Stabenow, Peters address Oxford High School shooting on U.S. Senate floor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Michigan’s two U.S. senators addressed Congress this afternoon regarding the recent mass shooting at Oxford High School that left four students dead and seven other people wounded.

U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, and Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Twp., on the afternoon of Thursday, Dec. 2, addressed their peers in the U.S. Senate chamber. Stabenow referred to the Nov. 30 shooting at Oxford High School — the nation’s deadliest school shooting since 2018 — as “a heartbreaking tragedy that far too many American families and communities are familiar with.”

Gun violence can happen anywhere at any time, Stabenow said. On Tuesday, it struck the normally friendly and neighborly village of Oxford, she said.

“Now, it’s the kind of place that’s been needlessly, senselessly shattered by unspeakable violence,” Stabenow said.

“In an instant, everything changed. Everything changed.”

Click here to view video of Stabenow’s and Peters’ statements, beginning at the 5:41 mark.

While investigators are still gathering details of what transpired when 15-year-old sophomore Ethan Crumbley allegedly opened fire with a 9mm his father purchased on Black Friday, Stabenow said what’s important is that “thanks to the cold efficiency of modern weaponry it took mere minutes for a gunman to shatter a community.”

Stabenow lauded police who arrived within minutes of the first shots being fired, but bemoaned that 10 students and one teacher were still shot. Four students — Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17 — died of their wounds. Crumbley was taken into police custody without injury.

“A typical Tuesday in a typical high school in 2021 in America,” Stabenow said. “Madisyn, Justin, Tate, and Hana, four lives that were just beginning. Four losses that have left their families and the community struggling, struggling to understand. We certainly know that Oxford is not alone.”

Stabenow said there have been 29 school shootings across the country so far this year.

“No community is immune,” Stabenow said. “Just ask the grieving residents, the grieving parents of Oxford.”

High school students should be enjoying their lives and making memories, not ducking from bullets or being treated for gunshot wounds at intensive care units, the senator continued. They also deserve more than thoughts and prayers, she continued.

“They deserve action to keep them safe,” she said. “We certainly will focus on this in the days ahead.”

After Stabenow spoke, Peters addressed his elected peers, saying there are no words to “capture the terror and the tragedy of the horrific events that unfolded at Oxford High School Tuesday afternoon.”

The event will change the lives of all who survived the attack, Peters said.

“It was a scene that has become all too familiar in America,” he said. “A gunman opened fire inside a public school, taking four young lives and wounding seven other people.”

In addition to eulogizing the four slain students, Peters said it is important the wounded are also remembered.

“At this very moment, dedicated doctors and nurses are working around the clock to ensure the wounded can swiftly recover,” Peters said.

As a parent himself, Peters said he cannot fathom the grief and anguish the affected families are enduring. He praised the “swift and brave actions” of first responders who arrested Crumbley and prevented further carnage from occurring, saying they cannot be thanked enough.

“The panic, the fear, and the helplessness of being trapped in this nightmare scenario that no child, no teacher, and no parent should ever, ever have to face,” Peters said.

He assured the Oxford community “millions of Americans” are lifting them up and sharing in their sorrow. Yet, for Peters, the most heartbreaking element is that the shooting should not have occurred in the first place.

“A school should be a safe place,” he said. “I was struck by the words of so many students who said that they had been training for a day like this since elementary school. These students and their teachers had participated in active shooting drills. They knew to lock and barricade doors, to hide, to stay silent, and to run.”

While Peters is grateful such lessons likely saved lives, he’s dismayed children and teachers must bear the burden of tactics.

“There is no easy answer, but it is clear that we must take action. Far too many communities have been devastated by these attacks. We cannot wait for yet another community to suffer without having tough conversations on what actions Congress should take. The unsettling reality is our children’s lives are at risk when they enter a classroom, and that is something we simply cannot tolerate.”

Regardless of congressional members’ disparate policy views, Peters said there must surely be agreement that schools should be safe.

“We must act. The time is now,” Peters concluded.

Crumbley on Dec. 1 was arraigned in Oakland County District Court on one count of terrorism causing death, four counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of assault with intent to murder, and 12 counts of felony firearm. He is being held in custody without bond.