Ethan Crumbley, the teenage suspect involved in the Nov. 30 Michigan high school deadly shooting, sent texts to his mother about “demons” and “ghosts.” The new revelation is just one of the many disturbing signs his parents didn’t pay attention to, leading up to the tragic slaughter at Oxford High School.
Ethan, 15, videotaped himself maltreating animals, making Molotov cocktails at home. In addition, Ethan, in his journal, sketched himself shooting up his school, Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Marc Keast revealed in court.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Ethan also once sent a text to one of his friends saying, “it’s time to shoot up a school JK.”
Ethan is accused of shooting and killing four Oxford High School students and a teacher and injuring six others in the Nov. 30 shooting.
Keast has successfully argued that the $500,000 bond set by the court for Ethan’s parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, should not be reduced. Keast’s argument comes after the teen’s behavior in the months leading up to the attack was revealed.
Jennifer and James Crumbley face four counts of involuntary manslaughter charges and are accused of allowing their son have access to the handgun he allegedly used to kill his classmates and ignoring key warning signs prior to the attack.
Keast said that Ethan texted his mom several times in March last year, describing a demon or ghosts in the house. According to Fox 2 Detroit, it would sometimes take Jennifer Crumbley hours to reply to her son’s messages. The Sun also reported that Ethan wrote about demons several times in his journal.
Ethan also purchased a Nazi coin from Amazon put it on display in his room. Additionally, he sketched up Nazi symbols in a notebook shared by all members of the family.
“The evidence shows a 15-year-old who has repeatedly informed his parent that he was hallucinating, the same 15-year-old who continuously demonstrated tendencies that were worrisome – all able to be found by his parents,” Keast said.
In late October, a friend of Ethan moved away from him, Keast said, noting that this had an impact on the boy, but his parents acknowledged but failed to address it. A particular Ethan’s notebook that was not hidden had photos of guns on every page, he said.
In spite of all the ominous signs his son was showing, 45-year-old dad James went ahead and bought the handgun his son used to gun down his classmates just four days earlier, on Black Friday, as an early Christmas gift for the boy. In addition, the parents did not remove the boy from school after he was caught earlier on the day of the shooting, drawing violent sketches on his classwork.
District Court Judge Julie Nicholson, who said the charges in the case are too serious, has refused to lower the bond, concluding the parents were a flight risk.
During a brief hearing Friday, Ethan separately appeared by video from jail, in which he is seen waving his right hand to a probable-cause hearing in his case.
For the first time since the shooting, Oxford High School students will have to carry clear backpacks when they return to classes on Monday. They will be at a different building.
