More Details Revealed in Oxford High School Shooting
On Tuesday, November 30, the lives of Oxford High School students were put in danger when a 15-year-old student brought a gun to school, killing four of his classmates and injuring seven others including one teacher. The victims have been identified as Tate Myre (16), Madisyn Baldwin (17), Hana St. Juliana (14), and Justin Shilling (17).
The day before this fatality, a teacher reportedly saw the suspect looking up photos of gun ammunition during class and requested a meeting with the school’s guidance counselor. The suspect, Ethan Crumbley, told his teachers that “shooting sports are a family hobby.” After the school reached out to his parents to make them aware of the incident, the suspect’s mother sent him a text, saying “LOL I'm not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught.”
On the day of the shooting, the suspect was again called into the guidance counselor’s office after another teacher reported that he had been making “concerning drawings and written statements.” This included a drawing of a person being shot and bleeding as well as the words: “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me.” Crumbley claimed that he was interested in pursuing video game design as a career and the drawings were a part of a game he was creating. After his parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley arrived, their son was asked a series of questions about whether he would harm himself or others, and his answers as well as his calm demeanor led his teachers to believe that he was not a danger. His parents, who arrived an hour and a half after they received the school’s call, affirmed his answers, but the school was never made aware of the fact that he had access to a gun at home, which his parents bought for him.
The school officials asked the suspect’s parents to take their son home, and when they refused, saying that they had to go to work, the school required that they take him to professional counseling within the next two days. "Given the fact that the child had no prior disciplinary infractions, the decision was made [that] he would be returned to the classroom rather than sent home to an empty house," said Oxford Community Schools superintendent Tim Throne.
Shortly after this, the student began firing a gun in the hallway when hundreds of students were transitioning from one class to another. According to Oakland County prosecutor, Karen McDonald, the student had this gun in his bag the entire time he was in the counselor’s office. The school followed safety protocols, and made sure that the shooter was unable to enter any of the classrooms, but in this chaotic process, four students lost their lives and multiple others were injured.
It has since been discovered that the student’s mother sent him a text after news of the shooting began to circulate, the shooter’s mother sent him a text, which read “Ethan, don’t do it.” Fifteen minutes later, James Crumbley called the police to report a missing gun from his house, saying that he suspected his son was the active shooter at Oxford High School.
The shooter, who will be tried as an adult, is facing twenty-four charges as well as the possibility of life in prison and has since pleaded not guilty. His parents have each been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and have also pleaded not guilty.