Michigan [US], December 8 (ANI): A 15-year-old sophomore student, Ethan Crumbley, who was arrested for killing four of his classmates in the 2021 Michigan school shooting, is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday, as reported by ABC News.
Crumbley was charged with killing four of his classmates and wounding others in the school shooting.
Crumbley was 15 at the time of the shooting and pleaded guilty last year to 24 charges, including first-degree premeditated murder and terrorism causing death.
He faced life in prison without the possibility of parole after a judge ruled that the sentence was appropriate despite his age at the time of the shooting, according to ABC News.
Notably, the charges of first-degree premeditated murder and terrorism causing death both carry a minimum sentence of 25 to 40 years.
Prosecutors said there were no plea deals, reductions, or agreements regarding sentencing.
Four students identified as Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Tate Myre, 16; and Justin Shilling, 17 were killed after Crumbley opened fire at Oxford High School on November 30, 2021.
In the open fire, six students and a teacher were wounded in the shooting rampage, according to ABC News.
Moreover, victims will be allowed to provide impact statements at the time of the sentencing hearing.
During the hearing, Judge Kwame Rowe highlighted evidence against Crumbley in which he displayed violence and was found saying that he felt something “between good and pleasurable” when he tortured a baby bird.
“There is other disturbing evidence but it is clear to this court that the defendant had an obsession with violence before the shooting,” Judge Rowe said.
While issuing his decision, Rowe also questioned the possibility that Crumbley could be rehabilitated in jail, reported ABC News.
“The evidence does not demonstrate to this court that he wants to change,” Rowe said, adding, “The defendant continues to be obsessed with violence and could not stop his violence in jail.”
Moreover, his parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, were also charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter after allegedly failing to recognise warning signs about their son in the months before the shooting.
Reportedly, both parents have pleaded not guilty and their trial is set to begin on January 23.
During the plea hearing in October 2022, Crumbley admitted in court that he asked his father to buy him a specific gun and confirmed that he paid his father for the gun and that the semi-automatic handgun wasn’t kept in a locked safe.
Moreover, according to ABC News, days before Crumbley attacked the children, a teacher allegedly saw Crumbley researching ammunition in class, following which the school officials contacted his parents but they didn’t respond, the prosecutors said.
Later, his mother texted Crumbley, writing, “Lol, I’m not mad at you; you have to learn not to get caught,” according to prosecutors.
Hours before the shooting, according to prosecutors, a teacher saw a note on his desk that was “a drawing of a semi-automatic handgun pointing at the words, ‘The thoughts won’t stop, help me.’ In another section of the note was a drawing of a bullet with the following words above that bullet, ‘Blood everywhere.'” (ANI)
