Air quality advisories issued in 5 provinces, 1 territory
Air quality advisories are in effect across Western Canada as smoky conditions plague some areas, according to the latest forecasts. Here's where.
The warning signs were there: A search for gun ammunition on a cellphone, drawings of blood on a school desk and a written plea for help.
But on Tuesday, roughly 50 kilometres north of Detroit at Oxford High School, the student in question was sent back to the classroom after a school meeting with his parents. Three hours later four students were shot to death and six other students and a teacher were wounded.
"The school should have been responsible to relay that to the sheriff's office. It looks like this could have been prevented," said Robert Jordan, founder and director of St. Louis-based Protecting Our Students. "People died because of those mistakes."
In addition to Jordan, parents of students slain in a 2018 school shooting in Florida say police should have been alerted before Tuesday's rampage.
The suspect in the Oxford High shooting, Ethan Crumbley, 15, is now charged as an adult with murder, terrorism and other crimes.
On Friday, prosecutors charged his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, with four counts each of involuntary manslaughter.
They pleaded not guilty on Saturday and a judge imposed a combined US$1 million bond.
The 9mm semi-automatic pistol used in the shooting was bought at a local gun shop on Black Friday by James Crumbley as an early Christmas present for his son who is too young to legally own a handgun in Michigan, authorities said.
School officials became concerned about the younger Crumbley on Monday, a day before the shooting, when a teacher saw him searching for ammunition on his phone, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald told reporters.
On Tuesday, a teacher found a note on Ethan's desk and took a photo. It was a drawing of a gun pointing at the words, "The thoughts won't stop. Help me," McDonald said.
There also was a drawing of a bullet, she said, with words above it: "Blood everywhere." Between the gun and the bullet was a person who appeared to have been shot twice and is bleeding, she said. "My life is useless" and "The world is dead" also were written.
Both parents and Ethan met with school officials at 10 a.m. Tuesday. His parents left, and Ethan went back to his classes with his backpack, where investigators believe he stashed the gun.
Authorities were not notified, something that county Sheriff Michael Bouchard said he wishes would have been done.
By 1 p.m. Tuesday, the school erupted in gunshots, chaos and bloodshed.
"The school had the responsibility to be doing an immediate threat assessment on the student and bringing into that conversation the sworn police officer and law enforcement," said Lori Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter, Alyssa, was one of 17 students slain in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida.
"They definitely should have searched his bag to make sure he doesn't have access to a gun, and then to his house to make sure he doesn't have access. This shooting should never have happened."
About five weeks before the Stoneman Douglas shooting, an FBI tip line received a call saying former student Nikolas Cruz had bought guns and planned to "slip into a school and start shooting the place up."
That information was never forwarded to the FBI. Cruz, who had been expelled from the school a year earlier and had a long history of emotional and behavioral problems, never was contacted.
Now 23, Cruz pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder.
"We have to take these threats seriously," Alhadeff said.
"It's infuriating to me, upsetting," she added. "It breaks my heart for the families that lost somebody. Knowing what we know now about the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas we have to take these ( threats) seriously."
But looking at such an issue after-the-fact raises other questions, said Christopher Smith, professor of Law and Public Policy at Michigan State University and chair of the Michigan Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence.
You have to consider whether the "teacher and school officials specifically have in their training that you need to report all these things," Smith said.
"It's easy enough to say people should do this and this and this," he added. "If it's not a part of the training, we have to wonder if it was realistic to expect someone to report this."
An email left with Oxford Community Schools Superintendent Tim Throne on Friday was not returned, as were earlier requests for comment this week.
In a video message to the community Thursday night, Throne acknowledged the meeting of Crumbley, the parents and school officials. Throne offered no details but said that "no discipline was warranted."
Jordan said much needed to be done after the problems were noticed Monday and Tuesday by school officials and before the shooting.
"They should have called the parents in to evacuate the child," he said. "Then they should have looked at social media to see if they could discover any kind of plot. All of this is in an effort to prevent school shootings."
Any teacher who sees concerning behavior should report it to the school administration and the administration should follow the policies of the school district, which "hopefully include the ability to do a behavioral threat assessment, getting the child help before they resort to violence," said Tony Montalto, whose 14-year-old daughter Gina also was killed in 2018 at Stoneman Douglas.
"You bring professionals together and find the best way to get a student help," Montalto said. "Early intervention is the best way to come together. Waiting until it rises to the level of criminal activity or murder is too late."
Air quality advisories are in effect across Western Canada as smoky conditions plague some areas, according to the latest forecasts. Here's where.
Many foods fall under the category of ultraprocessed foods, depending on their exact ingredients. This type of food has been studied a lot lately, and the results aren’t great.
Hollywood actor Steve Buscemi has been treated for injuries after being punched in the face while walking in New York City.
Four years on, the controversy over whether airlines owed refunds to passengers after cancelling hundreds of thousands of flights during the pandemic continues to simmer, aggravated by a sluggish, opaque complaints process.
For her latest column on CTVNews.ca, royal commentator Afua Hagan writes about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's recent visit to Nigeria, calling it a 'deeply meaningful campaign' that was about aligning their ongoing efforts to foster mental-health awareness and promoting the Invictus Games.
As a pair of wildfires burn near Flin Flon and The Pas, a number of Manitobans are being told to evacuate their homes.
Ontario will need 33,200 more nurses and 50,853 more personal support workers by 2032, the government projects — figures it tried to keep secret but were obtained by The Canadian Press.
A tiny contingent of Duke University graduates opposed pro-Israel comedian Jerry Seinfeld speaking at their commencement in North Carolina Sunday, with about 30 of the 7,000 students leaving their seats and chanting "free Palestine" amid a mix of boos and cheers.
Whether you were lucky to nab tickets to one of Taylor Swift's six sold-out Toronto concerts in November or not, a new 'fan experience' hopes to get you into the party spirit.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'