Mich. teen pleads guilty to murder
A Michigan teenager calmly confessed in court Monday to killing four fellow students and injuring seven others during a shooting rampage at his high school in November.
The teenager, Ethan Crumbley, answered, “Yes, sir,” to a series of questions posed to him by Judge Kwame Rowe as he pleaded guilty to 24 counts, including murder, attempted murder, terrorism, and weapons violations, stemming from the shooting at Oxford High School.
As the families of victims listened in the crowded Oakland County courtroom, the defendant, now 16, also made a disclosure that could play a role in his parents’ pending criminal case on charges of involuntary manslaughter: The gun, he said, “was not locked.”
The defense attorneys for the teenager’s parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were not immediately available for comment. But they had previously said that the gun was secured. The parents have pleaded not guilty.
While it is rare for parents to be prosecuted in connection with their children’s crimes, Karen D. McDonald, the Oakland County prosecutor, said last year that the Crumbleys’ conduct led her to a decision to prosecute them, despite the uphill legal battle.
Ethan Crumbley also said during the hearing Monday that he had asked his father to purchase the semi-automatic 9 mm Sig Sauer handgun used in the Oxford school shooting for him. Previously, the gun had been described as an early Christmas present. But in court, the teenager said that he had given his father the money for the gun, which was purchased Nov. 26, four days before the shooting.
The defendant admitted Monday to murdering Tate Myre, 16; Justin Shilling, 17; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; and Hana St. Juliana, 14, as well as injuring seven other people.
He has been held for the past year in Oakland County Jail. He faces up to life in prison without parole, but his sentencing will not take place until next year.
His parents, who were not in the courtroom, are being held separately in the same facility.