High school shooting: Michigan teenager pleads guilty

A Michigan teenager on Monday pleaded guilty to murder and terrorism charges in a mass shooting that killed four teenagers and wounded several others at a high school outside Detroit.

Ethan Crumbley, 16, was accused of opening fire at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021, with a semi-automatic handgun that his father purchased for him as a Christmas gift days before the massacre.

Two boys, ages 17 and 16, and two girls, ages 17 and 14, were killed while six other students and a teacher were wounded.

Crumbley, who was a 15-year-old at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty in Oakland County Circuit Court to a total of 24 charges, including one count of terrorism causing death and four counts of first-degree murder.

He was also charged with seven counts of assault with intent to murder and 12 counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Oakland County Chief Assistant Prosecutor David Williams said in a statement on Friday that there have been no plea deals, reductions, and no sentencing agreements in the case.

Earlier this year, lawyers for Crumbley said in a court notice that he would mount an insanity defense.

Crumbley’s parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, also face involuntary manslaughter charges connected to the shooting.

In that case, Rochester District Court Judge Julie Nicholson said evidence showed they had purchased a gun for their son despite signs that he was a “troubled young man.”

The case appears to be the first in the United States in which the parents of a teenage school shooter have been charged with crimes attributed to their child.

They however pleaded not guilty.

Four days before the shooting, Ethan Crumbley accompanied his father to a gun shop, where James Crumbley bought a 9mm handgun, prosecutors said.