Last week, a teenager in Michigan opened fire at Oxford High School, killing four students.
What makes this particular school shooting stand out from so many others is just how inevitable it was and how brokenheartedly avoidable it all could've been.
The gun Ethan Crumbley used in the slaughter of his fellow students was just purchased the Friday before by his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley.
School officials were concerned when a teacher saw Ethan searching for ammunition on his phone on Monday.
This was brought to the attention of the parents who did nothing.
Well, except for his mom to assure Ethan, “LOl. I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught."
On Tuesday, a teacher found a note and drawings on Ethan’s desk . Among the things Ethan wrote were:
- "The thoughts won’t stop. Help me."
- "Blood everywhere.“
- “My life is useless.”
- “The world is dead."
This too was brought to the attention of the parents.
Again they did nothing.
They resisted the idea of taking their son out of school and getting him into counseling. They did not ask about the gun they just bought him 4 days ago or even check his back pack to see if he had it in their possession.
James and Jennifer Crumbley decided there wasn't a problem here and left Ethan at school.
Within hours, Ethan was shooting kids in the hallway with his early Christmas gift.
Within hours of James and Jennifer Crumbley deciding there wasn't a problem, four students at Oxford High School were murdered and their son Ethan was in a jail cell.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald charged the couple with four counts of involuntary manslaughter for their culpability in the 4 murders their son committed.
Instead of turning themselves in, the Crumbleys ran, drawing $4,000 out of an ATM and hid in a warehouse in nearby Detroit. Their attorney says the couple was hiding for their own safety and fulled intended to turn themselves in.
Nobody's buying that. Drawing out $4,000 in cash and hiding in a warehouse in another town does not sound like the behavior of people who were going to turn themselves in.
Prosecutor McDonald says she isn't done yet. Yeah, Ethan's parents were being dicks but didn't the school authorities have some responsibility for letting Ethan back into the school population unchecked and unmonitored?
In one sense, Ethan Crumbley's date with destiny was inevitable, a drama of madness and rage expressed through a gun and the shattered flesh of innocents. All the boxes are checked for a pattern of tragedy that we've seen played out one damn time too many in this country.
But on the other hand, this did not need to be inevitable. So many opportunities to have made this tragedy avoidable.
The lives of those 4 students Ethan Crumbley could've been saved.
And also the life of Ethan himself could've been saved as well.
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