Firm looking into Oxford shooting says investigation goes on 'unabated'

A third-party firm putting together two public reports on the 2021 Oxford High School shooting that left four students dead and seven others injured said a recent court decision declaring Oxford Community Schools and its employees have government immunity from court claims will not impede its investigation.

Guidepost Solutions issued an update on the firm's website Monday, saying its investigation into the Nov. 30, 2021 school shooting continues "unabated" and that cooperation from witnesses continues. The first of two reports is expected in the spring.

"Since our last update, we have continued to receive greater voluntary cooperation from District employees including critical witnesses," the post states. "The interviews for most critical witnesses have been completed. We are in the process of scheduling a handful more interviews with critical witnesses over the coming weeks."

In the legal opinion issued late Friday, Oakland County Circuit Judge Mary Ellen Brennan wrote that the Oxford school district and its employees have government immunity and can’t be sued. The ruling means all Oxford governmental employees and entities were dismissed as defendants from a set of state civil lawsuits relating to the Oxford High School shooting. But federal cases and other state claims against other defendants remain.

Brennan concluded that then-15-year-old shooter Ethan Crumbley was the most immediate and direct cause of the mass shooting and dismissed Oxford schools and its employees from civil lawsuits brought by Oxford victims and their families, citing state court precedent.

Guidepost's update also said the Oxford school district has provided the firm with all requested materials except for a handful of new documents that are under review.

"We expect that at the end of the District's implementation and review process, hopefully in early April, we will be able to examine and report on whether certain District procedures are in place and consistent with best practices," the post said. "We have received from the District almost 700,000 documents (around 790 gigabytes), of which approximately 70,000 documents were responsive and required human review for relevance and materiality."

On Jan. 27, Guidepost announced it has endured "extraordinary" interference in its third-party investigation. Officials declined to comment on the source of the interference, but their complaint came months after educators and administrators at Oxford Community Schools were advised not to participate in interviews with Guidepost's investigation.

Guidepost is producing two reports. The first will detail what Oxford Community Schools currently has in place for school security and threat assessment practices, whether there are gaps in its plan, and recommendations for improvements.

The second report — due out after the first report, though no estimated release date has been provided — is a full accounting of what happened leading up to, on and after the Nov. 30 attack.

jchambers@detroitnews.com