According to prosecutors, the high school shooting suspect may have used the gun during a meeting with school officials and parents before the violence began.
There is a “very high probability” that the 15-year-old sophomore accused of killing four other students this week at a Michigan high school had a gun in his backpack when he met with administrators and his parents. him right before the shooting because of his disturbing behavior. day, the prosecutor in the case told CNN Thursday night.
But at that time, no disciplinary action had been taken, the superintendent said Thursday.
Ethan Crumbley has been charged as an adult with terrorism, murder and other counts in Tuesday’s shooting that injured seven people at Oxford High School north of Detroit. It is the deadliest mass shooting at an American K-12 school since 2018 and the 32nd since August 1.
Hours before the riot, a teacher saw Crumbley engage in “sexual” behavior that prompted school officials to drag him into his office and call his parents for a meeting, the Oakland County Sheriff said. Michael Bouchard told CNN. After that discussion, Crumbley was allowed to return to class.
“No discipline is guaranteed. There is no record of discipline in high school,” Tim Throne, superintendent of the Oxford school district, said Thursday in a video statement. “Yes, this student contacted our office. And yes, his parents were on campus on November 30th.”
Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald told CNN there was a “high probability” Crumbley used the gun he allegedly used in the backpack shooting during the meeting.
“During Covid, they didn’t use lockers, so they just had backpacks,” she said.
“Unfortunately, he was allowed back into the classroom, and we now know that he was carrying a weapon at the time, and that was simply tragic,” McDonald said.
Bouchard told CNN on “New Day” on Friday morning that the school’s video surveillance system will allow investigators to “really map out exactly and literally what the perpetrators did” from that encounter through shooting and detention.
He said the shooter carried the gun “on his person or in his backpack or somehow secretly” it was far from a school site.
Another warning sign came on Monday – the day before the shooting – when another teacher “saw and heard something she found disturbing” regarding Crumbley’s conduct in the classroom. classroom, Bouchard said. School officials held a consultation with Crumbley about the behavior in question, and his parents were notified by phone, Bouchard added.
Both McDonald’s and Bouchard declined to expand on the details of the meetings or the behavior that prompted them.
The semiautomatic handgun recovered in the attack was purchased Friday by Crumley’s father, Bouchard said.
McDonald’s is expected to announce on Friday if charges will be filed against Crumbley’s parents, she told CNN. Prosecutors are looking into information regarding the gun’s purchase and its accessibility and storage, among other details.
SCHOOL IS A ‘FAR AREA’, SAY SUPER FRIENDLY
Two days after the deadly attack, Oxford High School was “like a war zone,” Throne told his community from the school in the 13-minute video posted on YouTube.
“This high school is a wreck right now,” he said, adding that it could take several weeks for the school to be repaired.
The shooting took the life of 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin; Tate Myre, 16 years old; Hana St. Juliana, 14 years old; and Justin Shilling, 17, officials said.
Throne commends students and staff for how they handled the threat from an active shooter, with some administrators performing CPR and students using tables and chairs to barricade the interior of the classroom. learn to protect.
Bouchard said more than 100 calls to 911 were made to report the shooting when police arrived at the school at 12:52 p.m. local time. Within “two to three minutes” of the officers’ arrival, the shooter surrendered.
“I believe they literally saved lives, after taking out the suspect with a loaded gun in the building,” the sheriff said.
The superintendent acknowledged district officials did not communicate quickly and said he is working to meet the parents of the four students killed in the shooting.
“I apologize to our staff today because we didn’t communicate with each other sooner, and that’s okay. It’s okay because in this case we have to read the book and simply we can’t communicate things until others have communicated,” Throne explained. “And this is the most information we can give you today.”
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