Gun store sued over shooting inside Oxford High School

The parents of a teen wounded in the gunfire inside Oxford High School in Michigan last year are suing the gun store that sold the firearm used to kill four students and injure seven others.

Mary and Matthew Mueller filed the lawsuit on Tuesday against ACME Shooting Goods, the Oxford store where James Crumbley purchased a handgun for his son, Ethan, during a Black Friday sale. Days later, the teen tucked the weapon inside his backpack and used it to open fire inside the halls of his high school.

The Muellers said the gun dealer showed negligence when it did not block Crumbley from purchasing the weapon, “despite actual and/or constructive knowledge that the father was engaging in an illicit straw purchase … and that the Acme gun was intended for the shooter.”

A straw purchase is when a person buys a weapon for another individual while claiming that the it is still for them. What’s more, in Michigan, a person under the age of 18 cannot possess a handgun.

The Mueller’s lawsuit, the first filed against the gun store, also takes aim at Oxford Community School District and school officials. They’re accused of sending Ethan back to class the day of the shooting despite several red flags, including violent doodles uncovered by one of his teachers.

“While we will live with the horror of that day forever, he will live with the physical pain and trauma of being shot for the rest of his life. That pain was avoidable,” Matthew and Mary Mueller said in a statement.

“We are bringing this suit so that the failures both in the sale of this gun and at our school which allowed this to happen can never happen again. No family or community needs to experience this pain and no child should have to live with it for the rest of their life.”

Ethan Crumbley, now 16, has been charged as an adult with murder and terrorism and faces trial in January. James Crumbley and his wife, Jennifer, meanwhile are awaiting trial on involuntary manslaughter charges.

The Muellers are seeking an unspecified amount of damages in connection with Nov. 30 shooting. Their son has undergone surgery for injuries on his face, jaw and teeth, according to the suit. He is also still receiving counseling for the trauma triggered by the shooting.

With News Wire Services