Prosecutor Asks That Oxford HS Shooter’s Name Not Be Used by Court, Public
Nearly four months have passed since a 15-year-old gunman opened fire inside Oxford High School killing four teenagers and injuring four others. Now, the Oakland County prosecutor is asking that the name of the shooter be stricken from further courtroom proceedings.
Karen McDonald says that shooters and would-be shooters are motivated by notoriety and naming the accused gunman only feeds that desire.
“There is someone who wants to be remembered and he has contemplated how he wants to be remembered,” McDonald tells WDIV in the video below.
McDonald filed a motion that would effectively have the accused shooter's name banned from oral presentations and redacted from court documents.
As a media outlet, we will comply with the prosecutor's request, omitting his name from all further articles that reference the tragedy on November 30.
Accused Shooter Asks for His Fan Mail
The 15-year-old shooter has been inundated with mail since the incident, getting both fan mail and hate mail.
"He asked for his fan mail," McDonald said. "I don't know about you, but that makes me sick to my stomach.
McDonald indicates that further utterances of the boy's name only propel his notoriety.
Prosecutor Asks the Public to Stop Referring to Him by Name
McDonald has asked that the public refrain from using the accused shooter's name as well.
“As much as I will vigorously prosecute these cases and I believe the public has a right to know and I’m committed to that -- I don’t want to be part of the problem," McDonald says. "So I’m not going to say his name and I’m going to ask everyone to stop saying his name.”