OXFORD, Mich. — A Michigan prosecutor was left speechless after reviewing security footage of the deadly shooting rampage at Oxford High School on Tuesday.
“We have had the opportunity to view the video and what is depicted on that video – I don’t have the words,” Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Marc Keast said Wednesday, FOX 2 Detroit reported.
The accused 15-year-old killer has been identified as Ethan Crumbley. He made his first court appearance on Wednesday.
Prosecutors charged the teen with 24 criminal offenses, which include four counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of assault with intent to murder, one count of terrorism, and 12 counts of possession of a firearm.
Keast watched security camera footage as he prepared for court. He said the video of the attack showed Crumbley enter a bathroom in the school with a backpack and exit with a handgun, FOX reported.
“At that point, he deliberately aimed the gun at students and began firing at students,” Keast continued. “After students started running he continued down the hallway pointing the gun and firing (at them) and firing in classrooms and at students who were unable to escape.”
According to the prosecutor, Crumbley fired more than 30 rounds in the hallways just before 1 p.m. Three students were killed on the day of the shooting and one more has died since. Seven others were wounded.
The attorney representing the teen entered a not guilty plea.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard identified three of the students on Tuesday as Tate Myre, 16, Hana St. Juliana, 14, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17, Law Officer reported.
Justin Shilling, 15, was named as the fourth student who died on Wednesday morning, according to FOX 2.
Four wounded victims remain hospitalized while three others have been discharged.
“He methodically and deliberately walked down a hallway, aimed the firearm at students and fired it,” Keast said. “After children started running away from the defendant, he continued down the hallway, again at a deliberate and methodical pace, pointing and aiming inside classrooms and at students who hadn’t had the opportunity to escape.”
Not surprisingly, Crumbley was having behavioral issues. His parents were at the school hours before the mass shooting to discuss their son’s problems.
“The parents were brought in the morning of the shooting and had a face-to-face meeting with the school,” Bouchard said Wednesday at a press conference.
“The content of that meeting obviously is part of the investigation but we did not learn of that meeting, nor of the content of that meeting until after the shooting and during this investigation.”
Judge Nancy T. Carniak ordered Crumbley to be held without bond and transferred to Oakland County Jail.
“I want to err on the side of caution,” said Carniak in recommending Crumbley be moved to the adult facility from Children’s Village in Pontiac. “This should be done to protect other juveniles, he will be in isolation with contact only from sheriff deputies.”
Lt. Tim Willis of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office disclosed in court that Crumbley recorded videos on his phone the night before the incident, talking “about shooting and killing students the next day at Oxford High School,” FOX reported.
During a search, law enforcement authorities discovered a journal belonging to Crumbley. It reportedly detailed “his desire to shoot up a school to include murdering students,” Willis said.
After reviewing social media posts and such videos, Crumbley planned to “deliberately murder as many students as he could that day,” according to Keast.
