On November 30, 2021, a 15-year-old student named Ethan Crumbley opened fire at Oxford High School in Oxford Township, Michigan. Four students were killed, and seven others were injured, including a teacher.
Ethan Robert Crumbley was born on April 28, 2006, in Atlantic Beach, Florida, to parents Jennifer and James Crumbley. Both parents had minor criminal records from 1995 to 2005, including charges related to DUI and check fraud.
The family eventually moved to Issaquah, Washington, and later settled in Michigan. Shortly after arriving in Michigan around 2014 and 2015, a neighbor grew concerned about how often Jennifer and James left their young son home alone without a phone while they went to bars in downtown Lake Orion.
The neighbor filed an anonymous complaint with the state’s child protective services, though it is unknown whether any action was taken.
As Crumbley got older, his behavior became more and more disturbing. By March 2021, he had started sending his mother unsettling text messages about demons and ghosts in their home.
He reportedly recorded himself torturing animals, made Molotov cocktails, and drew sketches of himself carrying out a school shooting. He even kept a baby bird’s head in a jar at one point. Through all of this, his parents never got him any kind of mental health help.
Then, at the end of October 2021, his only known friend moved away. The family dog also died around the same time. Both losses are believed to have pushed him deeper into depression.
Before the shooting took place, Oxford High School had already taken some safety steps. The school used a program called ALICE, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate.
It taught students and staff how to respond during an active shooter situation. The school had also installed Nightlock barriers on every classroom door back in 2017, three years before Michigan law required them. In the weeks leading up to November 30, rumors about a possible shooting at the school had already started spreading.
Some students chose to stay home because of those rumors. School administrators had looked into the threats earlier that month but said they found nothing credible.
In the weeks before the shooting, staff at Oxford High School started noticing Crumbley’s behavior. A teacher caught him using his phone during class to search for ammunition and reported it.
School officials called him in for a meeting, where he told them that he and his mother had recently gone to a shooting range and that it was a family activity. School officials left both a voicemail and an email for Jennifer Crumbley.
She did not respond to either. Instead, she sent her son a text message saying, “LOL I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught.”
Four days before the shooting, on Black Friday, James Crumbley went to a local gun shop and legally purchased a 9mm SIG Sauer SP 2022 semi-automatic handgun. Ethan was with his father when the gun was bought. Jennifer Crumbley later referred to it in a social media post as Ethan’s new Christmas present.
On the morning of November 30, a teacher found a drawing on Crumbley’s math worksheet that immediately raised serious concern. The drawing showed a semi-automatic handgun next to the words “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me.”
There was also a bullet drawn with the words “Blood everywhere” above it, a figure that appeared to have been shot twice, a laughing emoji, and the phrases “My life is useless” and “The world is dead.” The teacher photographed the worksheet and reported it.
Crumbley was taken to a guidance counselor’s office, and his parents were called and asked to come to the school right away.
While waiting for his parents to arrive, school counselors observed no behavior from Crumbley that suggested he was about to harm anyone. When Jennifer and James arrived, they were shown the drawing, though by that point Crumbley had already tried to scribble over parts of it.
School officials told the Crumbleys they needed to get their son into counseling within 48 hours, or child protective services would be contacted. Even after being told that their son was showing signs of suicidal thinking, the Crumbleys pushed back against the idea of taking him home that day.
They also never told school officials that they had just bought a gun four days earlier. At 10:54 a.m., they left the school. Crumbley was sent back to class because he had no prior disciplinary issues. By the time that morning meeting had taken place, Crumbley had already hidden the gun somewhere on school grounds.
At 12:38 p.m., Jennifer Crumbley texted her son to see how he was doing. Twelve minutes later, at approximately 12:50 p.m., the shooting began. Crumbley retrieved the hidden weapon and opened fire in a hallway while hundreds of students were moving between classes.
Security camera footage showed him entering a bathroom briefly before coming out with the gun and starting to shoot. He moved through the corridor deliberately, firing into classrooms and targeting anyone who had not yet reached safety.
Students and staff reacted fast. Teachers locked and barricaded classroom doors and covered the windows. A voice over the school intercom warned students about an active shooter.
Because of how quickly staff and students responded, Crumbley was unable to get into any of the barricaded classrooms. At 12:51 p.m., police received the first of around 100 emergency calls.
Within two to three minutes of the first officers arriving, a school resource deputy and a second officer arrested Crumbley without any struggle. He still had seven rounds left in the gun and two additional 15-round magazines on him.
A third magazine was found elsewhere at the school. In total, 32 spent bullet casings were recovered. The entire shooting lasted about five minutes and was limited to the southern section of the building.
Some students were evacuated to a nearby Meijer store. Others sheltered in a private home nearby. In one classroom, students who were still locked inside heard someone outside claiming to be law enforcement.
Fearing it might actually be the shooter, they escaped through the windows and were then guided to safety by a deputy. Sheriff Bouchard later confirmed the person speaking from the hallway was a detective trying to calm those inside.
Three students were killed at the scene. Hana St. Juliana was 14 years old. Tate Myre was 16 and reportedly tried to stop the shooter before being shot. He died in a police vehicle on the way to the hospital. Madisyn Baldwin was 17.
