Videos screened at Oxford shooter hearing show ‘a child in the throes of psychosis’

PONTIAC, Mich. — Videos shown by defense attorneys in a court hearing Tuesday showed the teen accused of fatally shooting four classmates in 2021 and injuring multiple others in the midst of breakdowns in the Oakland County jail, asking “why didn’t you save her?” “why didn’t you stop it, you let it happen,” “I’m sorry, I’m sorry please God,” and “you could’ve stopped it God but you didn’t stop it.”

The hearing, now in its third day, will determine whether the shooter, who is a juvenile, should be sentenced to life without parole or a term of years in prison. It resumed Tuesday morning with an expert for the defense describing him as a “feral” child who “lost track of reality.”

Colin King, a licensed psychologist who is an expert in traumatic brain injury, said Ethan Crumbley faced isolation and neglect before the Nov. 30, 2021 shooting. He testified that based on his meetings with the shooter and reviewing the teen’s text messages, it appeared he never got help for mental health issues.

“When I interviewed Ethan and looked at his profile, at his high level of isolation, lack of parental support, lack of guidance, lack of resources … psychologically and socially he can be considered a feral child,” said King during testimony Tuesday in Oakland Circuit Court.

Crumbley’s attorneys began presenting their case Friday afternoon for why the teen should be sentenced to a term of years in prison — which would be no less than 25 to 40 years at a minimum and no more than 60 at a maximum — after an emotional morning when prosecutors brought up two students who witnessed the shootings and an assistant principal who tried to save 16-year-old Tate Myre. Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald’s office has argued that the shooter’s behavior was so egregious that he should be incarcerated for life.

Tate and three other students — Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17 — were killed in the Nov. 30, 2021, shooting at Oxford High School. Six other students and a teacher were injured in the shooting. Teacher Molly Darnell was the only witness testifying for prosecutors who had been injured in the shooting.

Prosecutors have the burden of proof to show that the shooter is deserving of a life without parole sentence and that the sentence is proportional to the crime, even with mitigating factors like the teen’s age, mental health and childhood.

The shooter’s defense attorneys, Paulette Loftin and Amy Hopp, have presented evidence that he struggled with depression and paranoid thoughts and heard voices in his head, but did not receive the help he said he needed from his parents. Their goal is to convince the judge that factors, including his family and home environment, the circumstances of the crime and the possibility of rehabilitation, make a life without parole sentence disproportionate.

During King’s testimony Friday, he said he spent about 24 hours testing and interviewing Crumbley and conducted about 15 assessments on him over six sessions. He noted instances when the shooter was a child, as early as age 6, when he was left unattended and would end up at his neighbor’s house, scared and asking for help.

He spent countless hours watching adult video games and spent an “inordinate amount of time” on websites viewing graphic scenes.

“He indicated after a while he began to fantasize about being a part of those scenes,” King said. “He sort of lost track of reality.”

King noted that a beloved dog dying, like the teen’s had in 2021, could be traumatic. The dog died at home and Ethan was the one who had to dispose of the body. A month before the shooting, his best friend, someone King noted might have been his only friend, went away to a rehabilitation facility. His mom told him he probably would never see his friend again.

“The part that stood out for me was when he told his parents he was hearing voices and he needed to see a therapist,” King said. “I don’t know what 15-year-old raises his hand and says ‘My brain hurts I need to see a therapist.’ And it never happened.”

In testing, King found the teen was not feigning psychotic symptoms and had a normal level of mental functioning. His stress symptoms, depression and anxiety were high, King said.

”(The teen’s immediate concerns are) all related to his confusion surrounding his actions,” King wrote in his report. “He is trying to grapple with the enormity of the loss of life and his involvement. He reports nightmares, depression, and extreme sorrow over the outcome over his actions.”

King diagnosed him with major depressive disorder with psychosis and acute anxiety disorder.

Loftin then played several undated videos from the Oakland County Jail of the teen crying and repeating himself, begging to know why God did not stop the shooting.

King said these videos showed “a child in the throes of psychosis.” He said the teen was having a panic attack and a break with reality.

Buck and Sheri Myre, the parents of Tate Myre, who was killed in the attack, visibly reacted to the video of the shooter in jail, both appearing disturbed by the audio and video recording.

King said when the teen hacked into his tablet at the jail in January and went to a website with violent content, he restrained himself for two weeks before he looked at the site, which he had spent hours on every day prior to his arrest. King said the teen told him he was proud he was able to resist for so long.

“When you make a comparison of what he was doing prior, he was ingesting that content constantly,” King said. “Every day, hours and hours at a time. In my mind that shows progress. Not perfection, but progress.”

Ethan’s brain is still maturing, King said, and it probably will not reach full maturity for another 10 years. He expressed belief that the teen could be rehabilitated and can change.

Prosecutors wrapped up their witness presentation Friday morning with students Keegan Gregory, who was in the bathroom with Justin when he was shot and killed, and Heidi Allen, who rendered possibly lifesaving aid to a wounded classmate, and Oxford High School Assistant Principal Kristy Gibson-Marshall.

Gibson-Marshall’s gut-wrenching testimony left much of the courtroom in tears, including the shooter, who showed emotion for the first time during her testimony about trying to save Tate, whom she had known since he was 3. He had been shot in the back of the head.

Crumbley pursed his lips as tears began dripping down his face during Gibson-Marshall’s testimony Friday morning.

“It was crushing,” Gibson-Marshall said through tears. “I had to help him. I just needed to save him. For his mom. … I just kept talking to him, saying that I love him. That I needed him to hang with me. He was blue, but when I was giving him breaths, he was getting lighter so I thought they were helping. So I kept giving him breaths.”

After Gibson-Marshall finished testifying, she and Tate’s parents, Sheri and Buck Myre, hugged and sobbed in the gallery.