The father of Mackenzie Shirilla — the young woman at the center of the new Netflix true crime documentary The Crash — will not return to his job as a teacher at an Ohio school after his comments on the show.
Steve Shirilla, an art and digital media teacher at Mary Queen of Peace School, will not return to his former role after being placed on administrative leave for showing what the school deemed to be “poor judgement,” according to Fox 8.
“We are investigating allegations made on social media that one of our teachers has demonstrated poor judgement,” the school said in an email in May. The email did not include the elder Shirilla’s name, but he confirmed to 19 News it was him.
Mackenzie Shirilla — dubbed “hell on wheels” by the judge presiding over her case — was convicted of double murder for intentionally accelerating her car at 100 miles per hour into a brick building, killing both her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and their friend Davion Flanagan in July 2022. She survived the incident and insisted that she blacked out, but evidence presented to a court convinced the jury that she had intentionally wrecked her car with the intention of killing the two young men.
Steve Shirilla appeared on camera for the documentary — which focused on the crash, investigation and trial — and commented on his daughter’s lifestyle and relationship with Russo and Flanagan.
During one interview segment, he appears to brush off his daughter’s cannabis use prior to the deadly collision, despite her only being 17 at the time.
“I don’t have a problem with her smoking dope. If you’re going to smoke a drug, that’s the one I believe you should take,” he said.
In an interview with TMZ earlier this week, he claimed that he wouldn’t return to the school, even if he was asked.
“I wouldn’t re-sign a contract with them for the simple fact of how they handled this situation… the school and the diocese showed their true colors,” Shirilla said.
He also told the outlet that he didn’t want to discuss his employment situation and reiterated his belief that his daughter is innocent.
“I’m done talking about this or anything that’s not about the injustice my daughter has been put through my only focus is her,” he said.
The Independent has requested comment from the school.
Shirilla has been sentenced to two concurrent 15 year to life sentences for the deaths of Russo and Flanagan.
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