DETROIT — Joined by their attorneys, parents of those killed and injured in the 2021 mass shooting pushed back against a circuit court judge’s ruling that Oxford Community Schools staff could not be sued as a result of governmental immunity.
“We respectfully disagree with some of judge's findings,” attorney Ven Johnson said during a news conference. “What it really illustrates … on behalf of everybody before you is the inherent unfairness – I'm using a nice word – crookedness, if you will.”
Johnson went over the history of governmental immunity, later saying that the law allows public employees to be protected from being held liable.
“For a government to pass laws to protect itself from being held accountable when in a situation like this, overwhelmingly, they were absolutely wrong, we think is unconstitutional,” he said.
Johnson laid out their plan to appeal, a process that could take anywhere from 12 to 16 months once filed. Parents of the slain and injured victims voiced their frustration.
“Quit acting like something didn't go wrong that day,” said Buck Myre, father of Tate Myre. “For everybody to think that nothing went wrong that day – four kids were murdered. Seven others were shot. A bunch of kids – hundreds of kids – were terrorized. So accountability would be, let's roll the balls out. And let's find out what went wrong that day. And let's learn from it and make it a safer place for future kids.”
To the mother of Justin Shilling, Jill Soave, responsibility starts in the form of a jury trial. Something that can’t happen at this point unless staff are sued individually instead of suing the district as a whole.
“We need everybody to be held accountable, and we're not going to get changed until that happens,” Soave said. “We're not going to get any sort of peace to move forward. And I don't care how long it takes. I'm gonna keep fighting for Justin, because his life mattered. And this is wrong.”
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