(NEW YORK) — Ethan Crumbley, the teenager accused of gunning down four students and injuring several others at his Michigan high school, pleaded guilty to all charges against him on Monday.
The 24 charges include terrorism and murder.
The thin 16-year-old appeared in court in an orange jumpsuit, white face mask and glasses, calmly answering questions from the judge and prosecutor. Crumbley admitted to them that he asked his father to buy him a specific gun.
David Williams, chief assistant prosecutor in Oakland County, said Friday when the plea was announced that there were “no plea deals, no reductions and no agreements regarding sentencing.”
Crumbley is set to return to court on Feb. 9. A date for sentencing will follow; at the sentencing, victims will have the opportunity to read statements.
Crumbley was 15 at the time of the Nov. 30, 2021, shooting at Oxford High School. He allegedly used his father’s semi-automatic handgun to carry out the attack.
A teacher allegedly saw Crumbley researching ammunition in class days before the shooting and school officials contacted his parents but they didn’t respond, according to prosecutors. His mother, Jennifer Crumbley, texted her son, writing, “lol, I’m not mad at you, you have to learn not to get caught,” according to prosecutors.
Hours before the shooting, according to prosecutors, a teacher saw a note on Ethan Crumbley’s desk that was “a drawing of a semi-automatic handgun pointing at the words, ‘The thoughts won’t stop, help me.’ In another section of the note was a drawing of a bullet with the following words above that bullet, ‘Blood everywhere.'”
Crumbley’s parents were called to the school over the incident, saying they’d get their son counseling but did not take him home.
The teen’s parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, were charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter after allegedly making the gun accessible and failing to recognize warning signs about their son before the shooting. They have pleaded not guilty.
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