Ethan Crumbley: New timeline reveals Oxford high school shooter spent more time hunting down victims than initially reported
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers' discretion advised
OXFORD, MICHIGAN: A new timeline on the Oxford high school shooting reveals that the massacre actually lasted several minutes longer than initially reported. Ethan Crumbley, 15, killed Hana St Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Justin Shilling, 17, and injured seven others, including a teacher on November 30, 2021.
The timeline recently released by Oakland County Sheriff's deputies shows that the Oxford High School shooter spent nine minutes firing his gun at victims in hallways and a bathroom. That is four minutes after sheriff's deputies and officers arrived on the scene and spotted Crumbley in the building. They found that the teen gunman was still engaged in firing on the victims. Previously, days after the shooting, sheriff's officials released reports on the timeline stating the "whole thing" lasted five minutes.
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How did the Oakland County police create the new timeline?
It was also reported that authorities approached the juvenile suspect minutes after hundreds of 911 calls poured to police. However, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said they approached Crumbley eight minutes after emergency calls came in. He further explained that details of the shooting were released hours after it occurred and, investigators had to update earlier statements about preliminary facts in the case. "The timeline is available and has been from the beginning," Bouchard said, according to Detroit News.
(David Guralnick-Pool/Getty Images)
Investigators highlighted that they built the timeline using a combination of data and information from school surveillance video, radio communications, and squad car videos including details on how time unfolded. "To make the timeline, we had to cross-reference time stamps on radio traffic, car cameras, look at the video from the school," Bouchard said. "A lot of this took time. It was put out early on. I don't know how people missed it. It was verbal. We weren't printing and handing it out."
Will Crumbley receive life in prison?
A parent of a boy who confronted Crumbley in the school bathroom and survived has questioned the details regarding the attack timeline for more than 15 months, claiming the public has a different understanding of what happened in the school that day. "People are always asking why we don't have one. If there was one released and published, it was missed. None of us has it," Michael Gregory said claiming she has never seen a timeline from the sheriff's department.
Crumbley pleaded guilty to all 24 charges against him on Friday, March 17. A monthly hearing will be held for the suspect who remains at the Oakland County Jail, to evaluate if the jail is still the “right place” for him, but till then a judge had ordered him to continue to stay there. A miller hearing will determine if Crumbley will be sentenced to life without parole or get a shorter sentence due to his age. The next hearing for the teen gunman is scheduled to be held on June 2, 2023.