(NewsNation) — Almost three years after the Oxford High School shooting in Michigan, the parents of the victims say the fight for justice is far from over.
The parents are pressuring the state to conduct and fund a new investigation, hoping to force some people to talk who didn’t want to before.
It’s been nearly three years since Ethan Crumbley gunned down four students and injured several others using a gun gifted by his father. It’s the first case in which the parents of a suspect have been held legally accountable.
The families don’t feel like a thorough investigation was ever done in this case. It was clear after the shooting who was responsible for it so from an investigative standpoint, the case was closed, they knew who did it. However, these families want Michigan lawmakers to fund an investigation into the how and the why behind the tragedy.
“Three years of fighting with our government to investigate this tragedy in full so we can drive change,” Buck Myre, the father of Tate Myre said Monday during the press conference.
“There has been a criminal investigation… nothing else,” he added. “Don’t we want to learn from this?”
The hope is that the answer will provide a sort of roadmap for legislation that will prevent this tragedy from repeating itself.
This court case is not entirely over, despite the convictions. Ethan was 15 when he gunned down his fellow classmates with a semi-automatic weapon. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and an additional 24 years.
The now-18-year-old is asking the court to consider a lesser sentence. His appeal requests an expert witness to be able to testify to Ethan Crumbley’s rough childhood and suggests he may suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome.
The deadline for prosecutors to respond to his request is Tuesday.
Ethan Crumbley’s parents are also serving time for involuntary manslaughter in the shooting.
