Official Found It ‘Strange’ That Michigan School Shooter’s Mother Didn’t Take Him Home Over Drawing

Defendant Jennifer Crumbley listens to witness testimony during her jury trial at Oakland County Courthouse, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024, in Pontiac, Mich. Crumbley, 45, is charged with involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors say she and her husband were grossly negligent and could have prevented the four deaths if they had tended to their son’s mental health. They’re also accused of making a gun accessible at home. Clarence Tabb Jr./Detroit News via AP

A Michigan school official told jurors Tuesday that he felt he had no grounds to search a teen’s backpack before the boy fatally shot four fellow students, even though staff met with the teen’s parents that morning to discuss a violent drawing he had scrawled on a math assignment.

Nick Ejak, who was in charge of discipline at Oxford High School, said he was concerned about Ethan Crumbley’s mental health but did not consider him to be a threat to others on Nov. 30, 2021.