Ethan Crumbley, 15, is in juvenile custody for the shooting at Oxford High School, Michigan, on Tuesday, Authorities confirm.
Crumbley lives with his parents James and Jennifer in a small home in Oxford, less than two miles from where he opened fire on Tuesday, killing Tate Myre, 16, Hana St Juliana, 14, and 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin. A fourth boy, Justin Shilling, 17, died in the hospital on Wednesday morning.
Crumbley’s motive for the shooting remains unconfirmed by police, but kids at the school say he was being bullied. In the days before Tuesday’s attack, he posted on Instagram to boast about his father’s new Sig Sauer 9mm handgun, pretending it was his.
‘Just got my new beauty today. SIG Sauer 9MM. Ask any questions I will answer,’ he wrote in a post last week on an Instagram account that has now been deleted. Other fake accounts were circulating online on Wednesday morning as Crumbley remained in police custody, refusing to cooperate with investigators.
It was a quiet scene at his family home, which his parents have not returned to since going to visit the 15-year-old yesterday.
Prosecutors have announced that Crumbley will be charged as an adult with four counts of murder and domestic terror among a total of 24 charges. They’ve also suggested that they may charge his father for not keeping his gun and ammunition out of his reach.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald said there was a ‘mountain’ of evidence against 15-year-old Crumbley so far.
‘Shortly, we’ll be announcing whether or not there will be other charges. We know that owning a gun means securing it properly, locking it and keeping ammo separate, and not allowing access to others, particularly minors.
‘We have to hold individuals accountable,’ she said.
Last night, officers were seen removing armfuls of long-barreled guns from the house. Most photos of Crumbley that remain online were taken at least three years ago, when he was 12.
Two of the victims from yesterday’s shooting were older than 15-year-old Crumbley. The third was a year younger than him. It’s unclear if he knew any of his victims, or if they were killed at random.
Yesterday, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard revealed that Crumbley is not speaking with investigators at the juvenile facility where he is being held.
His parents James and Jennifer have hired him as an attorney who has advised him to plead the fifth.
I’ve seen him around the school. He’s a kid, he’s been picked on and stuff like this and when a kid has been picked on, people bullying him, you’re going to get this.
‘You’re going to get this reaction,’ Treshan Bryant told ABC 7 outside the school.
Neither of the shooter’s parents has commented yet. His father, James, works for Autonomous Inc, an office software supply company.
He is understood to have purchased the weapon that his son used just four days ago.
‘He had been shooting with it and posted pictures of a target and the weapon. That’s all part of what’s being looked at.
‘We’re going to do a deep dive on the social media and all the activities of this young man,’ Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said during a Tuesday night press conference.
Deputies rushed to the school around 12:50 p.m. as more than 100 calls flooded 911 dispatchers with reports of a shooter. They arrested the gunman, 15, in a hallway within minutes of their arrival with the help of an on-scene school resource officer.
The sophomore student put his hands in the air as deputies approached, police said.
Cops recovered a 9mm Sig Sauer semi-automatic handgun, purchased by the gunman’s father on Friday. They later said the suspect had fired at least 12 rounds and had seven more rounds of ammunition when he surrendered. It is not yet clear where in the school the shooter started his rampage.
Police said it was also not yet clear what the shooter’s motive was but that they were searching his social media accounts for clues after finding pictures of him shooting the handgun at a target.
Authorities were made aware of posts on social media that said there had been threats of a shooting at the roughly 1,700-student school, but Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said they did not know about the rumors until after the attack.
Another eight people were injured – seven students and one teacher, a 47-year-old woman who was treated and discharged, according to the sheriff’s office.
All seven wounded students remain hospitalized, some with life-threatening injuries. Police late Tuesday said four were in a critical condition including a 14-year-old girl who was fighting for her life on a ventilator following surgery for chest and neck wounds at Hurley Medical Center in Flint.
It comes as chilling footage emerged Tuesday of the suspect, a sophomore at the school whom police said was refusing to cooperate, trying to convince would-be victims that it was safe to emerge from hiding.
‘Sheriff’s office,’ the boy says. ‘You can come out.’
Students exchange glances as one whispers ‘he said it’s safe to come out.’
But the teacher responds: ‘We’re not taking that risk. The gunman shouts back something inaudible before calling his classmate ‘bro’ and in that sickening moment, classmates began jumping out a window, realizing the self-professed cop was actually the shooter.
A senior at the school, Aiden Page, said his teacher locked the classroom, barricaded the door, covered the windows and instructed the students to hide after hearing two gunshots ring through the school.
‘We grabbed calculators, we grabbed scissors just in case the shooter got in and we had to attack them,’ Page told CNN, adding that one bullet had pierced a desk used to barricade the door. It was not clear if Page was in the classroom shown in the video.
The campus was placed on lockdown during the attack, with some children sheltering in locked classrooms. They were later taken to a nearby Meijer grocery store to be picked up by their parents. The district said in a statement that all of its schools would be closed for the rest of the week.
Bouchard said late Tuesday that investigators were still trying to determine a motive.
‘The person that’s got the most insight and the motive is not talking,’ Bouchard said at a news conference Tuesday evening. Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe said the suspect, who is being housed in Oakland County juvenile center under suicide watch, had demanded his right to a lawyer after being advised not to speak to investigators by his parents.
THE CHARGES
X 1 COUNT OF TERRORISM CAUSING DEATH
X 4 COUNTS OF FIRST DEGREE MURDER
X 7 COUNTS OF ASSAULT WITH INTENT TO MURDER
X 12 COUNTS OF POSSESSION OF A FIREARM IN COMMISSION OF A FELONY
