PONTIAC (WWJ) -- Day two of a hearing to determine whether confessed mass shooter Ethan Crumbley will spend the rest of his life in prison has seen more chilling and emotional testimony, including from witnesses who were inside Oxford High School on the day of the massacre.
Among those to take the stand was 17-year-old Heidi Allen, who described turning a corner in a hallway to see an armed Crumbley, 15, walk out of a bathroom and begin shooting.
"It sounded like a balloon popping, or like a locker slamming. It was very loud," Allen told the court. "I dropped down, just because that was my reaction... I just prayed, and I covered my head. Because I didn't know if those were my last moments."
"What I remember is him walking past me, and I just closed my eyes 'cause I thought he was coming up to me," Allen testified. "And then eventually I realized he was gone, because I opened them to look around and he was was gone."
"I saw two girls across from me, and then down the hall was another girl," she continued, "...just laying there."
Also testifying Friday was Oxford High School student Keegan Gregory, who detailed the harrowing eight minutes he spent in a bathroom hiding from Crumbley, along with fellow student Justin Shilling, who did not survive.
In an exchange with Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, Gregory described how Crumbley entered the bathroom where he and Shilling were hiding, and kicked in the stall door.
McDonald asked Gregory to describe Crumbley's demeanor.
"Kind of blank, cold," Gregory said.
At that point, Gregory said Crumbley told him to stay put, while ordering Shilling to come out of the stall.
"He went out with him." Gregory said. "It was quiet for a second, and then I heard a shot... It was extremely loud."
"And what did you think when that happened?" McDonald asked.
"I kinda didn't know what to think... My mind wasn't really believing that it happened," Gregory said.
Crumbley then came back into the stall.
"He tells me to come out with him; kind of signaled me to go over by Justin's body," Gregory said. "...When he moved the gun away from his side kind of, I ran behind his back and out the door."
"Why did you do that?" McDonald asked.
"I think when I saw his body, I realized that if I stayed I was gonna die," Gregory said.
The public can watch the hearing via Zoom at this link.
Crumbley in October pleaded guilty to all 24 felony charges against him, including four counts of first-degree murder and one count of terrorism in the deadly shooting on Nov. 30, 2021.
Four students, Madisyn Baldwin, 17, Justin Shilling, 17, Tate Myre, 16 and Hana St. Juliana, 14, were killed, while six other students and a teacher were wounded by gunfire.
Oxford High School Assistant Principal Kristy Gibson-Marshall testified that she'd walked past Crumbley in a hallway after the shootings.
"I just thought, it couldn't be Ethan. He wouldn't...he wouldn't do that," Gibson-Marshall said, through tears. "I said, 'Are you OK?' and 'What's going on?'"
In momentary disbelief that Crumbley would have harmed anyone, Gibson-Marshall said she wondered whether he'd recovered a weapon that the shooter had dropped.
"What I started talking to him, he looked away from me, but kept walking. He just walked past me," she said. "He was very calm...He didn't speak to me, an that's when I figured something was really wrong."
Gibson-Marshall said she walked beside Crumbley for a second, but then went to help Tate Myre, who'd been shot and was lying in the hallway.
She said she'd known Tate since he was only 3 years old, when his older brothers were in her school.
"It was crushing; I had to help him," she said. "I just needed to save him, for his mom."
During Gibson-Marshall's testimony, Crumbley was seen crying in the courtroom, with tears streaming down his face.
This was the first time that the shooter showed any emotion during the hearing.
While prosecutors are seeking a life without parole prison sentence for Crumbley, the teenage killer's defense counsel maintains that he deserves a chance at rehabilitation.
Under the Miller statute in Michigan, juvenile defendants do not face automatic life without parole for first-degree murder. The 2012 Supreme Court ruling requires a judge to consider the eventual release of young defendants convicted crimes they committed when they were under the age of 18.
"The judge is going to have to weigh what they call the Miller factors," explained WWJ Legal Analyst Charlie Langton. "And there are five factors that deal with whether or not this particular shooter should get life in prison or be given a term of a number of years. And the factors talk about the juvenile's age, the juvenile's family and home environment, the circumstances of the offense, the incompetencies of youth — which means just how they live, really — and then finally, the possibility of rehabilitation. That's it."
The prosecution has rested its case, with testimony by witnesses for the defense set to resume next Tuesday.
Once all testimony is complete, Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Kwame Rowe will issue a ruling.
Among the many interested in the outcome of this hearing is attorney Ven Johnson, who represents several Oxford families in a civil case. He was asked about his reaction to disturbing audio from a recording Crumbley made the night before the shootings, played in court Thursday.
"To hear a 15-year-old boy utter words like that, it's scary," Johnson said. "But to me what it is, it's obvious he was severely mentally ill — not to the point he didn't understand what he was doing, because he actually said I knew what I was gonna do, and I know I'm gonna go to prison for this, so he got it, right? But then his parents were ignoring him, and then clearly everything he did in school, they ignored him there too."
It's alleged by prosecutors that James and Jennifer Crumbley knew that their son was struggling with his mental health, but did nothing to help him; instead buying him the 9mm handgun he would use to murder his classmates.
In court on Friday, defense attorney Paulette Loftin read text messages to Oakland County Sheriff's Det. Edward Wagrowski that Crumbley sent to friends days and months before the shooting, indicating that he told his parents he was unwell, and had been hallucinating.
"Like, I hear people talking to me, and see someone in the distance," Loftin read. "Following page, same text thread: I actually asked my dad to take me to the doctor yesterday, but he just gave me some pills and told me to suck it up. Like, it's at the point that I'm asking to go to the doctor. My mom laughed when I told her."
James and Jennifer Crumbley remain jailed, awaiting trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter.
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