FOX 2 News: The Edge | Sept. 5

Tonight on the edge. Schools on edge. This after two students and two teachers lost their lives during a mass shooting at a high school outside of Atlanta on Wednesday. It's really just an unthinkable reality that school districts have to be ready for. With every tragic event, there are lessons learned. Fox Two's Jessica Dupnack joins us live with more on how a local security company is working to keep schools safe. Jessica, you got everyone, everyone who's a parent, everyone of there is attention right now. Absolutely. The local security company that you're about to hear from, they actually started their work in the security venture after the Oxford High School shooting. They said they heard they're calling. And unfortunately, business is good. And that's because schools and parents, they want that added layer of security, especially in times like these. After yet another school shooting in this country, you know, we run the risk of normalizing massacres in our schools. We have to do more. The U.S. secretary of education at Fox two Studios, a day after the school shooting in rural Georgia. It's not just in our schools. We need to do more to make sure that 14 year olds don't have access to assault weapons. The alleged shooter, 14 year old Colt gray, got the murder weapon as a Christmas present from his dad last year, eerily similar to the storyline of the Oxford high school shooter. We know that these things just don't happen, like spontaneously, right? There's usually, you know, lots of warning signs. Brian Bastianelli, a retired police officer, started his school and corporate security company after seeing the need following the shooting in Oxford. Their company provides risk assessments to schools staffs, retired police officers and provides training to students and staff. He says, first off, the best thing you can do to keep kids safe is to have active and or retired law enforcement in every school. Having somebody there, you know, every day that knows every, you know, nook and cranny of that building, who's doing a constant physical vulnerability assessment every day as they walk around Bastianelli commending the new security system put in place weeks before the shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia, teachers equipped with alarms on their badges when repeatedly pushed trigger lockdown warnings on TVs in the school and immediately alerts police. The panic alarm system that they had just installed definitely saved lives, you know, in these situations, you know, these critical incidents, seconds count. Once those alarms are activated, students immediately go into lockdown, locking doors and barricading classrooms with desks and chair. We're trying to buy time until somebody with the proper training and tools can respond. Bastianelli says they often advise schools to upgrade security cameras, add weapons detection systems and those school wide alarms. Some of the newer technologies out there are much softer, much easier, and the technology just keeps getting better. So it's not as obtrusive. And that's really it. It's a fine line to walk between security and making schools fortresses that are uncomfortable. Now Brian Bastianelli made a good point. He said, in a lot of those post interviews of students in Georgia, when they found out who the shooter was, they were not surprised. If you remember in the coverage he was interviewed back in 2022 regarding some threats that were made online. The FBI couldn't press charges at that point, but Bastianelli says it's really on the students as well to find trusted adults if they see something unusual, whether it's in person or online. Reporting live, Jessica Dupnack on the edge. And even though we saw four people killed, nine people hurt in that winder, Georgia shooting, we do know that had those security, you know, techniques not been put in place. It could have been a lot worse. And so you can't say, oh, because people died in this school. It didn't work. It may have very well saved many lives. You have the experts saying that. And I would almost promise that a lot of schools right here locally are now looking into that, whether it's the alarm system on badges or under teachers desks. It really is going to be an important tool moving forward for a lot of schools in less than a half hour on the pulse. We're going to take a dive into this as well. A very important story, and sadly, one that we have to talk about. Jessica Dupnack for us live tonight. Thank you. A major new development in Wednesday's Appalachia High School shooting. Tonight, the father of the suspected gunman has been arrested and charged for his role in the attack. According to authorities, 54 year old Colin Gray knowingly allowed his son to possess a weapon. The child was on the FBI's radar last year for alleged threats. His father is now charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children. Meanwhile, the 14 year old suspected shooter Colt gray, will make his first appearance in court tomorrow morning. Tonight, we're also learning about the lives tragically lost in the shooting. The two students were both 14 years old, friends of Cristian Angulo say he was a free spirit with a sense of humor. The family of Mason Skimmerhorn says he was always positive and recently started to learn how to play the trumpet. Math teacher Richard Aspinwall was also the assistant football coach. The 39 year old is being remembered as a loving husband and father and math teacher Christina Aram was described as patient and caring, one of her students telling our Fox station in Atlanta that he feels for the people who never even got to meet her. Nine others were hurt during this attack. Detroit police thwart a potential mass shooting here. Take a look at this seizure. The department's Gang Intel unit in collaboration with Homeland Security, made this bust on Wednesday. The seizure included 3D printed gun parts, 3D printers, a drill press, and multiple rounds of ammo and numerous firearm parts. The illegal materials were confiscated from a home on Englund on Wednesday. We're told the one and only suspect is a juvenile. And tonight we're learning more about the security scare during last night's Green Day concert at Comerica Park. The band rushing off stage in the middle of a song. And we later learned it was due to a drone entering the restricted airspace. This is why we can't have nice things. This is why we have so many rules. People wonder why there are so many rules. They complain about rules. But here we are. Somebody doing something absolutely stupid. The rule is no drones within three nautical miles of an event with 30,000 people or more. The most serious security threats include drones dropping explosives. Detroit police quickly caught their guy outside the stadium. The investigation is