Victims’ attorney: ‘Someone must have known something was very wrong’ with Marysville school shooter
Aug 31, 2015, 5:40 PM | Updated: Sep 1, 2015, 10:08 pm
Attorney Ann Deutscher says they're still searching for anything that could have predicted the tragedy at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. (KIRO Radio/Jillian Raftery)
(KIRO Radio/Jillian Raftery)
Families of the Marysville-Pilchuck High School shooting victims are banding together, trying to determine if the tragic attack could have been prevented.
They’re hoping an investigative report set to be released Tuesday could hold the key to what happened in the days and weeks leading up to the deaths of their children.
On Oct. 24, 2014, 15-year-old freshman Jaylen Fryberg opened fire on five of his friends during lunch in the cafeteria, killing four students, including one of his cousins, before turning the gun on himself. His cousin, Nate Hatch, was the only survivor.
Ten months later, attorney Ann Deutscher, who represents the families, said they’re still searching for anything that could have predicted the tragedy.
“Well, I don’t think that a child shows up at school and starts shooting people, especially his best friends, without giving some form of warning,” Deutscher said. “I believe common sense dictates that someone must have known something was very wrong with Jaylen.”
Deutscher said Fryberg may have been involved in a fight at an after-school sports practice shortly before the shooting. But she said it’s unclear if he was ever disciplined.
“And yet, he was allowed to become homecoming prince just the weekend before this happened,” she continued. “And yet the scuffle, or what I’ve had described to me as an all-out brawl, happened just a few days preceding [the shooting]. So we have many questions we’d like to ask the school district about what went on.”
Deutscher said the group isn’t filing any lawsuits yet. For now, the families are waiting to see if the report can give them more information about what happened, whether anyone saw the tragedy coming and what they did about it.
The report is reportedly more than 2,300 pages, compiled by a regional task force investigating the shooting. A judge is holding back parts of the report that contain text messages from Fryberg’s former girlfriend until a hearing on Thursday.
Until the release, Deutscher said they’re reviewing the school’s policies on discipline and bullying to determine if there may have been any warnings that went unnoticed, or were ignored.
“The primary goal is to stop the bloodshed,” Deutscher said.
