KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
The parents of the two victims killed in the Saugus High shooting have filed separate wrongful death lawsuits against the William S. Hart High School District over its alleged “failure to take basic steps to supervise students on campus,” officials announced Thursday.
The families of Dominic Blackwell, 14, and Gracie Muehlberger, 15, filed wrongful death lawsuits on Monday in Los Angeles County against the Hart District on the grounds that school staff should have noticed that the shooter was acting suspiciously in a public area of the school grounds for some time before the shooting took place, a time wherein the families allege that intervening actions by staff could have occurred.
The lawsuits allege that the shooter, a 16-year-old male student, was allowed to skip class and spend over forty minutes standing by himself in the outdoor quad area of Saugus High School, at times in a “trance-like-state,” without supervision or interruption from any supervisors, teachers, and/or staff, according to the complaint.
“In eight short seconds, Gracie’s life and Dominic’s life were taken. Our lives, the lives of the Blackwells, the lives of so many young children at this school, their families, and our small community were changed forever. I’m sharing my story in the hope of preventing future tragedies and sparing other families the pain that mine has experienced,” said Bryan Muehlberger, Gracie’s father, in a statement.
See Related: Lawsuit To Crack Down On ‘Ghost Guns’ Prompted By Saugus High Shooting
The complaint alleges that security on the campus was supposed to be provided by one unarmed sheriff’s deputy and nine “campus supervisors” who act as guards, according to the chief administrative officer for the school district. The suit claims that none of these personnel were present at the time of the shooting.
Julie Fieber, a partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP, representing Bryan and Cindy Muehlberger said, “Parents trust schools to take basic common sense steps to keep children stay safe once they come onto campus.”
The suit alleges that on the morning of the shooting, the Hart District and its employees were under mandatory duties to hold the shooter and all other students under their purview “to strict account for his conduct, to provide effective supervision over all students, and to provide effective supervision” over the Saugus High School quad and school premises.
“Why even have security cameras if no one is going to monitor them? Why have guards on the campus if they aren’t going to guard the students.” Fieber further stated, “A minimal notions of the school’s duty to supervise include taking steps to intervene and check on an obviously troubled student who spent nearly an hour standing in a trance-like state in the middle of campus.”
Finally, Fieber charged, “The school failed in its duty to ensure that personnel were watching over the campus and students that day.”
The Hart district is unable to comment on pending litigation at this time, but are sympathetic to the losses that the Muehlberger and Blackwell families have suffered, according to a spokesperson for the district.
“The William S. Hart Union High School District and Santa Clarita Valley continue to grieve with the Muehlberger and Blackwell families one year after the tragic incident on Nov. 14, 2019. We were honored to coordinate with the Muehlberger and Blackwell families and the City of Santa Clarita in the recent Unity of Community remembrance event to honor Gracie and Dominic,” said a William S. Hart District spokesperson.
See Related: A Community United: Remembering The Saugus High School Shooting
In addition to the complaint lodged against the Hart District, the Muehlberger family has also included the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office as a defendant, citing emotional distress due to the unauthorized disclosure of Gracie’s identity to the media by an employee, despite several statutes that made it clear that this was inappropriate, including a security hold placed on Gracie’s file by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Many of the Muehlberger’s family and friends were “shocked and horrified” to first learn about Gracie’s death from the news media. Further, Gracie’s parents were denied the chance to mourn privately, and “bombarded with a surge of calls and messages from shocked and distraught family and friends, which inflicted upon Bryan and Cindy additional extreme emotional distress,” states the suit.
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You would be profiling if you approached a student and assumed he/she/it was doing something concerning. If that student is a transgender, you’d be transphobic. Depending on the students race, you’d be called a racist. Staff and administrators can’t win. If they are proactive, they’ll be under fire. If they fail, they will be where we are with this situation. Lawsuit in the works.
If there ever was one thing I’d do over, it’s becoming a lawyer! Doesn’t matter what the suits are about! Cha-CHING for ME! ?
Arn: As usual, your Liberal condoning hollow heart shows through! The typical MO of Liberals, take take take, give give give for free! Good old demonic greed for Mammon.
Christine: Unfortunately, disgustingly so true. The Liberals are ruining America!
Why? My daughter goes to this school and they did NOTHING wrong. It’s a shame. I feel for them but turning it into a dollar sign makes me respect them less.
“. . . security on the campus was supposed to be provided by one unarmed sheriff’s deputy and nine “campus supervisors” who act as guards . . .”
I was a sheriff’s deputy for 30 years and never, ever unarmed while on-duty. If true, why would the District contract for an “unarmed” deputy when, as this school shooting demonstrates, only a bullet stopped the shooter? In eight short seconds, if present, what could an unarmed deputy do to stop bullets?
This lawsuit is shameful.
