Parents Arrested in Connection with School Shooting

by Pa Rock

Former School Principal

Last Tuesday, November 30th, another American school lost its innocence as a student gunman pulled an automatic pistol from his backpack and opened fire on his fellow students.  This time the carnage happened at Oxford High School in the community of Oxford, Michigan, approximately thirty miles north of Detroit.  

The young terrorist, a fifteen-year-old sophomore by the name of Ethan Crumbley, fired more than thirty rounds, a harrowing fusillade of bullets that killed four, wounded seven, and did untold psychological damage to hundreds of others as well as to their parents and loved ones.

Some news reports indicated that Ethan may have been the victim of bullying, a situation which is not uncommon among school shooters.

The gun that the shooter used was a new, 9mm Sig Sauer pistol that his father had purchased as a Christmas gift for the boy four days earlier at a "Black Friday" sale.  The son had been with his father when the purchase was made.   While the pistol was intended for Christmas, Ethan had already posed with it for Facebook photos and had used the gun for target practice.  It was reportedly stored in an unlocked drawer in his parents' bedroom

The day before the shooting a teacher had observed Ethan on his cell phone where he appeared to be shopping for ammunition.  That was reported to school authorities and his parents were notified.  Ethan's mother responded by texting her son, "LOL.  I'm not mad at you, you have to learn not to get caught."   

The following day, the day of the shooting, a teacher found a note and drawing of Ethan's which she photographed and then showed to school authorities.  A county sheriff's deputy described that note/drawing as follows:

 

“The note contained the following: a drawing of a semi-automatic handgun pointed at the words, ‘The thoughts won’t stop. Help me.’ In another section of the note was a drawing of a bullet with the following words above that bullet: ‘Blood everywhere.’ Between the drawing of the gun and the bullet is the drawing of a person who appears to have been shot twice and bleeding. Below that figure is the drawing of a laughing emoji. Further down the drawing are the words, ‘My life is useless,’ and to the right of those words are, ‘The world is dead.’”

 

The parents were called to the school to discuss what had been found, and Ethan was brought to the office.   The boy said that the notes and drawing were related to a computer game that he was designing.  The parents refused to take their son home, and he was sent back to class.  It is now believed that he had his backpack with him while he was in the principal's office and that the pistol - and three loaded magazines - were in his backpack - but no one thought to check it.  Also the school had no metal detectors. 

The parents left the school at 10:00 a.m. and a couple of hours later Ethan stepped into the bathroom with his backpack and came out shooting.

Ethan Crumbley has been arrested and will be tried as an adult.   He may spend the rest of his life behind bars.  But this case has an unusual postscript.  Ethan's parents, because of their "egregious" behaviors leading up to the day of the shooting, have also been arrested.  Oakland County, Michigan, prosecutors have have charged James and Jennifer Crumbley with four counts each of involuntarily manslaughter, charges which could result in fifteen years of imprisonment.  Less than a week before the deadly shooting, the parents had bought the murder weapon, shown their son how to use it, and left it within easy access for the troubled youth.  They also failed to notify the school that their son had that easy access to an automatic pistol.

When word went out on Thursday of last week that they were going to be arrested, the Crumbley's withdrew four thousand dollars from an ATM and left their home.  A reward of $10,000 was quickly offered for their location, and they were arrested the next day in a warehouse in Detroit.  Their attorney said they were preparing to turn themselves in, a statement which seemed at odds with the circumstances of their departure from Oxford and their subsequent arrest in the Detroit warehouse.

The school district's superintendent is calling for an independent investigation of what happened at Oxford High School.  Some mistakes were obviously made, and it is incumbent of the school's officials to insure that those mistakes are brought to light and never repeated.

One student remains hospitalized, and funerals are beginning.  The healing is unlikely to ever be complete.

This old school principal would like to conclude with one gut-felt observation:  The prosecutor in Oakland County, Michigan, got it absolutely right when she issued arrest warrants on the parents.  Not only did they raise this very troubled child, they also had a history of stoking a confrontational attitude toward the schools that he attended - and then they armed the child, closed their eyes, and let nature take its course.

James and Jennifer Crumbley own a good deal of the blood that was spilled at Oxford High School.  Other parents and other prosecutors need to pay attention to what is happening in Michigan.  Maybe it will be the way of the future.

Parents bear some responsibility for what they set loose upon the world.