Jennifer Crumbley breaks down in court watching surveillance footage of son Ethan’s school shooting rampage
Ethan Crumbley’s mom took the stand Thursday shortly after breaking down in tears watching surveillance footage of her son’s deadly school shooting — where she admitted it was hard to “stomach” the horror her child caused.
Jennifer Crumbley was seen bowed over the desk with her head in her hands as footage was played in court of her son’s rampage that killed four at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021, when he was just 15.
Her lawyer, Shannon Smith, was also seen looking away from the screen with a pained expression on her face as the harrowing video played.
The pair then hugged in court, the sixth day of Crumbley’s trial on four counts of involuntary manslaughter, the first time a parent has been charged in connection to their child’s school shooting.
“As a parent, you spend your whole life trying to protect your child from other dangers,” Crumbley told the court when she took the stand. “You never would think you’d have to protect your child from harming somebody else.
“That’s what blew my mind. That was the hardest I had to stomach is that my child harmed and killed other people.”
She spoke about her only child’s hobbies, including shooting a BB gun and target practice in their backyard.
She also said he liked to play video games and collect coins, according to Click on Detroit.
Crumbley also said she thought she had made an environment for her son to come talk to her about his mental health problems.
“I trusted him and I felt like I had an open door that he could come to me about anything,” she said.
The mother also said she didn’t believe her son needed a psychiatrist as he only had anxiety before a test and she testified that he never asked to see a mental health professional.
She was also asked about her affair with Brian Meloche — which she said she kept from both her son and husband — as well as a friend of Ethan’s who had moved away earlier that year.
“I called him my second son,” she said.
A large part of Thursday’s trial session pertained to Oakland County Sheriff’s Lt. Timothy Willis’ investigation into the shooting, including how he mapped out Ethan’s path — and how many of the more than 90 sheets of paper in his backpack featured images of firearms, according to Click on Detroit.
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Willis also discussed Ethan’s journal, which was written back to front — and referenced a shooting on every page.
Quotes included “I have zero help for my mental problems and it’s causing me to shoot up the f–king school” and “I’m about to shoot up the school and spend the rest of my life in prison,” according to Click on Detroit.
In one passage, the now-17-year-old wrote: “First off, I got my gun. It’s a SP 2022 Sig Sauer 9mm. Second the shooting is tomorrow. I have access to the gun and the ammo. I am fully committed to this now. So yeah…I’m going to prison for life and many people have about one day left to live.”
It also included a drawing of a gun to a woman’s head and ammunition types, the local outlet reported.
Afterward, they played the video from inside the school. Some portions were audio only.
Crumbley and her lawyer kept their heads down during the video.
Bodycam video was also played of Crumbley and her husband, James, being placed in the back of a cop car after officers arrived at their home following the shooting.
Jennifer was in handcuffs during the exchange, but James was not.
Both were questioned by police.
Days later, the parents would be charged, and Willis told the court he knew the pair were not home at the time and deployed David Hendrick, the leader of the fugitive apprehension team, to find them.
“I told him to go attempt to look for them,” he told the court.
Paperwork was also shown to the court indicating the Crumbleys had bought burner phones at Walmart, stayed in a hotel and withdrawn thousands of dollars on “multiple occasions.”
Crumbley admitted in court Thursday that her and husband took four Xanax each the night before their arrest. She insisted the pair planned to turn themselves in the next day.
While they were sleeping, police came barreling in with guns and they were taken into custody.
Her trial continues.
