Oxford mom keeps fighting Oakland prosecutor for information on security, threats

Kara Berg

The Detroit News

May 13, 2026, 4:26 p.m. ET

A mother whose children attended Oxford High School during a 2021 mass

shooting is fighting Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald to get records

about contracts McDonald entered into, money she spent on security and threats

she has received since charging the shooter's parents.

McDonald's office denied about half of Kristen Karr's public records request. She

gave Karr several contracts, though Karr maintains several are missing, and denied

the request for information about threats McDonald had received after charging

James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of the shooter who killed four students

and injured six others and a teacher, with involuntary manslaughter.

Karr sued McDonald in September 2024 for the records. An Oakland County Circuit

Court judge ruled in favor of McDonald and Karr appealed the ruling. Karr and her

attorney, Scott Farida, declined to comment on a recent appeals court ruling, citing

the still-pending case.

Farida ran against McDonald for Oakland County Prosecutor in 2024 and lost.

In a written ruling released Tuesday, the Court of Appeals found there was no

evidence Oakland County improperly denied Karr's request for contracts between

McDonald and a security and threat management firm. The court also found thatthe prosecutor properly gave records of contracts between McDonald and all news

media outlets, including The Washington Post, and between McDonald and all

public relations companies.

The court did, however, say McDonald improperly denied Karr information about

documented threats of harm or violence toward McDonald, her family or the

prosecutor's office after the Oxford shooting.

Chief Assistant Prosecutor David Williams' affidavit did not provide any details

about what records had been withheld, and though he made it clear McDonald "had

received threats of violence that had led to criminal investigations, his averments

did not otherwise indicate how release of the requested information would

undermine and interfere with the criminal investigations or put the safety of law

enforcement personnel at risk," the court wrote.

"Here, although we are certainly aware of the stated need to protect McDonald, her

family, her staff, law enforcement, as well as the integrity of ongoing criminal

investigations, we cannot overlook the fact that Williams’s affidavits in and of

themselves were based on conclusory and generalized statements and did not

provide the trial court with any particularized facts or reasons stating how release of

the requested information would “[i]nterfere with law enforcement proceedings” or

“[e]ndanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement personnel," the Court of

Appeals wrote.

Karr said in her appeal she believes there are contracts with a security company,

and there are more contracts with media and public relations firms that were not

released.

McDonald said the contracts with the security company did not exist and said the

documented threats were exempt under Michigan's public records law, as the

release would interfere with an ongoing investigation.

Karr wrote in an affidavit that she planned to call McDonald to testify about the

circumstances of why security company Fortis Group was hired and the reasonswhy a contract did not exist, according to the Court of Appeals. She provided

documentary evidence that Fortis Group provided services to McDonald and was

paid at least $171,000 for it. Williams wrote in an affidavit that there was no

contract executed within the time frame Karr asked for, according to the court.

Karr has been outspoken ever since the 2021 shooting. She sought the resignation of

Oxford School Board President Heather Shafer and board Treasurer Mary Hanser

following the release of the Guidepost Solutions report in October 2023, which

found missteps and failures by Oxford's former superintendent and two former

members of his cabinet snowballed to allow the shooter to slip through the school's

threat assessment and suicide intervention systems.

Shafer and Hanser resigned in June 2024 ahead of a request for their removal.

Farida has criticized McDonald for spending county money on security after she

received threats amid the Crumbley prosecutions. He said some people have raised

concerns to him "as to whether there were any actual credible threats." He admitted

he had not seen the threats himself, though he tried to obtain them through

Michigan's public records laws before he filed a lawsuit on Karr's behalf.

McDonald said in 2024 she did not ask for the security plan; it was implemented by

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard. She said Bouchard and County

Executive Dave Coulter also have security.

kberg@detroitnews.com