Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley’s dark journal entries presented during sentencing hearing
Ethan Crumbley’s notebook, found in a bathroom stall at the Michigan high school where he shot and killed four classmates, contained his detailed plans for the massacre, including how he wanted to target “pretty” girls.
“I want America to hear what I did,” Crumbley wrote. “I will cause the largest school shooting in the state. I wish to hear the screams of the children as I shoot them.”
The 22-page journal was presented as evidence on Thursday during a hearing to consider whether Crumbley will be sentenced to life in prison or receive a shorter term with an opportunity for parole. He was just 15 when he opened fire inside the halls of Oxford High School on the afternoon of Nov. 30, 2021.
“The first victim has to be a pretty girl with a future so she can suffer just like me,” he wrote in a different journal entry.
The first person killed in the mass shooting was 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana, described by a teacher at her funeral as a “beautiful flower.” Crumbley fatally shot another three people — Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; and Justin Shilling, 17 — and wounded seven more before he surrendered to responding authorities.
In the week before he killed his schoolmates, Crumbley Googled a series of questions about the death penalty and prison sentences for 15-year-olds in Michigan. The night before the massacre, he searched “What is worst prison sentence you can get in Michigan,” according to testimony from Lt. Timothy Willis, the lead investigator.
Last October, Crumbley, now 17, pleaded guilty to one count of terrorism causing death, four counts of first-degree murder and 19 other charges stemming from the mass shooting. But because he was 15 at the time of violence, he can’t automatically be given life in prison. Instead, he could receive a minimum sentence between 25 years and 40 years with the possibility for parole.
Crumbley’s parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, are also facing manslaughter charges for the massacre at their son’s high school, which is located about 35 miles north of Detroit. They’re accused of failing to intervene on the day of the shooting despite being called into the school for a meeting with administrators regarding their son’s classroom behavior.
With News Wire Services
