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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