On Tuesday, November 30th yet another tragic shooting occurred at Michigan’s Oxford High School leaving four dead with not only six students injured but one teacher as well. His name is Ethan Crumbley, a 15-year old sophomore who is being charged as an adult. In accordance with CNN and the Oakland County Prosecutor he has been charged with one count of terrorism causing death, four counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of assault with intent to murder, and 12 counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. 

Crumbley is currently being held at Oakland County Jail, and his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, are being charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter pleading not guilty. Police officials believed they were trying to flee because they missed a court hearing, but the lawyer claims they were going to turn themselves in, resulting in the judge setting their bail at $500,000 each.

The weapon in question that was used by Ethan during the shooting was a 9mmm semiautomatic pistol. On November 26th Ethan and his father were seen buying that same weapon and then later Ethan posted a picture of it. The caption read “Just got my new beauty today. SIG SAUER 9mm,” according to CNN. Another post followed the next day but this time by Ethan’s mother where they alluded to the newly purchased gun putting the caption as trying out his new “Christmas present.” 

Adding even more fuel to the fire of his parents’ involvement, the day before the shooting a teacher was very alarmed by Ethan’s search history. During a class, he was looking up pictures of ammunition, and upon seeing this she reported this to the office. The office tried to reach out to his parents multiple times through not only email but call. The office got no response back from his parents, but it was found that Ethan got a text from his mom stating “LOL I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught.”

The tipping point for the administrative staff the day of the shooting was when a fellow teacher found a drawing that Ethan himself drew containing an image of the weapon and what looked like a victim bleeding everywhere. Along with the words “my life is useless” and “the world is dead” this time the school called the parents in, but they did nothing about it. The parents refused to take their son with them despite the school pleading that Ethan needs counseling. Making it more and more clear how involved the parents really were in not stopping this shooting. 

School surveillance caught Ethan taking the weapon out of his backpack when exiting the bathroom, then started shooting inside of classrooms. Killing four students and injuring six plus one of the teachers, when students were dying his mom texted him saying “Don’t do it,” but in a statement by CNN Ethan’s father reported his gun from his home and then called 911 telling them he thinks his son is the shooter. Having stolen the gun from his parents’ unlocked drawer. 

The investigation is still heavily underway with the amount of video footage the police officials have to comb through and analyze the posts made by the parents and Ethan himself. At this point in time, it does not look good for Ethan or his parents. 

Ethan Crumbley and his lawyers plan to pursue the insanity defense in his court trials. Crumbley is waiting to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to truly see what kind of state of mind he was in when shooting his Oxford High School, which is planning to reopen after over two months after the incident. Prosecutors are painting Ethan Crumbley as another troubled teen who showed signs that he needed help, but his parents neglected to do anything about that. One who allegedly suffers from depression, homicidal tendencies, tortured animals, had hallucinations and was very obsessed with guns and even Nazi-related propaganda according to Detroit Free Pass. 

Until the psychiatric evaluation, no one will truly know Ethan’s intent behind why he did what he did. It always comes down to intent and if the defendant knew his intent and the consequences behind it.