A 15-year-old student and his parents have been charged in the mass shooting at a school in Michigan, but the debate over responsibility is not over. Oxford High School administrators…<\/b>
\n(Newser) \u2013 A 15-year-old student and his parents have been charged in the mass shooting at a school in Michigan, but the debate over responsibility is not over. Oxford High School administrators could face lawsuits or even prosecution, the New York Times reports. After warning signs were spotted, Ethan Crumbley and his parents were called into the school office Tuesday and told the student needed to go into counseling. But officials then let him return to class. The same day, police say, Crumbley opened fire, killing four students. One legal expert called the school’s decision \u00ab\u00a0truly astounding.\u00a0\u00bb When Crumbley’s parents refused to take their son home, the school had a legal and ethical duty to \u00ab\u00a0remove the student from the classroom and put them in a safe place\u2014safe for other people and safe for themselves,\u00a0\u00bb said Catherine Ross, an expert on student rights and a law professor at George Washington University. Karen McDonald, the Oakland County prosecutor, said, \u00ab\u00a0Any individual who had the opportunity to stop this tragedy should have done so.\u00a0\u00bb She did not rule out prosecution of school administrators or staff. \u00ab\u00a0The question is what did they know and when did they know it,\u00a0\u00bb McDonald said, per the Times. A Michigan lawyer who represents students who face expulsion from school said he expects a lawsuit. \u00ab\u00a0There is some culpability and responsibility here on the part of the school,\u00a0\u00bb Mike Kelly said. The school’s defense includes the fact that Crumbley had no disciplinary record at Oxford. That could be the main issue in a lawsuit blaming the school, Kelly said. One advocate said that school officials should have searched Crumbley’s bag for weapons but that it’s a lot to ask of educators who lack the tools to keep guns out of the building. \u00ab\u00a0You\u2019re putting educators in an impossible position,\u00a0\u00bb said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. (Read more Ethan Crumbley stories.)<\/p>\n