It's "troubling" that law enforcement officers weren't brought into the conversation between personnel at Oxford High School in Michigan and Ethan Crumbley, the 15-year-old accused of shooting several students, before the shooting, as something could have been done, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said on Newsmax Monday.
"They had a meeting with this individual the day before and the day of the shooting," said Bouchard on Newsmax's "National Report."
"Especially troubling is the day of the shooting, some of the things that we're seeing and discussed, weren't brought into that conversation."
Had that happened, it would "trigger our protocols to look a little deeper to first, make sure the situation was safe and secondly, to go deeper and determine access and availability of weapons," said Bouchard.
Crumbley, 15, has been charged as an adult with two dozen crimes, including murder, attempted murder, and terrorism, for the shooting at Oxford High School in Oakland County, roughly 30 miles north of Detroit.
The teen's parents met with school officials about their son’s classroom behavior, just a few hours before the shooting, and opted to leave him at school. Later that day, the teen emerged from a bathroom with a gun, firing at students in the hallway.
His parents have also been charged in connection with the shootings, which claimed four lives.
Bouchard told Newsmax that teachers at the school and students did "amazing things, as they had been trained," and were able to secure their classrooms and take precautions to stay safe.
Meanwhile, he said his department always tells schools, houses of worship, or another target to "tell us too much, not too little."
"We'd rather check out 1,000 nothings," he said.
"As a tangible example, the next day after this tragedy, we had a school district call us and say they had a student who had been overheard saying he was going to be the next shooter or going to shoot up the schools — words to that effect, so we responded.
"We interviewed the student and made sure that the situation at that moment was safe, and then we did a follow-up at the home. The parents were super supportive in determining access and availability to weapons. They said there were weapons in the home. Those were removed for safekeeping, and that child was prosecuted. He was arrested."
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