Whitmer supports independent review of police response to Oxford shooting

Chicago – Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday she supports a thorough and independent review of the police and emergency response to the deadly shooting at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021, after The Detroit News reported last week there were questions about possible delays by responders.

The Democratic governor said a thorough understanding of the response and potential areas for improvement would benefit families and perhaps guide future emergency response. Four students were killed and six students and a teacher were injured in the shooting.

“I don't want to cast aspersions,” Whitmer said in an interview on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. “But I think the families and the community would appreciate such a thorough review. … I think it would be meaningful.”

Whitmer said it was unclear to her which government agency had the authority to conduct such a review, but her conversations with families affected by the shooting led her to believe such a review could be helpful.

“I know the suffering, and I know people's concern that we must do everything we can to prevent this from ever happening again,” Whitmer told The News.

Steve St. Juliana said late Wednesday that the debriefing was just one aspect of what needed to be done after the brutal gun attack that left his daughter Hana and three of her classmates dead.

St. Juliana wants a comprehensive review of all the events leading up to the shooting, from social media posts by students to incidents at the high school in the weeks and months leading up to the shooting to the way Michigan State Police handled incoming tips before the deadly rampage.

Then there was the day of the shooting and the way people reacted or didn't react, St. Juliana said.

“There has been no further investigation other than the shooter and the parents. There are many other things that happened that day that need to be investigated,” St. Juliana told The News. “It's all in bits and pieces.”

Teenage shooter Ethan Crumbley is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in a state prison. His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were sentenced by a judge in April to 10 to 15 years in prison on four counts of manslaughter. They were responsible for buying the teen the gun he used to carry out the shooting.

St. Juliana said a comprehensive investigation would “look at everything, summarize everything and make a recommendation for further action.”

As for the question of who can conduct this investigation, St. Juliana says it is common knowledge that there are private companies that conduct this type of full investigation.

“The state can pull out its checkbook and pay someone to do it,” St. Juliana said. “The attorney general has investigators and lawyers. The state legislature can issue subpoenas to a subcommittee, as it has done in the past. At the federal level, they can ask the Department of Justice and the FBI.”

“It just seems like there are a lot of options available to people in power if they really want to,” St. Juliana added.

More: Fire chiefs say rescue teams were sent too late to Oxford attack

More: Oakland County Sheriff's Office has canceled review of emergency response after Oxford shooting

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard's office, in response to the governor's comments late Wednesday, signaled that it was open to such a review.

“We will fully participate in any follow-up investigation, as we always have and as we have done before,” Oakland County Sheriff's Deputy Curtiss Childs said in a statement.

The Democratic governor's comments come about a week after Oakland County Board of Commissioners Chairman David Woodward (D-Royal Oak) said he would seek funding to complete the investigation after a Detroit News report raised new questions about the response.

This month, the News reported that two local fire chiefs said Oakland County Sheriff's Office dispatchers took too long to call them to the scene of the shooting that left four students dead and seven others injured.

Oxford Fire Chief Matthew Majestic and Addison Fire Chief Jerry Morawski told The News that they dispatched their own teams when the high school was attacked on Nov. 30, 2021. Their concerns prompted victims' families to again call for what is known as an “after-action review,” as has been done in other school shootings across the country.

The review is typically conducted by an outside agency to better understand and learn from the actions of the coordinating police agency and its partners during a mass shooting.

Bouchard, a Republican, said through a spokesman that he had agreed to participate in a debriefing two and a half years ago, but a request for funding for the exercise was rejected. Instead, the department conducted its own internal review.

Woodward denies that Bouchard ever asked for financial assistance and said the sheriff's department decided not to participate in an Oakland County Homeland Security review. The News reported that Bouchard declined to participate in such a review, as requested by County Manager David Coulter's office in January.

A separate investigation into the shooting conducted by Guidepost focused on the school district's role and response to the shooting.

Bouchard's internal review a month after the shooting prompted the department to hire a software vendor, create a priority system within the dispatch computer system and create a tactical dispatch team for major incidents, sheriff's officials said. The department has also increased its dispatch staff and annually reviews fire department logs.

State Rep. Josh Schriver, an Oxford Republican who represents the district, called on Attorney General Dana Nessel last week to conduct the review.

But Nessel's department insists her office cannot launch its own investigation without the permission of the Oxford school board unless there is reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed. The office said the school board has rejected two separate offers to investigate.

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