Ethan Crumbley, the 17-year-old who killed four classmates in a mass shooting at Oxford High School in 2021, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Oakland County Circuit Judge Kwame Rowe imposed the harshest possible sentence, saying Crumbley was obsessed with violence and planned the attack for months. Rowe called the shooting “an act of terrorism.”
“This is nobody’s fault but his own,” the judge said.
Crumbley was 15 when he opened fire at the school on Nov. 30, killing Tate Myre, 16; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17. He was charged as an adult and pleaded guilty to the deaths in October. He also pleaded guilty to injuring six other students and a teacher.
A soft-spoken Crumbley did not ask the judge for leniency and said he deserved to spend the rest of his life in prison.
“I am a really bad person,” Crumbley said. “I have done some terrible things. I have lied and I’m not trustworthy. I hurt many people.”
Crumbley said of the survivors and the victims’ families: “All I want is for them to be happy, and I want them to feel secure and safe. I don’t want them to feel unsafe for another day. I am really sorry for what I have done.”
Crumbley’s attorney Paulette Loftin urged the judge to show compassion, saying her client was an “extremely sad” and “broken kid” when she first met him, and he still suffers from mental illness. Today, she insisted, he is “a different person.”
“He has already made so many changes,” Loftin said. “He is remorseful. He sees the wrongs in his thinking and actions. He has hope for the first time. He is improving. I am confident he will continue to do that in the Michigan Department of Corrections.”
Crumbley had faced between 25 years to life in prison.
Crumbley’s parents, James and Jennifer, are facing involuntary manslaughter charges.
Before sentencing, dozens of victims and the parents and siblings of students killed spoke for more than five hours. They shared their heartache and anger and urged the judge to sentence Crumbley to life behind bars.
Dressed in an orange jumpsuit, Crumbley hung his head while the victims and their family members spoke.
Craig Shilling, the father of Justin Shilling, said Crumbley deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison.
“I feel strongly that individuals like this should never be allowed to walk among us again,” Shilling said. “This is why I’m going to ask your honor to lock this son of a bitch up for the rest of his pathetic life.”
Buck Myre, the father of Tate Myre, told Crumbley that he’s working on forgiving him, his parents, and the school. Myre said his son’s death has torn apart his family “with a permanent hole in it that can’t ever be fixed.”
“Today is the day the tides change,” Myre said, tears falling down his face. “We’re all cried out. We’re all tired out. We need to take the chip off our shoulder. We’ve been on this island for far too long. We are the prisoner, not you. Nobody else can set us free but us.”
Myre added, “We will never forget about you. Ever. We want you to spend the rest of your life rotting in a cell.”
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald urged the judge to listen to the survivors and families of the victims and sentence Crumbley to life in prison without the possibility of parole, saying he traumatized countless children and robbed parents of their children.
“We can give them the grace and dignity they deserve,” McDonald said.
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