Michigan school shooting: Video footage shows plain clothes officer trying to get students to leave classroom not suspect - authorities
Three people were killed after a 15-year-old boy opened fire at his Michigan high school on Tuesday, while eight others - including a teacher - were injured.
Thursday 2 December 2021 09:33, UK
Viral video footage did not show a Michigan school shooting suspect attempting to lure students out of classrooms, authorities have said.
In the video, captured by a student, classmates could be seen huddling beneath desks in a locked classroom as the gunman is apparently outside in the hallways.
A person could be heard in the footage saying: "Sheriff's office. It's safe to come out."
A sceptical student then refuses to open the door, saying: "We're not willing to take that risk right now."
And when the person outside the door shouted back, calling him "bro", the terrified teenagers scrambled to escape out of the classroom window.
It was initially thought that the person outside the classroom was the shooting suspect, trying to get pupils to leave.
However Oakland County Sheriff Michael Brouchard revealed on Wednesday that the voice was likely from a plain clothes officer.
He added that the officer had likely used the word "bro" in an attempt to calm the students.
Three people were killed after a 15-year-old boy opened fire at his Michigan high school on Tuesday, while eight others - including a teacher - were injured.
Several of them remain in critical condition, including a 14-year-old who is on a ventilator.
The three students who were killed were 16-year-old Tate Myre; 14-year-old Hana St Juliana, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17. Mr Myre died in a patrol car as a deputy tried to get him to an emergency room.
The gunman is in custody after being arrested at the school, but his motive remains unclear - and the county sheriff said he is "not talking".
He is suspected to have acted alone and was arrested without resistance after firing 15 to 20 shots.
Officers responded to the attack at Oxford High School in Oxford Township - a community of about 22,000 people 30 miles (48km) north of Detroit - at around 12.55pm following a flood of 911 calls.
"The whole thing lasted five minutes," said Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe.
Mr McCabe said the student's parents advised their son not to talk to investigators. Police must seek permission from a juvenile's parents or guardian to speak with them, he added.
Authorities were made aware of posts on social media that said there had been threats of a shooting at the roughly 1,700-student school, but Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said they didn't know about the rumours until after the attack.
Mr McCabe also downplayed the significance of an earlier incident when a deer head was thrown on the school roof in November, saying it was "absolutely unrelated".
Sheriff Bouchard said the student in custody had no previous run-ins with his department and he wasn't aware of any disciplinary history at school.
"That's part of our investigation to determine what happened prior to this event and if some signs were missed how were they missed and why," he said.