Staff raised concerns about a Michigan teen long before he killed four students in a 2021 school shooting, defense counsel testified Monday during the trial of the attacker’s mother.
Ethan Crumbley wrote in a September 2021 assignment that he “feels terrible and his family is a mistake,” according to a teacher’s email sent to Oxford High School counselor Shawn Hopkins.
Two months later, another teacher said Crumbley, then 15 years old, was “struggling” and might need to speak to the counselor, Hopkins testified.
“I had a quick meeting in the hallway on the way to class and just let him know that if he needed someone to talk to, I could be there for him,” said Hopkins, who did not contact the parents at the time Ethan.
Hopkins was called to the witness stand to describe the events leading up to the Nov. 30, 2021, attack.
Jennifer Crumbley, 45, is charged with involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors say she and her husband were grossly negligent and could have prevented the tragedy if they had taken care of their son’s mental health. They are also accused of making a gun accessible in their home.
The third day of the trial in Oakland County Court broke out before lunch as Hopkins explained how he had contacted the shooter’s parents about a violent drawing discovered a few hours before the attack.
Hopkins, who served as an advisor to 400 students, said some were stressed in the fall of 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic was in its second year.
“We saw a lot of depression, anxiety and students struggling,” he recalls. “We saw suicidal thoughts and, unfortunately, suicide attempts.”
James Crumbley, 47, will stand trial in March. The couple are the first parents in the US to be charged in connection with a mass school shooting committed by their child.
Ethan Crumbley, now 17, pleaded guilty and is serving a life sentence.
Earlier Monday, the operator of an Oxford-area horse stable testified about her relationship with Jennifer Crumbley and a series of messages they exchanged on the day of the shooting and in subsequent days before the parents’ arrest.
The Crumbleys owned two horses, and prosecutors have tried to show that they cared more about the animals than their son.
Jennifer Crumbley said she needed to raise money quickly after the shooting and was prepared to sell one horse, Billy, for $5,000, plus a saddle and other equipment for $800. She promised to deliver medicine for mud fever, the horse’s foot disease.
“I wish we had warnings,” she wrote to Kira Pennock, referring to her son. “I’m glad Billy is good. It kills me to sell him.”
Jennifer Crumbley shared a photo of her son’s school drawing with Pennock before the shooting happened. It showed pictures of a gun and a bullet, and the words: ‘The thoughts don’t stop. Help me.”
Pennock said she thought Ethan Crumbley had to be the shooter when she heard about the chaos at the school.
“It’s not normal for someone to draw these things on a test at school or even think about things in a school environment,” Pennock told the jury.
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