Michigan school shooting: Gun purchased by father on Black Friday

The 15-year-old boy arrested after the shooting that killed four students Tuesday at Oxford High School in Michigan remains in juvenile custody as the prosecutor decides whether he will be charged as an adult.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said the gun used by the suspect was purchased by the boy’s father on Nov. 26.

Seven rounds remained in the 9mm semiautomatic Sig Sauer handgun when deputies confronted the shooter, just a few minutes after the first 911 calls, at 12:51 p.m. They also confiscated two magazines.

It is believed the boy fired 15 to 20 shots after stepping out of a restroom with the gun.

The four students killed were Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Julian, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; and Justin Shilling, 17. The death of Shilling, who was in a Pontiac hospital, was announced Wednesday.

Those injured are six students, ages 14 to 17, and a 47-year-old female teacher who is out of the hospital after treatment for a gunshot wound to the shoulder. Two of the students remained in critical condition Wednesday.

A search warrant was executed Tuesday at the home of the suspect, which is in the village of Oxford, just minutes from the school.

No prior threats regarding the student were known to sheriff’s officials, Bouchard said.

The sheriff said he does not know of a specific reason the gun had been purchased, and he confirmed that social media posts with the boy holding the gun appear legitimate.

“They’re not talking to us,” Bouchard said of the suspect and his parents. “We’re going to do a deep dive on the social media and all the activities of this young man.”

He said detectives will review extensive surveillance video inside the school, with hundreds of hours to be watched.

Deputies had the suspect in custody within two minutes of the first one arriving.

Reporters questioned the sheriff about reports of recent prior threats on social media.

“I would love them to contact us, because we got none of it,” Bouchard said. “I can tell you that nothing came to the sheriff’s office and nothing came to our school liaison (officer) in the school.”

Investigators have had no reports of prior disciplinary action or indication of a motive, and they’ve not been able to talk to the suspect.

“He hasn’t spoken,” Bouchard said. “Obviously, that’s the best place to get motive. He’s under a lawyer with his parents refusal to allow him to talk to us.”

The sheriff praised the training conducted by the school staff — including locking down and barricading doors — and by law enforcement.

“I think everybody was brave in this situation,” Bouchard said. “And they reacted with the training and with the wherewithal that saved lives.”

Oxford High School, with an enrollment of about 1,700 students, is 30 miles north of Detroit.