James Crumbley to police after shooting: Son was ‘perfect kid,’ didn’t get in trouble
PONTIAC, Mich. — How James Crumbley purchased the gun used in the 2021 shooting at Oxford High School and his immediate response after the shooting were the focus of testimony Friday in Oakland County Circuit Court.
Crumbley, 47, is being tried on four counts of involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of four students his son shot in
2021 — Hana St. Juliana,
14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; and Justin Shilling, 17. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Oxford High School Assistant Principal Kristy Gibson-marshall recalled going toward the gunfire when she heard it on
Nov. 30, 2021. She saw
Tate laying facedown on the ground and realized who the shooter was. She had been his principal in elementary school.
Throughout her testimony, Gibson-marshall called the shooter by his first name, despite Prosecutor Karen Mcdonald calling him “the shooter” or “Mr. Crumbley’s son.”
Gibson-marshall said she was surprised who the shooter was.
“It didn’t seem right to me, because Ethan was a sweet kid, I couldn’t picture that being him,” she said.
She alerted the office that she had eyes on the shooter and turned to him. She recalled talking to him. The gun was still in his hand.
“As he walked by I asked him if he was OK, what was going on. He looked away from me, and I knew for sure he was the shooter because he would’ve talked to me if he were not,” she said.
James began crying during Gibson-marshall’s testimony, wiping his eyes and nose with a tissue.
The shooter walked away, and Gibson-marshall turned her back to him, going back to Tate, who had been shot in the back of his head. Tate had a pulse, so she began to give him rescue breaths.
At the Oxford substation of the Oakland County Sheriff ’s Office just hours after the Nov. 30, 2021 shooting, James and
Jennifer got to see their son briefly, and when police asked the Crumbleys if they had any questions for their son, James said they did not.
As they got up to leave the room, the shooter appeared to say, “Please take care of Dexter,” referring to his cat.
Jennifer shouted at him: “Why? Why?”
James called out “I love you” four times to his son. They both began crying as they walked back into their own interview room at the substation, and James is audibly sobbing.
“He didn’t even, like, care,” Jennifer Crumbley said, according to surveillance video. “What the f---.”
Detective Sgt. Joe Brian acknowledged that James became emotional when he or his partner mentioned that multiple people had been shot. Lehman emphasized that when Jennifer asked for a lawyer, he said they could talk to police.
Brian acknowledged that James was concerned about the safety and well-being of his son during the interview.
Surveillance footage shown in court showed James and his wife, Jennifer, meeting with sheriff ’s deputies in an interview room just hours after the Oxford substation.
James explained the shooter’s stressors as Jennifer scrolled through her phone to find texts the officers asked about. He said the shooter’s only friend had left abruptly, their dog died and James’ mother died.
“He’s a perfect kid, he doesn’t get in trouble at school,” James said.
He said the 9mm used in the shooting was hidden in the armoire in its case, with the bullets hidden in a completely different spot underneath some jeans,
James said.
“After I saw the cops, after I found out there was an active shooter, after what went on this morning, I immediately raced home, found the gun missing and called you guys,” James said.
When police brought up talking to their son, James said they wanted a lawyer from this point forward.
“I really wish we’d have taken him home,” Jennifer told police.
During the video, James told deputies that the shooter “was just fine this morning.”
“I drove him to school and he apologized about last night . ... I told him listen I just want you to try (harder) in school,” he said.
They’d had a fight with their son the night before about grades and missing assignments, according to previous testimony.
At one point, James interrupted police when they’re talking to him at the substation and his wife to ask for a water, saying, “my mouth is super dry and I’m freaking out.”
When Jennifer said her son has never done anything bad, James whimpered “no,” appearing to be crying.
Jennifer asked for a lawyer and James said, “I think we can speak to the cops.” Both continued to speak to the police.
Cammy Back, office manager at an Oxford gun store, testified that she sold Crumbley two guns in June 2021, a day apart, and the 9mm gun used in the Oxford High School shooting in November
2021.
Crumbley was a “familiar face” in the store, she testified, and that he pointed to the 9mm SIG Sauer on Nov. 26, 2021.
“He said he had his eye on that gun for awhile,” she testified.
Crumbley, who was with his son at the time, paid $500 cash for the gun, Back said.
Oakland County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Marc
Keast also showed Back the black plastic case that came with the SIG Sauer and the trigger lock. She testified that she also signed a statement, as her store does with every handgun sale, showing she gave him a trigger lock to go with the gun.
“Was this cable lock and pamphlet provided to James Crumbley when he bought it on Nov. 26, 2021?” Keast asked.
“Yes,” Back said.
Mariell Lehman, Crumbley’s attorney, asked Back if she had any indication Crumbley was buying the gun for someone else. She said she didn’t.
Back also acknowledged that while in general it’s illegal for a minor to possess a firearm, it’s not illegal for them to have a gun while at a firing range or during target practice.
She said she wouldn’t have allowed Crumbley to buy the gun had his son walked in and said “that’s the one I want.”
From the time the Oxford High School shooting ended at 1 p.m. until about 1:20, James Crumbley made a flurry of phone calls.
Waiting in a Meijer parking lot where Oxford students were uniting with family members and loved ones after the shooting, Crumbley called his son twice. He also called his wife, Jennifer. And he made two other calls that weren’t answered, testified Edward Wagrowski, a former detective with the Oakland County Sheriff ’s Office who specialized in computer crimes and studied thousands of text messages and phone calls by the Crumbley family.
Crumbley then left the Meijer parking to drive home and called his son twice more. None of the calls were answered, as the teen had already been taken into police custody. When Crumbley got home and discovered the 9mm SIG Sauer gun and bullets were missing, he called 911 around 1:30 p.m.