being handed over to the FAA. Government workers in Oakland County are fed up. They're fighting for a new contract with better working conditions. As Fox News Dave Kitchen tells us, they took their frustrations straight to the Oakland County Board of Commissioners. What do we want? A fair contract. When do we want it? Now. That's right. It was not on the agenda, but UAW organizers representing Oakland County government workers brought out strength in numbers before Thursday night's Board of Commissioners meeting to apply pressure, demanding what they call a fair contract. One of the things about the UAW now we're making people earn our endorsements, and they will not be giving out, and we expect the same treatment. The UAW, which traditionally represents blue collar workers on the assembly line, making our cars and trucks, also backs many public sector employees, like the nearly 1000 members of the Oakland County workforce across many departments. And they've been in negotiations for better pay since the month of May. We represent people in public health. We represent folks in the elections department, folks in finance department, folks in animal control, folks in equalization that go out and do assessing. We represent folks all across this county government, 860 members. Well, our employees have fallen 7.5% behind inflation. Groceries have gone up, eating out at a restaurant has gone up. All of our costs have gone up. Workers lined up in red union shirts after clocking out for the day. And filled the auditorium to capacity with board members only listening and taking notes. They were not yet set to make any decisions on contracts, and we're hearing from the Oakland County executive, Dave Colter, tonight, reacting to the protest, he said in a statement, we believe we have made a fair and generous offer and are disappointed that we haven't yet reached an agreement. We will continue to negotiate with the UAW to secure a contract that values our employees and the work they do for our residents within the constraints of our budget. That's the statement tonight. And the union president told me, local union president told me that they actually think they're pretty close and that they could have this wrapped up and have a deal within a month or two. But still a lot of details to work out in Pontiac. Dave Kenshin on the edge. They come here to find a side job. I came here to make this my home and retire from here, and I wanted to finish out my career with marathon and they're they're they're hurting that right now and it's sad. Back to the picket line for Detroit Marathon refinery workers. Today was day two of the refinery strike. More than 200 teamsters from local 283 went on strike yesterday because their contract expired in January, and the negotiations haven't gone anywhere since. Workers are fighting for their first post-pandemic pay raise and for job security. Marathon has brought in trained replacement workers, so the southwest side plant can keep running. All right, turning to the weather now, most of our area got to experience a perfect summer day out there. But we do have some rain moving in and temperatures could be dropping to and wait. Are we hearing a little thunder? Possibly. That's possible overnight tonight and for sunrise Friday, we may see a there. You can see that cold front is crossing the state, but right now it's pretty quiet out there. It was a nice day. We did have a couple of spotty thundershowers through Livingston and Washtenaw counties this afternoon, right now all the action is still off to our west. There's a good look at Sky tracker. Some thunder showers approaching Lansing out around Grand Rapids as well. So we'll see more numerous showers through the overnight. It was a warm day today, 84 for us, 89 for Fort Wayne and for Columbus 84 the official high at Metro Airport. There Your averages there your records. How about that sunset? It's now before 8:00 70 Howell 71, Mount Clemens, 64, in Ann Arbor, 70 over in Windsor. The flow is light, but tomorrow it's going to be northerly. And that's why we're going to be down about ten degrees tomorrow. 66 Ludington. There's 50 degrees up around Marquette right now. There's our cold front. There it is. And there it goes. By the end of the day it's well off to our east. Saturday is setting up a breezy cool afternoon for football inside the big house. Still mild tonight. Some showers come in well after midnight. Could be that rumble of thunder, some lingering morning showers tomorrow 73 again. That's down ten from today. Down another ten for Saturday with a high of 64. But then next week, another long dry stretch of weather. A full check at 4 a.m. They knew about the fact that this gentleman was involved in a criminal case where he was being charged with a similar thing, a substitute teacher in the white Lake School District, now charged with touching students at an elementary school. 61 year old Tim Doherty is charged with six counts of second degree criminal sexual conduct. He is accused of touching students over their clothes at Spring Mills Elementary in Highland Township. The victims are between 9 and 11 years old. Doherty was charged in a similar incident seven years ago, but those charges were dismissed. Nearly a dozen parents are now part of a civil lawsuit against the school district. In this recent case. Huron Valley Schools telling us the teacher was dismissed following the latest allegations. Doherty is currently out on bond with the GPS tether for a surviver that implies they like to be raped and that is the most horrific thought, notion or even conversation we could be having. And Avalon Healing Center looking for that person who spray painted this disturbing message on the side of their building. This center serves as a safe place for survivors of rape, incest, or sexual assault. That's why this message I quote I love when I'm not asked is so disheartening. They say they will not allow this message to define them. They are not looking for a company to remove the paint. Well, also tonight a k a casket caper. Now solved in Macomb County. An image of an open casket at a butcher park there in Warren was posted on social media for days. There have been more questions than answers until now. According to police, the call was made to the department at 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday. By the time officers got there, the casket was gone. Following tips from the public, investigators concluded that the casket came from New York. Inside was a 97 year old woman who was set to be buried in Detroit. She was a lifelong Warren resident, we're told the New York funeral director allowed family members to say goodbye in the park prior to the burial. The city of Warren sends its condolences to the family, but also wants to alert residents that memorial viewings in