its investigation. Bradley Dizik, a vice president from Guidepost, wrote that the agency was in the "ninth inning" of its investigation. Dizik wrote that the report will be made public at the same time the school board sees it for the first time.
He also wrote that the firm recently met with Oakland County prosecutors and the Oakland County Sheriff's Office for information. The firm also "interviewed additional witnesses who at this late hour decided to come forward and meet with us."
Parents have long been frustrated with the slow trickle of details surrounding the shooting — as well as how much school district officials knew about the shooter's mental state before he carried out the attack in the high school. New details in the case were revealed as recently as this month, during an emotional Miller hearing over whether the shooter should be sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Buck Myre, Tate Myre's father, said earlier in August following the hearing that "we don't have any answers for that day."
Myre is one of the parents suing the school district and school officials in federal court for negligence in the events before the shooting. The lawsuits are ongoing. In the case against the shooter, Judge Kwame Rowe will issue a ruling in the coming weeks and then the case will head into formal sentencing.
Free Press staff writers Gina Kaufman and Tresa Baldas contributed to this report.
Contact Lily Altavena: laltavena@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Outside investigation into Oxford shooting to be public by Oct. 30
