PONTIAC (WWJ) -- Testimony over the last two days in the manslaughter trial for Jennifer Crumbley has focused on a meeting that took place less than two hours before her child would carry out a mass shooting at Oxford High School.
On the witness stand Tuesday was Nicholas Ejak, the former Dean of Students at Oxford High School, who met with Jennifer and James Crumbley, their son Ethan, and a school counselor the morning of Nov. 30, 2021.
Despite Ethan Crumbley's concerning behavior — including a drawing of a gun and blood with the words "Help me," which prompted the meeting — Ejak said he did not view Crumbley as a threat to others.
Assistant Prosecutor Mark Keast asked Ejak about Ethan's backpack, which was in the room during the meeting, and did contain what would become the murder weapon.
Keast: "You said you had the backpack with you and you provided it to the student. At any point, did anybody request to search the backpack?"
Ejak: "They did not not."
Keast: "And did you search the backpack yourself?"
Ejak: "I did not. It wasn't necessary, or rise to the occasion that I do that, because I didn't have any reasonable suspicion to do that."
Keast: "Explain what that means, please."
Ejak: "Sure. So, reasonable suspicion means that there needs to, by law, you have to have some type of reasonable suspicious activity that would lead to searching student belongings."
Ejak continued: "And so typically that's like a report that someone has a vape pen or a weapon, or that they're securing something they're not supposed to have at school, or nervous behavior when you have their belongings, which is very typical of students that we have searched in the past.
"They usually, their behavior will change when you're in possession of their stuff, and none of that was present at that moment."
Investigators said the 9mm handgun Ethan Crumbley would use in the shooting, which his father bought him days before, was in that backpack.
Ejak testified that the counselor urged the teen's parents to take him home and get him an appointment with a mental health professional that day.
Ejak said he expected the meeting would end with the parents taking Ethan home, but that Jennifer Crumbley did not want to do that.
"When we were discussing what to do moving forward, that Ethan receive outside counseling as soon as possible — today if possible — the response was, 'We can't take him anywhere today, we have to go back to work'," Ejak recounted.
"And who said that?" Keast asked.
"Mrs. Crumbley said that," Ejak replied, and Keast asked him about his reaction.
"It seemed a little odd," Ejak said. "Typically, when it's recommended that parents take their children to seek out mental assistance immediately, they follow that direction."
Ejak said as there was no disciplinary reason why the student couldn't stay in school that day, he was given a pass and sent back to class.
The second witness to testify Tuesday was Jennifer Crumbley's boss, who said she was in fact not required to return to work that day.
A short time after the meeting, Ethan would retrieve the gun from his backpack and fatally shoot four classmates, wounding six other students and a teacher.
Prosecutors have charged James and Jennifer Crumbley with four counts each of involuntary manslaughter. The father will be tried separately.
Stay with WWJ Newsradio 950 for the latest on this developing story.