This was a horrific tragedy! The is no amount of money that will bring these students’ lives back. Will money help? Certainly, reality is very different these days with all the violence that goes on in our world. However, there are not enough counselors, staff on a campus to help all the students all the time. In good faith, children are sent to school daily to learn & grow. There is no way one can predict a tragedy will occur. It can happen on the way home, in a car, mall, even a drive by shooting. People/Kids die daily for no reason other than an illegal fire arm was used. Laws need to change. I’m sorry for the families who are involved, respect their loss. Schools & staff daily try to prepare our young people for life. They train for godawful situations, but reality is it can happen. I wonder what Gracie & Dominic would say if they could tell you their thoughts right now. It’s all very sad.
Way to turn the community against you.!
Money grabbing at its finest!
You’re defiling the memory of the victims!
No way the school could of predicted or prevented this – no previous violence at the school to justify any metal detectors- Shame on the the family’s. You want to help? Then advocate for better mental health care and awareness training for teachers and students of red flags!
So well said!!! This clearly was a mental
Health issue that no one wants to talk about!! Blaming gets us nowhere!! How about we try and fix the problem with mental health issues being on the rise !
Disgusting money Grab. And all it does is take money away from the kids…(cause, you know…It isn’t coming out of the Teachers Unions or their Pensions……it’s always the kids that are hurt in the end…)
I’m really embarrassed for Gracie now. This is sad and yes money grabbing and profiting. I don’t have kids in school anymore. I just see what your doing is not morally right.
Wendy- not sure why you are targeting the teacher’s money. It isn’t their fault. It’s no ones fault. The problem is the districts insurance will pay, which takes away money from everyone.
Sad.
I’m appalled. What a money grab over this tradegy.
I’m disgusted with the lawyers that probably approached them in the first place.
I have lost respect for these families. I hope the comments reach them and that they’d withdraw the lawsuit.
For these parents who will never see their kids off to college or have kids of their own is gone forever.Their hearts have a massive black hole in it that no matter what happens with this lawsuit will never be filled so maybe this is just part of their walk that they have to do to confirm they did their best to make changes so no one else has to go through what their families have.Of course money helps but this is a journey they didn’t sign up for as a parent and would change places with their kids without hesitation.The first thought when they wake up if they’ve even slept is of their child they’ll never see and that’s the last thought they have before they try to sleep.This is a perpetual nightmare they’ll at best only get through but never over.For most of us i guess the hardest thing in life is getting aggravated over a mask or what’s in stock but I’ll take 365 days a year for life of that before their 365 days a year regardless how much money they do or don’t get.
Your thinking about this too much on a personal level. Whos going to be paying out the settlement? The school district. And whos pays for teacher salaries? What do you think the outcome will be? Budget cuts, layoffs and even more unemployment. We have some of the best teachers here and will potentially start losing them if the district has to pay out over someone else’s grievance.
These situations are tragic, and even the community felt the impact. But you cant let your feelings and greed unravel the unity this event has built in our community.
Way to taint your kid’s legacy with self righteous greed.
Makes me wonder if these teens could view The Ten Commandments in a quad if they would ponder differently… guidance and hope and behavior issues could be helped. I believe this is still displayed at the Supreme Court. They are a set of rules against murder, stealing, cheating, adultery and profanity. Wake up, people. Kids crave guidance , help them before serious mental health is needed.
I think we need to look at rescinding the renaming of Central Park if this lawsuit continues. There will be a settlement offer which takes our tax dollars that are supposed to be used for our students and will now be given to these families. I feel horrible what has happened to them but this is just not right for these families to sue based on the reasons in the story. After everything the school district, The City of Santa Clarita and the community has done to help these families it is very upsetting that they are now doing this to our community. The district should fight this hard and protect our tax payer dollars including threatening to remove the names from the Central Park signage for this shake down of a lawsuit.
Unbelievable! They were whining all year about getting their children memorialized on our park entrance until they got what they wanted (You know the squeaky wheel). Now they are suing the school.
I really felt bad for those poor kids and their parents but when they started going around looking for attention something clicked here. Other children have been murdered here and none of those parents were complaining and blaming someone else.
Say what you like. A lot of underhanded things go on at that school. I’ve seen it and had to deal with this district several times over the years. This shooting was horrendous and the shooter needed help that he wasn’t getting. OBVIOUSLY. That was the first issue, the second issue was blabbing information they had no business talking about to the press!! They’ve had lock downs at that school before that were disasters! Those families deserve every dime they can squeeze outta the district.
The person who allowed an unarmed deputy should be fired.
And at the Supreme Court building they have The Ten Commandments displayed. Put this in quad areas of schools so teens have something to look at besides looking like zombies, kids want guidance, let that sink in people. See The Ten Commandments at schools before needing to see it at a courthouse. Then see how things change with our youth instead of so many needing to turn to counseling.
Post the names of the greedy, low class parents & demonic filthy lawyers! They should have sent in social workers to stop the deranged bullets!