Before Oxford High School Shooting, Rumors of Attack

Authorities have identified the three children killed in a Michigan school shooting Tuesday as Tate Myre, 16, Hana St. Juliana, 14, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17. Tate died in a deputy's patrol car en route to the hospital, the AP reports. Seven Oxford High School students aged 14 to 17 are still hospitalized, including one girl who is on a ventilator following surgery, and a teacher who received a graze wound has been treated and released. Meanwhile, more is coming out about the suspect, a 15-year-old sophomore who was arrested (with seven rounds of ammunition still in his gun) minutes after police arrived at the school:

• The weapon: The 9mm Sig Sauer used in the shooting was owned by the as-yet-unidentified suspect's father, and the suspect had posted about using the firearm for target practice.
• The parents: The suspect's parents have visited their son since his arrest and advised him to exercise his right not to talk to investigators, and he has asked for a lawyer, police say. A motive is not yet known. "The person that’s got the most insight and the motive is not talking," the sheriff says. Some students say the suspect had been bullied.

• The rumors: Authorities have acknowledged there were allegedly threats of a shooting circulating on social media prior to the attack, but say they were not aware of those threats until after the attack. The district said weeks ago it had investigated other concerns shared by students and parents and found no credible threats, Fox 2 Detroit reports. It's not clear if the social media posts in question are related to Tuesday's shooting. One parent says her son stayed home Tuesday after hearing there would be a shooting. "This couldn’t be just random," she says.
• The deer head: Authorities did, however, downplay the significance of a severed deer head found in the school courtyard in early November, which the undersheriff says was "absolutely unrelated" to the shooting and involved a different suspect.
• The videos: Disturbing videos are circulating on social media showing students responding to the shooting, including this one in which terrified students are unsure whether to open the classroom door for someone claiming to be from the sheriff's office and ultimately flee through a window.
• The victims: Read more about Madisyn, an artist and beloved older sister, here or more about Tate, a standout football player, here. Not much has been released about Hana, but there is a photo of her here. One of the victims was the loved one of an employee at the emergency dispatch center, the Detroit Free Press reports.

(More Michigan stories.)