School Shootings: A Sad History of 26 Different Shootings At Michigan Schools
In the wake of the Uvalde, TX school shooting that took the lives of 21 victims, we are sadly reminded that just over 6 months ago we lost 4 lives in the Oxford, MI shootings.
Michigan Oxford High School Shooting
On November 30th four students were killed by a shooter at Oxford High School in Metro Detroit.
Currently, the shooter is facing multiple charges, including 4 charges of first-degree murder.
The shooter's parents are also being charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Unfortunately for Michigan, this isn't the only time our students have faced a situation like this, in fact, the state of Michigan has 26 documented cases of shootings at or near schools & college campuses.
Prior to the Oxford High School shooting, Michigan's last brush with fatal school violence was in 2018 at CMU.
At that time the Central Michigan University campus was put on lockdown as authorities searched for the shooter who allegedly killed his two parents during a visit.
Michigan School Shooting History
The following lists are school shootings in Michigan as documented by Wikipedia.
There have been so many shootings in the United States since 2000, that the list is divided into pre & post-2K.
Michigan School Shootings Since the Year 2000
- February 29, 2000 Flint, Michigan: Shooting of Kayla Rolland: At Buell Elementary School, a 6-year-old boy fatally shot 6-year-old classmate Kayla Rolland. To date, the boy is the youngest documented fatal school shooter.
- October 16, 2008 Detroit, Michigan: 16-year-old Christopher Walker, was killed, and three other teenagers were seriously wounded during a drive-by shooting near Henry Ford High School, soon after classes let out.
- September 8, 2010 Detroit, Michigan: Two students were wounded in front of Mumford High School by 17-year-old Steven Jamal Hare.
- January 12, 2013 Detroit, Michigan: A 16-year-old Osborn High School student was shot and wounded after a basketball game.
- April 11, 2014 Detroit, Michigan: After a Friday evening student awards ceremony called "Grammy Night", four men who were affiliated with a gang fired into a crowd in the parking lot of East English Village Preparatory Academy. One 19-year-old, Darryl Smith, was fatally shot in the head.
- May 24, 2015 Flint, Michigan: In the early morning hours of Memorial Day weekend, a group of people was at Southwestern Classical Academy in the parking lot. Shots rang out and seven were injured, with two men being apprehended and charged.
- February 9, 2016 Muskegon Heights, Michigan: Four people, including two students, were injured during a basketball game event in the parking lot of Muskegon Heights High School.
- March 2, 2018 Mount Pleasant, Michigan: Central Michigan University shooting: 19-year-old student James Eric Davis Jr. shot and killed his mother and father when they came to campus to take him home for spring break. After the shooting Davis fled and the campus was placed on lockdown.
- June 21, 2019 Flint, Michigan: During a basketball competition in the gym of Carman-Ainsworth High School during a fight involving dozens of people, shots were fired and Eithan Williams, a 15-year-old student was hit in the chest.
- November 30, 2021 Oxford Township, Michigan: Oxford High School shooting: A 15-year-old sophomore was taken into custody. Seven people, including a teacher, were injured, and four died. An investigation is ongoing.
Michigan School Shootings Prior To 2000
- March 5, 1956 Stanton, Michigan:14-year-old Peter Ray Forger shot and wounded 15-year-old William Shurlow after a disagreement at Edmore High School.
- October 5, 1970 Pontiac, Michigan: Outside of Pontiac Central High School four students were wounded after a fight broke out among many students and one of the students drew a pistol and fired, no perpetrators had been identified.
- November 11, 1972 Pontiac, Michigan: At Pontiac Central High School five students were wounded, one seriously, when a student pushed through a crowd of fighting students and opened fire with a 22-caliber pistol, the fight and shooting were believed to be racially motivated.
- February 12, 1976 Detroit, Michigan: Intruders entered Murray-Wright High School, shooting and wounding five students after an apparent dispute over a girlfriend of one of the intruders.
- February 22, 1978 Lansing, Michigan: After being taunted for his beliefs, 15-year-old Roger Needham, a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi, killed one student and wounded a second with a pistol at Everett High School.
- March 26, 1980 Big Rapids, Michigan: Business professor Robert Brauer was killed in class by 20-year-old student Thomas Kakonis at Ferris State College.
- April 17, 1981 Ann Arbor, Michigan: As students fled their rooms after a homemade firebomb set a minor blaze on the sixth-floor hallway of Bursley Hall dormitory, 22-year-old psychology student Leo E. Kelly Jr. fired a sawn-off 12-gauge shotgun at his University of Michigan schoolmates at point-blank range.
- November 8, 1983 Highland Park, Michigan: At Highland Park High School a 15-year-old student shot and killed a 17-year-old student, the shooting is believed to be related to an earlier fight between the two students.
- April 20, 1984 Detroit, Michigan: 13-year-old Kelly Crittendon was accidentally killed by two classmates in a classroom at the Precious Blood School.
- October 18, 1985 Detroit, Michigan: Murray-Wright High School shooting: During halftime of the homecoming football game between Northwestern and Murray-Wright high schools, a youth opened fire with a shotgun, injuring seven people including six students with whom he had fought earlier in the day.
- January 23, 1987 Detroit, Michigan: A 15-year-old boy fired five shots in gym class at Redford High School, wounding 15-year-old Marcus Childress. The shooting stemmed from a fight of two groups of teenagers.
- April 16, 1987 Detroit, Michigan: Murray-Wright High School second shooting: A ninth-grade student at Murray-Wright High School shot and killed 17-year-old Chester Jackson and wounded 17-year-old Damon Matthews and 18-year-old Tomeka Turner.
- November 4, 1992 Detroit, Michigan: Eleven students were hit by gunfire during a four-hour period in three separate school incidents; five were hospitalized.
- December 17, 1993 Chelsea, Michigan: Stephen Leith, a disgruntled Chelsea High School teacher shot and killed the school district's superintendent and also wounded a principal and another teacher.
- February 8, 1994 Detroit, Michigan: At the student parking lot of Osborn High School 19-year-old special ed student Steven Watkins was shot in his car by an unknown assailant and died from his injuries.
- December 10, 1998 Detroit, Michigan: 52-year-old Professor Andrzej Olbrot was killed by 48-year-old graduate doctoral student Wlodzimierz Dedecjusat at Wayne State University.