At least three students were killed while eight others were injured after a 15-year-old boy went on a shooting spree at a high school in Oxford, Michigan on Tuesday afternoon equipped with only a semiautomatic handgun.
During a news conference, Oakland County Undersheriff Michael G. McCabe revealed that victims were students from the Oxford High School and were only identified as a 16-year-old boy, a 14-year-old girl, and a 17-year-old girl. The other eight victims that were left injured allegedly included a teacher.
Horrific School Shooting
McCabe said that two of the eight other victims were undergoing surgery while the other six were in stable condition but had multiple gunshot wounds. In a statement, Gov. Gretchen Whitman said that the incident marked a moment that was "every parent's worst nightmare." He added that school shootings were a problem that was "uniquely American."
Whitmer expressed his sympathies to the families of the victims, saying that he hoped everyone could rise to the occasion and console affected families, children, school personnel, and the community. Authorities were able to take the suspect, who was identified as a 15-year-old sophomore at the school, into custody without incident five minutes after police responded to the shooting, CNN reported.
McCabe said that the suspect's parents have hired an attorney to represent their child and have not allowed them to talk to the police. The undersheriff said that calls for an active shooter were made at around 12:51 p.m. ET at Oxford, which is about 45 miles north of Detroit.
Authorities also said they believe that the suspect acted alone, without any accomplices, in undertaking the shooting. McCabe added that they were working on executing a search warrant for the suspect's house to see what additional evidence they could find.
The Oxford Community Schools superintendent, Time Throne, said the shooting incident was "shocking" and "horrifying." A 15-year-old freshman identified as Isabel Flores told reporters that she and other students ran out of the back of the school after hearing gunshots and seeing another student bleeding from their cheek, Fox News reported.
Tragic Incident
United States President Joe Biden addressed the incident in a speech during an event in Minnesota, saying that his heart goes out to the families of the victims who were "enduring the unimaginable grief of losing a loved one." The Democrat added that the entire community was in a state of shock after the shooting incident.
Another student, 16-year-old Dale Schmalenberg, who is a junior at Oxford High School, said he was still in calculus class when his teacher first heard the gunshot. The school staff immediately put the classroom into lockdown. All students ran into the corner of the room and turned off the lights. The student said that the room was mostly quiet, with only the sounds of panicked texting and crying that could be heard.
Dale said that he just sat there shaking with his other classmates and did not really know how to respond to the situation. He added that Oxford High School was very committed to student safety with its no-weapons policy, consistent active shooter training, and multiple security guards stationed around the campus, the New York Times reported.
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