The mass shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan has dropped from the spotlight over the last couple of years. That’s to be expected in the wake of much deadlier mass shootings. There’s only so much focus on society can hold onto.

But the matter there is far from settled.

It seems that while it’s yet another mass shooting that has been blamed on guns, school officials need to shoulder at least some of the blame.

I mean, they apparently handed the alleged killer his gun back.

An attorney for victims of the Oxford High School shooting held a press conference on Thursday to detail new findings in the case.

Attorney Ven Johnson deposed several employees of the school who had direct contact with accused shooter [name redacted] prior to the Nov. 30, 2021, shooting.

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[The alleged killer’s] parents, Jennifer and James, are facing manslaughter charges. Several lawsuits have been filed against the school district alleging negligence.

“To me, this is beyond neglect it’s unforgivable. We have four angels that are gone, you know. I can’t find an excuse for dropping the ball. Again and again and again we’re learning all of these months later that this could have and should have been avoided. These children should be with us here today,” Justin Shilling’s mother Jill Soave said.

At the press conference, Johnson broke down a timeline of events that led to the shooting, including sharing new emails between school employees.

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On the day of the shooting, [he] was pulled from the classroom and to the office. He has a 45-minute conversation with school officials that officials believe feels like a normal conversation.

His parents are called and [the alleged shooter] begins worrying about missing chemistry class. He said he wants his homework and wants his backpack.

The counselor went down to the classroom and grabbed the backpack. According to the testimony, the teacher picked it up and it looked empty but when she handed it to the counselor he commented on how heavy it was. Inside the backpack was a gun, magazines and [the kid’s] manifesto.

Also understand that this was just one example attorneys are providing that show a pattern of not just ignoring warning signs by school officials, but also seemingly covering it up after the fact.

What we all need to understand is that kids like this don’t just walk around all normal-like until one day they snap and start shooting up their school. There are warning signs.

Now, do other kids show similar signs? Yeah, they do, and that’s why I’m not saying they should be prosecuted or anything. What they need is help. If they get that, you can stop mass shootings and improve the lives of a whole lot of kids.

It’s an all-around win.

But that’s not what happened in Oxford. It looks like there, everyone just looked the other way. This kid was crying out for help and no one was interested.

It’s a shame because four other kids paid for that inattention with their lives.

Meanwhile, the usual suspects still want to make Oxford about gun control. I don’t think any restrictions on the Second Amendment would have stopped what happened that day. I do think the school heeding the warning signs might have, though.