The person who called Oxford High School students ‘bro’ while trying to enter a classroom was likely an officer trying to put them at ease, sheriff says

• Video shows someone claiming to be an officer asking to enter a room during the Oxford, MI, shooting.
• Students were seen to be suspicious after that person called them "bro."
• The sheriff said that person was not the gunman and likely an officer trying to calm students.

The person captured on video calling students "bro" while trying to enter a classroom during the Oxford, Michigan, school shooting was not the gunman but likely a officer trying to calm the teenagers, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Wednesday.

A gunman killed four students at Oxford High School on Tuesday. A 15-year-old sophomore has been named as teh suspect.

Video footage published Tuesday showed some students in a classroom speaking to a person at the door, who says:  "Sheriff's office. It's safe to come out."

As students expressed skepticism, the person was heard saying: "Come to the door and look at my badge, bro."

This response appeared to make the students more wary. One student can be heard saying in the video:  "He said 'bro.' Red flag." The students were then seen starting to escape through the window.

Watch the video here:

—philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) November 30, 2021

At a Wednesday press conference, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said the person behind the door was not the suspected shooter.

"I want to clear up some of the incorrect information that keeps circulating. Social media keeps ginning up a great deal of false information," he said.

"A video was disseminated rather widely that showed the students in a classroom and depicted someone knocking on the door. And pretty much the allegation was that that was the suspect. We've now been able to determine that was not the suspect.

"More than likely it was one of our plain clothes detectives, and he may have been talking 'bro' in a conversational manner to try and bring them down from the crisis to say 'come on bro, let's get out of the classroom, let's get you outside.' That kind of comment."

Bouchard also said the suspect never knocked on a door.

Watch the sheriff speak here:

Authorities on Wednesday identified the suspect as 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, a student at the school.

The four students killed were identified as Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17,;and Justin Shilling, 17.