Ethan Crumbley, the school shooter who gunned down four of his classmates at Oxford High School in 2021, will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
A Michigan judge handed him the life sentence on Friday afternoon, after hours of victim impact statements, in which more than two dozen survivors and loved ones of those killed went on to grill Crumbley—who was 15 at the time of the massacre—for senselessly turning their lives upside down.
Crumbley, now 17, pleaded guilty to the quartet of murders before a criminal trial began, so Friday was the first opportunity for survivors and the parents of victims to deliver fiery testimony in his presence.
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“You are a waste of space,” Avery Bluenstein, a 16-year-old junior who was shot but survived on Nov. 30, 2021, said to Crumbley. “You’re not special.”
The maximum penalty Crumbley faced was a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole, and the minimum was 25 years. The death penalty has been constitutionally banned in Michigan since 1963.
Crumbley was charged with injuring seven and killing four, including, Hana St. Juliana, 14; Tate Myre, 16; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; and Justin Shilling, 17.
Before his sentencing was announced, Crumbley admitted before the court that he’s a “really bad person” who did “terrible” things.
“Any sentence that they ask for, I ask that you impose it on me,” he said. “I want them to be happy, I want them to feel secure and safe. I don’t want them to worry another day.”
Police said previously that Crumbley’s journal and search history showed that he’d planned out the massacre well in advance. One chilling journal entry read, “The first victim has to be a pretty girl with a future so she can suffer just like me.” Michigan authorities said the first victim shot was Phoebe Arthur, a 14-year-old girl who miraculously survived.
Other entries insinuated the teen was suicidal, with him writing, “I want all of America to see the darkness in me. I want to impact the world...Killing myself is too much of a pussy move. People will just forget about me… The only way is to shoot up the school.”
A majority of those who testified Friday appealed to the judge to issue Crumbley the maximum punishment permitted.
Madeline Johnson fought back tears as she testified, describing how she was the last person to ever speak to Baldwin—telling her goodbye and walking away just moments before Crumbley shot the teen dead in the hallway.
Johnson demanded that Crumbley look her in the eye as she testified, adding that a sentence of anything less than life in prison without parole “would be a slap in the face.”
Keegan Gregory, who hid in the same bathroom where Shilling was killed, said that he feels incredible guilty that he survived.
“It was and always will be the most terrifying moment of my life,” he said. “My life is now full of what ifs. He robbed me and the Oxford community of so many things.”
Kylie Ossege, a senior at the time of the shooting, recalled lying in her own blood after being shot, thinking she was surely going to die. She said she tried to get up, but her legs wouldn’t budge, having been shot by Crumbley.
Ossege said the weight of her backpack and jacket meant she couldn’t even crawl to safety. She recalled hearing groans beside her from St. Juliana, who she begged to just “stay with me.”
She testified that a SWAT team officer passed them in the chaos, did a double-take, and reassured them that help was on the way before he continued on.
Ossege said she created math problems in her head and repeated her mom’s phone number to herself over and over to make sure she wasn’t dying. She estimates she did this for 15 minutes before someone arrived to save her life, but was too late to save St. Juliana.
“Hana and I were left in utter loneliness,” she said. “I thought I was dying.”
The Detroit Free Press reported that Crumbley kept his head down throughout each victim statement, which included testimony from Myre’s father, Baldwin’s mother, Schilling’s parents, and St. Juliana’s sister.
Crumbley’s parents, who are charged with involuntary manslaughter for failing to prevent his massacre, will face separate trials in the coming months.
