Katherine Schweit - Stop the Killing

Stop the Killing

Stop the Killing

How to End the Mass Shooting Crisis

Katherine Schweit

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Lanham Boulder New York London

Published by Rowman & Littlefield

A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706

www.rowman.com

6 Tinworth Street, London SE11 5AL, United Kingdom

Copyright 2021 by Katherine Schweit

Preface copyright 2022 by Katherine Schweit

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Schweit, Katherine W., author.

Contents

A NEW LEGAL FRONTIER IN SCHOOL SHOOTINGS

Just after this book went to press, a fifteen-year-old boy in Michigan was charged with killing four and wounding seven at Oxford High School, not far from my birthplace, Detroit. Many from my large Irish Catholic family still live nearby.

Some would say another week, another shooting. But I knew immediately this was different and called my publisher. This was worth stopping the presses forliterallyI told her. We are witnessing a new and aggressive battle plan in the war on mass shootings. Its a pendulum swing some say may go too far; but maybe not.

Im talking about the criminal charges filed against the alleged shooter as well as his parents.

The day after the November 30, 2021, shooting, the Oakland County prosecutor filed not only murder charges against the accused but also charges he committed an act of terrorism. A few days later, the prosecutor charged the boys parents with the most serious charges ever levied at parents in a school shooting: four counts of involuntary manslaughter.

The boy faces life in prison. If convicted, the parents face fifteen years each. The couples combined bonds total $1 million. They are all destined to spend Christmas in matching jumpsuits but separate cells.

These charges made this a stop-the-presses event, and as a former prosecutor, I appreciate its watershed nature. We have been struggling to find the right pieces of the puzzle that will stop this terrible rise in mass killings. And now, new pieces are on the board. Accused shooters have never faced charges for terrorizing students and school officials.

Now, going forward, every prosecutor will consider bringing a charge of terrorism if their state law allows. And though this happened in Michigan, the impact will ripple across a country ravaged as active shooters clocked somewhere north of sixty incidents for 2021, a 50 percent increase from the record high in 2020.

But let me back up.

This is what happened that day and how these extraordinary charges came to be. Im writing this in the days after charges have been filed and the lengthy legal process is just beginning. That said, Ill tell you what we know based on information released in charging documents and from statements by the prosecutor, law enforcement, and witnesses.

Sometime after noon on Tuesday, November 30, 2021, a high school sophomore allegedly walked from a boys bathroom inside his school and began shooting at students in the hallway of Oxford High School, 30 miles north of Detroits city limit, 8 Mile Road. An announcement went out over the school intercom that there was an active shooter in the school.

The 1,800 students were trained in a version of Run. Hide. Fight. and quickly barricaded themselves in rooms. They knew to block the doors to bar the shooter from entering. Many followed the run protocol, fleeing the school, at times at the urging of teachers.

Undeterred, the shooter continued to pull the trigger as he pointed at students, a teacher, and blocked doors attempting to hit people behind them. He fired about thirty rounds in five minutes, ended four lives, wounded seven, and changed an entire community forever.

The all-to-familiar police response followed, and within minutes a shooter was in police custody, willingly handing over his gun with seven rounds still in the weapon and other ammunition still unspent.

The next day, the alleged shooter was charged as an adult with twenty-four separate criminal charges. These included four counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of assault with intent to murder, and twelve counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

But unlike charges filed against school shooters in the past, this fifteen-year-old also was charged with one count of committing an act of terrorism. Michigan state law allows a person to be charged with an act of terrorism if the action is intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population. Michigan had adopted the law in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. No federal criminal charge currently exists for domestic terrorism. The added charge was appropriate, the sheriff and prosecutor agreed, because people who werent hit by bullets were still terrorized.

A search of the teens home and personal belongings seemed to verify he had planned well ahead, prosecutor Karen McDonald said in announcing the charges against the teen. The shooter had recorded two messages on his phone the night before talking about killing students and had written similar things out.

It was absolutely premeditated, McDonald said, spelling out some details at her press conference. This wasnt an impulsive act, and a mountain of evidence will back up the charges.

Replying to a reporter, McDonald indicated her office was considering charges against the parents and might announce charges shortly. Responsible gun ownership must include securing guns, and we must hold accountable those who fail to secure a gun they own, she said.

As I watched the press conference, I heard her say what is said at every press conference after a shooting: We have watched school shootings unfold across this country for far too long, McDonald lamented. Sadly, the national spotlight is shining today on our community. We send our kids to school. We think they are going to be safe. If the incident yesterday is not enough to revisit our gun laws, I dont know what is.

DID SHE REALLY DO THAT?

But where other prosecutors might be a bit all hat and no cattle, McDonald put actions behind her words. Two days later, she filed charges against the parents as details emerged that seemed incredible. Among the most revealing, if found to be true:

• The fifteen-year-old boy and his father had gone to a gun shop to buy the gun for the boy on a Black Friday sale just four days before the shooting.
• The boy posted a picture of himself that day with his new gun that he then used at the range with his mother.
• His mother posted online the next day about her sons new Christmas present.
• The next school day, a Monday, a teacher saw the boy searching for ammunition online and reported the behavior.
• A school counselor spoke to the boy but did not receive a return call after leaving a voicemail message for the parents.
• The same day the mother sent a text to her son that read: LOL Im not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught.