Parents Of Oxford Shooting Victim Sue School District For Damages

The parents of two Oxford Community School District students, one of whom was shot during the massacre at the Oxford High School last week while the other witnessed it, have sued the district and its administrators over what they claimed were negligent lapses to keep students safe in days prior.

Franz v. Oxford Community School District was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. While there are two separate complaints in the matter, they deal with the same issues and allegations that named defendants Superintendent Timothy Throne, Principal Steven Wolf, Dean of Students Ryan Moore and several staff, counselors and teachers as having failed to keep kids safe by ignoring warning signs from the alleged shooter, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley. An attorney for the Oxford schools wrote the attorneys representing the plaintiffs saying Mr. Moore is no longer the dean of students and has not been at the high school for more than a year and demanded his name be retracted from the lawsuit.

“The horror of November 30, 2021, was entirely preventable. Each and every defendant named herein created and increased the dangers then-existing at Oxford High School. The individually named defendants are each responsible through their actions for making the student victims less safe,” the complaint says. “The Oxford High School students, and plaintiffs in particular, would have been safer had the individual defendants not taken the actions they did. The Oxford Community School District is responsible for having a constitutionally deficient policy, custom and practice that was a driving force behind the constitutional violations. Further, said school district ratified the unconstitutional actions of the individually named defendants.”

Fieger Law is representing the parents of sisters Riley and Bella Franz, Jeffery and Brandi Franz. Riley was among those who had been shot that day. She suffered a gunshot wound to the neck.

The lawsuit states that both Riley and Bella suffered severe trauma, fright, shock, terror, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other emotional injuries, equating to sought damages of $100 million.