A fourth student, 17-year-old Justin Shilling, died in the hospital on December 1. Seven others were injured, including a teacher who was treated for a graze wound to the shoulder and discharged the same day. The last of the injured patients was not discharged until January 17, 2022.
Investigators focused heavily on the school’s security footage, which captured parts of the shooting and showed that Crumbley had deliberately aimed for his victims’ heads and chests at close range and had fired through barricaded doors.
A search warrant was carried out at the Crumbley home, where police seized a cell phone, a journal, several long guns, and other items. The cell phone had two videos on it that Crumbley had recorded the night before the shooting, in which he talked about his plans to kill students the following day.
His journal contained similar details about his intent, including the written line, “Hopefully my shooting will cause Biden to get impeached.”
On December 1, 2021, Crumbley was charged as an adult with terrorism causing death, first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
It appeared to be the first time in U.S. history that a terrorism charge had been filed in connection with a school shooting. Judge Nancy T. Carniak entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. He was ordered to be held without bond and was moved to Oakland County Jail.
Prosecutor Karen McDonald announced on December 3 that Jennifer and James Crumbley would each face four counts of involuntary manslaughter for failing to secure the gun used in the shooting. It was a rare and historic move.
James and Jennifer Crumbley became the first parents in U.S. history to be charged with having direct responsibility for a mass school shooting carried out by their child.
Hours after the charges were made public, however, authorities discovered the couple had left the Oxford area and had not returned as expected to meet with their attorneys. They also missed their 4:00 p.m. arraignment.
The U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI, and the Oakland County Fugitive Apprehension Team all joined the search. Wanted posters were issued, and rewards of up to $10,000 were offered for information leading to their arrests.
Records showed the couple had withdrawn $4,000 from an ATM in Rochester Hills on December 3 and had turned off their phones.
Shortly after 11:00 p.m. on December 3, a tip came in from a business owner in Detroit who spotted Jennifer Crumbley near his property. Police established a perimeter in the area.
At around 2:00 a.m. on December 4, officers found both parents inside a first-floor room of a nearby commercial building, approximately 40 miles from Oxford. They were unarmed and described as very distressed.
There was no indication they had planned to turn themselves in. A person who had allowed them access to the building was later identified and questioned by police, who also searched his home and seized several digital devices.
Jennifer and James Crumbley were arraigned on December 4 and pleaded not guilty. Bond was set at $500,000 each. All three members of the family ended up in Oakland County Jail at the same time, where they were kept in isolation under suicide watch and not permitted to have any contact with each other.
In January 2022, Crumbley’s legal team announced he would pursue an insanity defense and requested a psychiatric evaluation. However, in October 2022, he withdrew that defense entirely and pleaded guilty to all 24 charges against him.
During the plea hearing, he admitted that his own money had been used to buy the weapon and stated that the gun had not been locked away on the day of the shooting.
In September 2023, Judge Kwame Rowe said that Crumbley could be given life in prison without parole. He understood that Crumbley was young and had a tough home life but he said those things were not enough to make the punishment lighter because the crimes were very serious.
The judge also mentioned that Crumbley had looked at violent stuff online using a hacked tablet while he was in custody.
On December 9, 2023, Crumbley was officially sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole. Before the sentence, he spoke in court. He said sorry to the victims and their families and told the judge to give him whatever punishment the victims wanted.
Jennifer Crumbley’s trial wrapped up on February 6, 2024. James Crumbley’s ended on March 14, 2024. Both were found guilty on all four counts of involuntary manslaughter.
On April 9, 2024, they were each given the maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, with eligibility for parole after 10 years. Jennifer was sent to the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility. James was sent to the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility.
Oxford Community Schools closed for the rest of the week after the shooting. When they reopened, law enforcement was present and mental health clinicians were on standby for students.
Starting after the holiday break, all middle and high school students were required to use clear backpacks. Oxford High School itself stayed closed until January 24, 2022, with students temporarily attending classes in other buildings.
In the days and weeks that followed, the community came together in a number of ways. Three prayer services were held on the night of November 30, drawing large crowds.
A memorial of flowers and stuffed animals appeared outside the school. A candlelight vigil was held at Michigan State University on December 7. An online petition was started to rename the school’s stadium in honor of Tate Myre.
The Michigan Wolverines football team wore a memorial patch during the Big Ten Championship Game on December 4. The Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings wore helmet patches and created special commemorative items for their Week 13 game on December 5.
A GoFundMe was set up by a family member of Madisyn Baldwin to help cover funeral costs. Local businesses and online campaigns also raised money using the phrase OxfordStrong. By January 2022, Oakland County had approved more than $3.2 million in community resources to support recovery efforts.
Multiple $100 million lawsuits were filed against Oxford Community Schools, accusing school officials of ignoring warning signs and failing to prevent the shooting. A state judge dismissed those lawsuits in March 2023, ruling that the school and its staff had governmental immunity and that Crumbley was the direct cause of the shooting.
The March for Our Lives organization held an event in Oxford on December 12, standing in solidarity with the students who had lived through the tragedy.
