Ethan Crumbley update – 7 ways authorities bungled Oxford School shooting from missing warning signs & fugitive parents
ACCUSED Oxford high school shooter Ethan Crumbley will be charged for murder as an adult, and his parents have been charged with involuntary manslaughter for their alleged role in the mass shooting.
Yet, while the events that led up to the shooting remain under investigation, the Oxford Community School District officially declined the Michigan Attorney General’s offer to conduct an independent probe into the tragedy.
Meanwhile, many have pointed out all the missed opportunities to stop the shooting, from Ethan’s concerning actions before the shooting to his parents’ behavior before and after.
Here we round up seven ways the system failed in the handling of the Oxford high school shooting.
STRANGE LETTER
Years before making national news as the mother of an alleged school shooter, Jennifer Crumbley wrote an impassioned open letter to former President Donald Trump.
Jennifer, 43, uploaded the letter to her blog in November 2016, pleading with Trump to “end Common Core” and revealing her son’s “struggles” at school.
In her note, she denied being a “racist,” insisted she was “scared s**tless” to vote for Trump in 2016, and identified herself as a supporter of the LGBTQ community and a feminist.
She said: “Mr. Trump, I actually love that you are a bad public speaker because that showed sincerity, and humility. You changed your mind, and you said ‘so what’.
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“You made the famous ‘grab them in the p**sy” comment, did it offend me? No. I say things all the time that people take the wrong way, do I mean them, not always.”
Jennifer also revealed that she was a supporter of Trump’s border wall proposal, but countered that she was “not racist” because her grandfather “came straight off the boat in Italy.”
She then complained about “illegal immigrant parents” and their kids from a school where her parents taught.
Jennifer signed the letter from a “hard-working Middle-Class Law Abiding Citizen who is sick of getting f**ked in the a** and would rather be grabbed by the p**sy.”
COUNTDOWN CLUE
Ethan filmed himself talking about killing students the night before the rampage, according to police.
Posts which appear to have been shared on his Instagram page show he also shared a picture of a gun just days before the massacre.
The caption appears to read: “Just got my new beauty today.”
Another post appears to show Ethan had a “countdown to return of devil” and wrote “now I become death — destroyer of worlds — see you tomorrow Oxford” on his Instagram page.
DEER HEAD
Moreover, Oxford high school had a deer’s head dumped on its grounds and was covered in red paint just days before the shooting.
School administrators had posted two letters to parents on the school’s website in November, saying they were responding to rumors of a threat against the school following a bizarre vandalism incident.
However, both the sheriff and undersheriff emphasized that Tuesday’s shooting was unrelated to the deer head or any earlier investigation by their office.
“That was a different incident, different student,” Undersheriff Mike McCabe said.
DAD’S GUN
It has now been reported that James Crumbley bought the gun for Ethan on Black Friday as an early Christmas present, which is against Michigan state gun laws.
According to prosecutors, the gun was stored in an unlocked safe inside Jennifer and James‘ bedroom.
Oakland County prosecutor, Karen McDonald, told WJBK this week that Ethan should not have had access to his father’s gun.
McDonald stated: “We know owning a gun means securing it properly locked up and keeping ammunition separate and not allowing access to other individuals especially minors.”
Arguing that people should be held accountable when a child gets a hold of their handgun she concluded, “We will be making a decision swiftly.”
Meanwhile, Ethan could get a lighter sentence if he shifts blame to his parents.
Attorney Matthew Barhoma told The US Sun that Ethan’s parents and “anyone else in a position to help” could have addressed the “deeper rooted issues” in the teen’s life.
“It’s very unfortunate to see yet another school shooting. However, this one cuts deeper as it appears to have been so preventable,” he said.
Barhoma added that Ethan’s best possible defense is to “claim delusion or insanity for the upbringing his parents gave him.“
9/11 CALL
When news of an active shooter at the school became public, Jennifer reportedly texted her son, “Ethan, don’t do it.”
MOM’S TEXT
Fifteen minutes after Jennifer’s text, James made a 911 call – roughly 40 minutes after Ethan allegedly killed four people.
James allegedly told cops that his son may have been the shooter and reported that his gun was missing.
FUGITIVE PARENTS
Jennifer and James went on the run shortly before being charged with involuntary manslaughter in relation to the high school shooting.
After the news of their charges, the Crumbleys allegedly withdrew $4,000 from an ATM and failed to meet a deadline to surrender themselves.
The Crumbleys were arrested in a Detroit building basement following an 11-hour manhunt.
Police located them after their car was reportedly found abandoned in Detroit.
Local artist Andrzej Sikora was quizzed by authorities after allegedly helping the Crumbleys while they were on the run.
His attorney Clarence Dass said the Crumbleys went into Sikora’s Michigan studio on Friday.
Dass said: “There was a lot of confusion and the Crumbleys went to him for safety. He did not know about the charges.
“They were there in the daytime. He left in the early evening. He did not even know they were still there.”
Sikora contacted the authorities after hearing that cops had taken James and Jennifer into custody.
The US Sun has reached out to Oakland police, the Michigan Attorney General’s office and Oakland high school for comment.
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