Crumbley family interviewed after Oxford High School shooting
Video footage shows police interviewing Ethan Crumbley's parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, after Ethan killed four people at Oxford High School Nov. 30, 2021.
New video footage played in a Michigan courtroom Monday during the trial for Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley's mother, Jennifer Crumbley, shows the whole family being interviewed by police after Ethan killed four students in 2021.
Jennifer and her husband James Crumbley, who is being tried separately, are both charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter after Ethan fatally shot four students — Tate Myre, 16, Justin Shilling,16, Hana St. Juliana, 14, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17 — and injured seven other victims at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021, when he was just 15 years old.
"He's a perfect kid," James Crumbley tells Oakland County Sheriff's deputies in an interview after the school shooting. Jennifer adds her 15-year-old son had "never done anything bad."
Jennifer Crumbley can be seen showing photos of a disturbing drawing Ethan made in class the morning of the shooting, just before he took a gun out of his backpack and shot 11 victims.
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Jennifer Crumbley and her husband, James Crumbley, who will stand trial in March, are the first parents in the U.S. to be charged in a mass school shooting committed by their child. (Oakland County Sheriff’s Department/Detroit Free Press via AP, Pool)
Oakland County prosecutors have argued James and Jennifer met with school officials that morning after Ethan was called into the guidance counselor's office to discuss his drawing, which included an image of a gun and the phrases, "Help me," "Blood everywhere" and "My life is useless."
Despite seeing the drawing, they "flatly refused" to take him home at the time, prosecutors have said.
Ethan Robert Crumbley, left, charged with first-degree murder in a high school shooting, poses in a jail booking photograph taken at the Oakland County Jail in Pontiac, Mich. His parents were also charged after the shooting. (Oakland County Sheriff)
"I really wish we’d have taken him home," Jennifer tells police in the video.
The parents also revealed in the video they kept their guns in a safe inside their dresser drawers. When authorities arrived at their Oxford home after the shooting, they discovered an empty safe and an empty case of bullets on the Crumbleys' bed.
Jennifer Crumbley sent a text message to her boss, Andrew Smith, the day of the shooting that said, "The gun is gone and so are the bullets."
The Nov. 30, 2021, shooting at Oxford High School left four people dead and seven others injured. (Eric Seals/USA Today Network)
Later in the video, James and Jennifer Crumbley walk into an interview room with their son, Ethan, who is sitting in a chair and appears to be avoiding eye contact with anyone. The visit doesn't last long after police ask the parents if they have anything to ask their son, and James Crumbley says, "I don't think we need to ask him questions right now."
Then, Jennifer Crumbley turns toward Ethan and says, "Why? Why?"
The parents can then be seen leaving the room as James Crumbley repeatedly says, "I love you. I love you. I love you," before breaking down in tears.
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Other video footage presented in court last week during Jennifer Crumbley's trial shows her taking Ethan to a shooting range just days before he shot up his high school.
Video showing Jennifer Crumbley, left, with her son Ethan Crumbley at a gun range Nov. 27, 2021, for target practice, is shown in the courtroom during Jennifer Crumbley's trial Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, in Pontiac, Mich. (Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press via AP, Pool)
The clip appears to show mother and son both wearing protective earmuffs and shooting at targets. At one point, they even practice in the same firing lane.
Prosecutors have also alleged Jennifer and James Crumbley bought the gun that Ethan used in the shooting as a Christmas gift when he was 15 and posted about the purchase on social media.
An Instagram post by Jennifer Crumbley is shown in the courtroom during her trial Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, in Pontiac, Mich. Jennifer Crumbley is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the Nov. 30, 2021, attack at Oxford High School. (Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press via AP, Pool)
Ethan is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for his crimes.
After the shooting and their interview with authorities, the Crumbleys allegedly fled their Oxford home as Michigan authorities issued a be-on-the-lookout alert for the couple. They were considered fugitives before U.S. Marshals apprehended them Dec. 4, 2021.
Jennifer Crumbley is on trial for involuntary manslaughter, the first time parents have been charged in a U.S. mass school shooting. She and her husband are accused of contributing to the deaths at Oxford High School by neglecting the needs of their son, Ethan Crumbley, and making a gun accessible at home. (Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press via AP, Pool)
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Their attorneys said they fled for their own safety and turned themselves in several days later and have argued the parents could not have predicted their son's plan to commit a mass shooting.
Ethan, now 17, said during his December 2023 sentencing his parents are not to blame because they "did not know," and he did not "tell them" what he planned to do.
