PONTIAC, Mich. (CN) — Heartbreaking testimony continued on Friday at a pre-sentencing hearing for Ethan Crumbley, the high school student who killed four classmates during a 2021 school shooting in Oxford, Michigan.
The hearing began yesterday as the shooter tried to shield himself from a life prison sentence — and from viewing some of the evidence collected against him.
Before questioning resumed, the shooter’s court-appointed lawyer Amy Hopp wanted to strike the testimony of Oxford teacher Molly Darnell, who Crumbley shot in the arm.
“[Darnell] got into things like how she communicated with her family” during the shooting, she said. “Clearly inappropriate for a Miller hearing,” the sort of hearing required when a juvenile offender faces life in prison without parole.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald responded that the circumstances of the case called for this testimony.
“The defendant’s actions … and how he did it is why we are here,” she said.
Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Kwamé L. Rowe ruled that the testimony would stand and since he was the trier-of-fact he would be able to parse out what was relevant.
The hearing resumed with the shooter’s lawyer Paulette Lofton cross-examining Edward Wagrowski, a cell phone forensic specialist for the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office. Wagrowski’s cross-examination was postponed so Darnell would not be forced to return a second day.
Lofton also went over text messages authored by the shooter in which he begged his mother to come home.
“I don’t like being home for too long,” the shooter texted. “Please help.”
Lofton alluded to text conversations between the shooter’s parents as they casually dismissed his mental issues and calls for help.
“He says his head hurts but he has to suck it up,” James Crumbley, Ethan’s father, texted his wife.
Heidi Allen, a sophomore at Oxford High School on the day of the shooting, took the stand to describe her harrowing experience as she helped wounded student Phoebe Arthur to safety.
Allen was walking down the hallway towards the bathroom when the shooter emerged from the door with his gun raised. She noted he was dressed in all black and wore a mask.
“A million things went through my head,” she testified. “I … didn’t really process.”
Allen was not hit by the shooter, but was very close to Arthur, who she was shot in the neck. She dragged Arthur to an open classroom where she applied direct pressure to the wound and used her shirt to try and stop the bleeding.
“Blood everywhere … on her clothes,” she said. “And it was starting to get on me.”
Allen confirmed she saw students get shot, including Madisyn Baldwin, who was lying in a “pool of blood.” She also saw unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate Hana St. Juliana, who died of her injuries.
Keegan Gregory, a freshman at the time of the shooting, described seeing a fellow classmate killed.
Gregory was on his way to class when the shooter began his rampage. He hid in a bathroom stall with Justin Schilling, a senior who pulled him in and told him to hide.
Gregory said he squatted on the toilet, so his legs were not visible as Schilling hid his legs behind a door post. When the shooter entered the bathroom, Gregory was texting his family in a group chat.
“Someone in here,” he texted. “He saw us. I see the gun.”
The shooter walked into the bathroom and ordered Schilling outside. When he complied, the shooter shot him in the head.
“It was quiet for a second, then I heard a shot,” he testified.
The shooter then ordered Gregory out of the stall and told him to stand by Schilling’s body as blood pooled around him. Gregory said he noticed the shooter had his gun lowered so he ran behind him and out of the bathroom to the outside front of the school.
