The day before the Oxford High School shooting, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley was caught by a teacher looking up different types of ammunition on his cellphone. Concerned, school officials called and emailed his mother, to no response.
What she did was text her son: ‘LOL I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught.’
She sent her son a drastically different text message when news broke of an active shooter on campus.
‘Ethan, don’t do it.’
Disturbing new details of the events leading up to the latest school shooting to shake America were revealed Friday when a Michigan prosecutor charged Jennifer and James Crumbley each with four counts of involuntary manslaughter.
James legally purchased the 9mm Sig Sauer SP 2022 pistol four days before the shooting. A store manager confirmed Ethan was there when he purchased it. They stored the gun in an unlocked drawer in James’ bedroom.
His son took to social media, sharing a photo of the handgun captioned: ‘Just got my new beauty today.’
The next day, a post Jennifer made to social media read: ‘Mom and son day testing out his new Christmas present.’
Ethan had been flagged by school officials twice for concerning behavior. The first time was the day before the shooting, and the second was just hours before.
The day of the shooting, a teacher noticed Ethan left a disturbing note on his desk, filled with alarming images and the words: ‘The thoughts won’t stop. Help me.’
The teacher was so disturbed she took a photo on her cellphone of the note, which also featured a semiautomatic handgun, a person with bullet wounds, a laughing emoji and several other concerning sentences: ‘blood everywhere,’ ‘life is useless’ and ‘the world is dead’.
James and Jennifer were immediately called to campus, told they needed to put their son into counseling within 48 hours and asked if they wanted to take him home with them now.
They decided he should stay in school. Ethan returned to class, likely with the gun in his backpack, McDonald said.
‘The notion that a parent could read those words and also know their son had access to a deadly weapon, that they gave him, is unconscionable and I think it’s criminal,’ prosecutor Karen McDonald said Friday.
After being shown the violent note at school, both parents failed to ask their son if he had his gun with him or where his gun was and whether it was in his backpack, McDonald said.
‘While the shooter was the one who entered the high school and pulled the trigger, there are other individuals who contributed to this, to the events on November 30, and it is my intention to hold them accountable,’ McDonald said.
Ethan has been charged as an adult with two dozen crimes, including murder, attempted murder and terrorism, for Tuesday’s shooting at Oxford High School that killed four teenagers and injured seven others, including a teacher.
A judge entered a not guilty plea for Ethan on Wednesday. His next court appearance is scheduled for December 13.
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