By Ben Solis
Gongwer News Service
Molly Darnell, a teacher who was injured during the 2021 Oxford High School shooting, is suing her school district for what she called deliberate indifference to the safety of students and staff and for recklessly creating or exacerbating the risk of a mass shooting.
The lawsuit, Darnell v. Oxford Community School District (USEDM Docket No. 24-13152), was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The lawsuit names the district as the top defendant, as well as several former administrators in their personal and professional capacities. Darnell, who was struck in the shoulder when the shooter fired multiple rounds through her classroom door, was the only teacher shot that day at Oxford High School and remains employed by the district’s virtual academy.
Oxford High School students Justin Shilling, Hana St. Juliana, Madisyn Baldwin and Tate Myre were killed in the shooting. In 2022, a group of Oxford students filed a federal suit against the district, which was later dismissed.
“Educators like OCSD officials assume a duty to protect their employees and students from foreseeable threats including, unfortunately, the increasingly prevalent school shootings ravaging this nation,” the lawsuit said. “When those within systems we trust breach their duty to respond to imminent threats of gun violence with care, sensitivity and sobriety, mass shootings like the November 30, 2021, attack at Oxford High School are a predictable result.”
Darnell claims the district breached its duty of care by elevating the risk that the shooter would use a firearm in a mass shooting by ignoring clear signs of impending gun violence from the shooter and engaged in separate acts or omissions to foreseeably embolden, motivate and enable the shooter – Ethan Crumbley – to commit the crime.
“But for these acts by OCSD officials, the shooter would have been disarmed, detained or otherwise prevented from engaging in the November 30, 2021, mass shooting,” Darnell’s lawsuit said. “It was eminently foreseeable that an act of gun violence like the mass shooting was a probable consequence of their negligent and/or unlawful misconduct. Thus, the negligent and/or unlawful misconduct of OCSD directly and proximately contributed to the harm inflicted upon various Oxford High School students and staff on November 30, 2021.”
The lawsuit notes that although Crumbley, and his parents, who were convicted of involuntary manslaughter for allowing their son have a gun and not catching the warning signs of the shooting, are facing criminal accountability for their collective actions, justice regarding the district’s actions has been elusive.
“Since the November 30, 2021, shooting, the OCSD and its officials have repeatedly told the Oxford community that Nicholas Ejak and Shawn Hopkins had no choice but to send the shooter back to class because their school policy was such that unless there was a disciplinary issue they could neither send a student home nor detain them in the counseling office,” the lawsuit said. “The OCSD has claimed that because (Crumbley) did not present a disciplinary issue, its employees had no choice but to return (Crumbley) to class. OCSD has advanced this ‘adherence to policy’ explanation in a transparent attempt to cover up its own culpability in this tragedy. However, the truth is that school officials escalated the danger by releasing the shooter back into the school population from a place of safety and security. They did this despite knowing of the shooter’s desire to inflict harm on himself and/or others.”
The danger was compounded, the lawsuit said, when Crumbley was released from a safe zone with an unsearched backpack that contained the firearm used in the attack.
Darnell is suing on the basis of irreparable physical and psychological harm and is seeking undisclosed damages.
Gongwer News Service
Molly Darnell, a teacher who was injured during the 2021 Oxford High School shooting, is suing her school district for what she called deliberate indifference to the safety of students and staff and for recklessly creating or exacerbating the risk of a mass shooting.
The lawsuit, Darnell v. Oxford Community School District (USEDM Docket No. 24-13152), was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The lawsuit names the district as the top defendant, as well as several former administrators in their personal and professional capacities. Darnell, who was struck in the shoulder when the shooter fired multiple rounds through her classroom door, was the only teacher shot that day at Oxford High School and remains employed by the district’s virtual academy.
Oxford High School students Justin Shilling, Hana St. Juliana, Madisyn Baldwin and Tate Myre were killed in the shooting. In 2022, a group of Oxford students filed a federal suit against the district, which was later dismissed.
“Educators like OCSD officials assume a duty to protect their employees and students from foreseeable threats including, unfortunately, the increasingly prevalent school shootings ravaging this nation,” the lawsuit said. “When those within systems we trust breach their duty to respond to imminent threats of gun violence with care, sensitivity and sobriety, mass shootings like the November 30, 2021, attack at Oxford High School are a predictable result.”
Darnell claims the district breached its duty of care by elevating the risk that the shooter would use a firearm in a mass shooting by ignoring clear signs of impending gun violence from the shooter and engaged in separate acts or omissions to foreseeably embolden, motivate and enable the shooter – Ethan Crumbley – to commit the crime.
“But for these acts by OCSD officials, the shooter would have been disarmed, detained or otherwise prevented from engaging in the November 30, 2021, mass shooting,” Darnell’s lawsuit said. “It was eminently foreseeable that an act of gun violence like the mass shooting was a probable consequence of their negligent and/or unlawful misconduct. Thus, the negligent and/or unlawful misconduct of OCSD directly and proximately contributed to the harm inflicted upon various Oxford High School students and staff on November 30, 2021.”
The lawsuit notes that although Crumbley, and his parents, who were convicted of involuntary manslaughter for allowing their son have a gun and not catching the warning signs of the shooting, are facing criminal accountability for their collective actions, justice regarding the district’s actions has been elusive.
“Since the November 30, 2021, shooting, the OCSD and its officials have repeatedly told the Oxford community that Nicholas Ejak and Shawn Hopkins had no choice but to send the shooter back to class because their school policy was such that unless there was a disciplinary issue they could neither send a student home nor detain them in the counseling office,” the lawsuit said. “The OCSD has claimed that because (Crumbley) did not present a disciplinary issue, its employees had no choice but to return (Crumbley) to class. OCSD has advanced this ‘adherence to policy’ explanation in a transparent attempt to cover up its own culpability in this tragedy. However, the truth is that school officials escalated the danger by releasing the shooter back into the school population from a place of safety and security. They did this despite knowing of the shooter’s desire to inflict harm on himself and/or others.”
The danger was compounded, the lawsuit said, when Crumbley was released from a safe zone with an unsearched backpack that contained the firearm used in the attack.
Darnell is suing on the basis of irreparable physical and psychological harm and is seeking undisclosed damages.
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