Ethan Crumbley pleads guilty to terrorism, murder charges in Oxford school shooting
Michigan mass shooter Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty Monday to a slew of murder and terrorism charges for slaughtering four classmates at his Detroit area high school when he was just 15.
The disturbed teen, now 16, pleaded guilty to a total of 24 charges over the carnage nearly a year ago at Oxford High School that also wounded six other pupils and a teacher.
He withdrew his intent to pursue an insanity defense, instead admitting the first-degree murders of classmates Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana and Justin Shilling last Nov. 30.
Asked by Judge Kwame Rowe if he “knowingly, willfully and deliberately” chose to shoot other students, the teen nodded and replied: “Yes.”
“I accept the plea,” replied the judge as some relatives of the young victims wept in the gallery at Oakland County Circuit Court.
The prosecutor’s office stressed that no deals were made ahead of Monday’s plea on the charges that included terrorism causing death and 12 counts of possessing a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Each of the first-degree murder charges he admitted would typically bring an automatic life prison sentence in Michigan.
However, teenagers are entitled to a hearing at which their lawyer can argue for a shorter term and an opportunity for parole. Prosecutors have yet to signal if they will fight for life without parole.
The judge set Feb. 9 for the start of hearings, during which Crumbley’s lawyers will be able to argue a variety of mitigating circumstances, including family life and mental health.
His parents — James and Jennifer Crumbley — are also facing involuntary manslaughter charges over the shooting, accused of buying him the 9mm Sig Sauer semi-automatic handgun he used while ignoring warnings that he was a “troubled young man.”
His mom allegedly had been warned a day before the carnage that a teacher had found Ethan searching for ammunition on his phone.
“Lol. I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught,” she texted the teen, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The parents were then both summoned to the school just hours before the bloodshed after his teacher had found a drawing with a gun pointing at the words: “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me.” There was also an image of a bullet with the message: “Blood everywhere.”
However, they declined to take him home from school — leaving him there with the handgun and 50 rounds of ammunition in his backpack.
“Put simply, they created an environment in which their son’s violent tendencies flourished,” prosecutors said in a court filing. “They were aware their son was troubled, and then they bought him a gun.”
The Crumbleys have always insisted they were unaware of their son’s plan to commit a school shooting.
Prosecutors earlier this year disclosed that Ethan had hallucinations about demons and was fascinated by guns and Nazi propaganda. He also shared alleged desires to rape a female classmate — and idolized cannibal killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
