Teen describes 2021 school shooting

PONTIAC, Mich. — A teenager recalled Friday how she helped save a girl who was severely wounded during a Michigan school shooting in 2021, telling a judge that she moved her to an empty classroom, applied pressure to stop the bleeding, and prayed with her.

“I asked her if she knew who God was. She said, ‘Not really,’ ” Heidi Allen, 17, recalled.

“I think I’m supposed to be here right now,” she said, describing how she felt at the time. “Because there’s no other reason that I’m OK, that I’m in this hallway, completely untouched.”

Allen testified at a hearing to determine whether Ethan Crumbley, 17, will get a life prison sentence, or a shorter term with an opportunity for parole, for killing four students and wounding seven other people at Oxford High School.

Crumbley, who was 15 at the time, pleaded guilty to murder, terrorism and other crimes.

But a life sentence for minors isn’t automatic after a series of decisions by the US Supreme Court and Michigan’s top court.

Defense attorneys are arguing that he can be rehabilitated in prison and eventually released. They said the shooting followed years of a turbulent family life, grossly negligent parents, and untreated mental illness.

A former warden, Ken Romanowski, testified about a variety of programs available in prison, such as mental health therapy, anger management, education, and trade skills.

“Honestly, I think everybody has the potential for change. But he has to be the one who makes that choice,” Romanowski said, appearing for the defense.