On Nov. 30, 2021, a suicidal teenager killed seven fellow students at Oxford High School in Michigan. The family of one teen is joining a lawsuit that attacks the failures of the school to follow warning signs about the mass shooter, reported Click Detroit.
Justin Shilling was trying to protect younger student Keegan Gregory, while the two were hiding in a bathroom stall.
After shooting Justin, the shooter ordered Keegan against the wall. Justin had a plan that Keegan said gave him the confidence to run. “The minute the shooter took his gun off Keegan and pointed at the wall where he was going to kill him, he ran." Keegan is now facing serious trauma and his family believes it will be a long road.
“Justin’s final moments were spent protecting Keegan,” said Justin's mom, Jill Soave. “No 17-year-old should be put in that position.”
Soave joined a new lawsuit against the Oxford Community Schools and Oxford High School for reckless action.
“We are beyond heartbroken, we’re traumatized, we’re devastated and we are not ok,” Soave said. “It’s been 174 days since he was murdered and it feels like it was just last week. For me, there will never be healing, there will only be coping.”
“You only wish that they will have what you had when they graduated,” Shilling’s father, Craig, said. “The fun times with your friends and the parties.”
Attorney Ven Johnson said that the school's procedures should have protected the students first and the families want to know what went wrong to ensure it'll never happen again.
“Understanding what happened, full transparency, exposing that, calling attention to it coming up with better processes, so no one ever has to go through this again," said Johnson.
Justin's death not only saved Keegan but he also saved six others by giving his organs to save their lives.