Moment Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley’s parents confront him at police station after he kills four in rampage

• Ethan Crumbley’s parents can be seen in police interview footage confronting him hours after he shot and killed four people
• Jennifer Crumbley and her husband James have been charged with involuntary manslaughter in their son’s school shooting

The parents of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley asked him “why? why?’ and told him “I love you” when he confronted him at a police station just hours after he shot and killed four classmates.

New video of Jennifer and James Crumbley confronting their son after the Nov. 30, 2021, shooting was shown during Jennifer’s trial Monday.

The pair were charged with four counts of manslaughter each for the deaths of four victims in the shooting, while Eaton was sentenced to life in prison.

As Ethan sat in a chair in the corner of the interview room with his head down, Jennifer yelled, “Why? Why?’ to him as James said “I don’t think we should be asking him any questions right now” and then told him “I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.”

In a previous interview, the parents told police: “I really wish we had taken him home” after seeing a violent drawing of a gun with the words “The thoughts won’t stop”. Help me,” which Ethan had done the morning of the shooting.

In the clip, Ethan appears to look at his parents and say, “Please take care of Dexter,” referring to his cat.

Ethan shot and killed four students, Hannah St. Juliana, 14, Madisyn Baldwin, 17, Tate Meyer, 16, and Justin Schilling, 17, and wounded seven others, including a teacher, on the afternoon of Nov. 30, 2021.

Jennifer and her husband are accused of contributing to the deaths at Oxford High by neglecting their son’s needs and making guns available at home.

This is the first time parents have been charged in a mass school shooting in the US.

In new video released Monday, on the third day of testimony, the couple can be seen going over the day’s events with police hours after the shooting.

The pair were called to Ethan’s school the morning of the shooting to discuss his mental health after teachers discovered a disturbing drawing of a gun – but left him at school and returned to work.

Jennifer later told police that the counselor “didn’t seem worried about it and told them she ‘could stay in school or go home.’

She added: “I really wish we had taken him home.”

Early in the interview, when James began to tell investigators about meeting with the school counselor, Jennifer interrupted, saying, “I think we should probably have a lawyer.”

James replied, “I think we can talk to the cops.”

Jennifer then described how she texted her son just minutes before the shooting, saying she asked him if he was okay at 12:21 p.m., and he replied that he had just gotten back from lunch.

She said she told him he could talk to his parents and they wouldn’t judge him, and he replied, “I know, I love you.”

Ten minutes later, he fired his first shot and proceeded to kill four students and wound another seven over the next nine minutes before being apprehended by police.

In the interview, James said, “I mean it’s Ethan, Ethan is like, he’s a perfect kid, he doesn’t do anything.”

James also described where the gun and bullets were hidden in a cupboard, with the bullets being hidden separately under a pair of jeans.

Part of the case against the couple is that they bought Ethan a new gun just days before the shooting.

But they insisted target practice was a family hobby and James told the inquest he took his son to the range “all the time”, adding “I was trying to teach him safely”.

The couple later asked for a lawyer again, saying, “we’d like a lawyer to be present from here on out,” and Jennifer, who could be seen on her phone during the interview, said she was texting someone to get a lawyer.

After the charges against them were announced, the couple disappeared, but their lawyers insisted they were not absconding.

“The Crumbles left town the night of the tragic shooting for their own safety. They return to the area to be tried. They are not running from law enforcement, despite recent comments in the media,” the lawyers said.

However, on the second day of the trial, it was revealed that Jennifer texted her boss the day before the manslaughter charges were announced that “We’re on the run again. Helicopters. I’m not sure where. I will send you a message.

Other new evidence was discovered in court this week and presented in the case against Ethan’s parents.

Evidence shows that Jennifer and her husband, James, were out riding horses and did not respond when Ethan sent her text messages on March 17, 2021, saying their house was haunted.

She had told her husband earlier that day that she wanted to “get drunk and ride my horse,” according to a message shown to the jury.

Ethan said he was scared because the “demons” were “throwing bowls”.

“Can you text back?” he asked his mother.

In April 2021, seven months before the school attack, Ethan Crumbley told a friend he was “dying mentally and physically”.

He said he asked his father to take him to a doctor but was told to “suck it up”.

Disturbing homework, shown to his mother just hours before he carried out his murderous spree, was introduced as evidence in her manslaughter trial.

A textbook with the words “the world is dead” along with a picture of a gun were shown to jurors in an Oakland County courtroom last Thursday.

He also scrawled the words “blood everywhere”, “my life is worthless” and “thoughts won’t stop help me” before the ruthless act, for which he is serving a life sentence without parole.

The drawings were taken by Eaton on November 30, 2021 – the same day he shot and killed four classmates and wounded six in a mass shooting at Oxford High School.

The 17-year-old was jailed for life in December after pleading guilty to murder, terrorism and other crimes. Ethan was 15 at the time of filming.

Smith told jurors Thursday that the mother was “hypervigilant” for her son and should not be blamed for the death. Jennifer is expected to testify in the coming days.

Smith wants to challenge some of the evidence by having Eaton or his doctors speak to the jury. But his lawyers said he would invoke his right to remain silent and also not give up his right to privacy with psychiatrists.

After meeting with the school counselor the morning of the shooting, Crumbley was allowed to remain at school and his backpack was not checked for weapons.

School officials said Crumbley talked his way out of trouble during a meeting about his violent drawings by claiming the drawings were part of plans to create a video game.

He later came out of the bathroom with a gun and started shooting fellow students.

Police say Crumbley’s first victim was freshman Phoebe Arthur, who was shot in the face but miraculously survived. A total of 13 people were shot, four of whom died.

He walked up and down the corridors shooting until the police arrived and took him into custody.

Both his parents have been in jail for more than two years awaiting trial, unable to afford $500,000 bail. James Crumbley is due in court in March.

Earlier this week, the lawyer representing Jennifer, Shannon Smith, was forced to apologize for joking that she had killed herself in court in front of the victims’ families.

Smith, a sex offender attorney with more than 16 years of experience, made a terrible mistake in court Friday while appearing in Jennifer Crumbley’s manslaughter trial Oxford Grammar School mass shooting.

The lawyer was struggling to operate her computer and organize her evidence when she said in frustration: “I’m going to kill myself.”

The families of the victims of the school shooting by her client’s son were in court during her callous joke.

Smith apologized for his remarks before Monday’s trial.

“In my frustration, I made a comment that was offensive to the families of the victims,” ​​she said, before adding that it was “absolutely accidental.” “I apologize for this comment.”

The inane joke came up during cross-examination Friday when Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews asked Smith to disassemble a stack of documents before falling, jokingly calling it “The Leaning Tower of Pisa.”