Ethan Crumbley’s mother sent texts to a friend saying her son “can’t be left alone” just hours before he allegedly opened fire inside his Michigan high school, killing four fellow students, according to courtroom testimony.
Kira Pennock, a family friend who owns the stables where the Crumbleys kept their horses, testified in court on Tuesday about a series of texts she received from Jennifer Crumbley back on 30 November.
Ms Pennock said that Ms Crumbley told her she might bring her 15-year-old son with her to the stables that evening because she feared what would happen if she left him alone after being called into Oxford High School over a disturbing drawing that morning.
Ms Crumbley also allegedly sent a photo of the drawing – which depicted a shooting victim, gun and bullet and the phrase “the thoughts won’t stop, help me” – to Ms Pennock and her employer Andrew Smith that day.
After news of the mass shooting reached the community, Ms Crumbley allegedly texted Ms Pennock that her son had “ruined so many lives today” before texting her boss apparently concerned about losing her job.
The new details emerged as James and Jennifer Crumbley appeared in court for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday to determine if they will stand trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter for their alleged part in the massacre.
The couple were charged days after the shooting as prosecutors said they had given their teenage son access to a firearm and ignored multiple warning signs about their son’s behaviour in the lead-up to the shooting.
The Crumbleys allegedly bought their son the firearm used in the attack as an early Christmas present just days before the shooting.
One day before the massacre, a teacher found Mr Crumbley searching for ammunition on his phone, according to prosecutors.
School staff attempted to alert his parents Mr and Mrs Crumbley to their concerns but said messages went ignored and the 15-year-old was allowed to remain in the school building.
On the morning of the shooting, prosecutors said another teacher then found a drawing on the teenager’s desk of a handgun, a bullet and a person being shot.
“The thoughts won’t stop, help me” and “blood everywhere” were scrawled on the note.
That time, his parents were called in to the school and a meeting was held with them, their son and school officials.
The teenager claimed that the drawings were simply designs for a video game, according to school officials.
His parents fought to have him returned to class, prosecutors said, and were told to get him counselling within 48 hours. Just a few hours later, he allegedly opened fire in the school.
Ms Pennock testified that Ms Crumbley sent her a message about being called to the school the morning of the shooting, describing it as a “s*** day”.
“Just got to go to my son’s school and meet his counselor. S*** day,” she said.
Ms Crumbley said that her son was having a “hard time” after his friend moved away, his dog died and “who knows what else”.
Despite the concerns about her son’s mental health, she confirmed in another text that she still planned to come to her horse training that evening but was thinking about bringing Ethan along.
“He can’t be left alone,” she said in a text.
Ms Pennock testified that Ms Crumbley appeared to become more “upset” in her messages in the aftermath of the shooting and then told her she “needed to sell her horses stat”.
“My son ruined so many lives today,” she allegedly wrote in one text.
Ms Pennock said she “had never gotten the feeling that Jenn and James had issues with their son” prior to the mass shooting but said that Ms Crumbley described Ethan as “weird” and not “normal”.
“She said that he did not have any friends. She thought it was weird that he wasn’t out doing things like a normal kid,” she said.
Mr Smith, who is the chief operating officer of the real estate company where Ms Crumbley worked, also testified at the hearing that Ms Crumbley had sent him a photo of Ethan’s disturbing drawing and told him “this is what I’m dealing with” as she said she needed to go to his school to meet with staff that morning.
He said that sometime after she returned to work he heard her let out a scream in the office.
“I heard loud yelling, screaming,” he told the court of the moment she learned of a shooting at Oxford High School.
She then allegedly texted him that she believed her son was the shooter and feared he would turn the gun on himself.
“Omg Andy he’s going to kill himself he must be the shooter... Ethan did it,” she texted him.
“The gun is gone and so are the bullets.”
Mr Smith told the court he was “surprised” when Ms Crumbley then sent him a text worrying about losing her job not long after the shooting.
“I need my job. Please don’t judge me about what my son did,” she texted him.
“I was surprised by that text. I was surprised she was worried about her job at the time,” Mr Smith told the court.
“I thought she’d be more worried about what was going on.”
The company’s human resources director Kathy Poliquin testified later that Ms Crumbley had also contacted her that day in the shooting aftermath citing concerns about her job security.
“She thought she could possibly come in a few days later, maybe for a half a day, to get her mind off things,” Ms Poliquin told the court.
“We said, ‘No you’re on administrative leave. Don’t worry about coming into work. We’ll talk in a couple of weeks.’”
Before witnesses took the stand, the judge banned the Crumbleys from communicating in the courtroom after prosecutors said their behaviour was “disrespectful” in a prior hearing where they were seen blowing kisses and mouthing “I love you” to each other.
Four students – Hana St. Juliana, 14, Tate Myre, 16, Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17 – were killed in the 30 November shooting rampage and seven other people were wounded in what was America’s deadliest school shooting since the Parkland massacre in 2018.
Ethan has been charged as an adult with 24 counts including four counts of first-degree murder and one count of terrorism.
His legal team has revealed he plans to plead insanity.
