A Michigan prosecutor says authorities at the high school where four teenagers were fatally shot last week could have searched the suspect’s locker and backpack before the gunfire began.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald told CNN Monday it would have been lawful for Oxford High School officials to look through 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley’s belongings.
“We don’t know exactly if that weapon was in his bag, where it was, we just know it was in the school and he had access to it,” McDonald said.
Crumbley is accused of using a semiautomatic handgun to open fire at the school last Tuesday. He was charged as an adult. His charges include murder, attempted murder and terrorism.
Prosecutors haven’t ruled out charging others, including school authorities, McDonald told CNN, without specifying why those officials didn’t carry out a search.
On the morning of the shooting, Crumbley was reported by a teacher for allegedly drawing a doodle featuring a gun and the words “blood everywhere.” The school then held a meeting with his parents to discuss his behavior.
His parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, are charged with involuntary manslaughter, with prosecutors contending they should have intervened.
“All of this could have been prevented if he hadn’t had access (to a gun) or if just one of those parents had said, ‘I’m concerned about what I’m seeing right now and I also want you to know we just bought him a gun for Christmas,’ and that didn’t happen,” McDonald told CNN.
Authorities identified the victims who were killed as 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana, 16-year-old Tate Myre, 17-year-old Justin Shilling and 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin.
———
