Boy’s parents called to school before shootings
OXFORD TOWNSHIP, MICH. — A 15-year-old boy was charged Wednesday with murder, terrorism and other crimes for a shooting that killed four fellow students and injured others at a Michigan high school.
Oakland County prosecutor Karen Mcdonald did not reveal a possible motive for Tuesday’s violence at Oxford High School and declined to comment when pressed about whether she believed the victims were specifically targeted. But she said the shooting was premeditated, based in part on a “mountain of digital evidence” collected by police.
Sheriff Mike Bouchard later told reporters that the boy’s parents had been summoned to the school before the violence. Bouchard wouldn’t discuss details of the behavior school officials were concerned about. The teen, Ethan Crumbley, who is now charged as an adult with murder, attempted murder and terrorism causing death, was in the meeting with his parents, Bouchard said.
“There is nothing that he could have faced that would warrant senseless, absolutely brutal violence on other kids,” he said.
Ethan Crumbley is accused of firing a handgun in a school hallway, roughly 30 miles north of Detroit. At least seven other people were injured. It wasn’t immediately known if Crumbley had an attorney who could comment.
“This was not just an impulsive act,” Mcdonald said.
The shooting should be a wake-up call for new gun laws in a country that has become “desensitized to school shootings,” Mcdonald told reporters.
“We have to do better,” Mcdonald said without offering specific changes. “How many times does this have to happen? How many times?”
The charges were announced a few hours after investigators reported that a fourth student had died.
“What about all the children who ran, screaming, hiding under desks? ... Those are victims, too, and so are their families and so is the community. The charge of terrorism reflects that,” the prosecutor said.
Deputies rushed to the school around lunchtime Tuesday and arrested Crumbley in a hallway within minutes of the shooting. His father bought the 9 mm Sig Sauer gun last week, according to the Oakland County sheriff.
The four students who were killed were identified as 16-year-old Tate Myre, 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana, 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin and 17-year-old Justin Shilling.