Justin Shilling

On November 30, 2021, a mass shooting occurred at Oxford High School in the Detroit exurb of Oxford Township, Michigan, United States.

Ethan Robert Crumbley, age 15, armed with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, murdered four students and injured seven people, including a teacher.

Authorities arrested and charged Crumbley as an adult for 24 crimes, including murder and terrorism.

Crumbley pleaded guilty to all of the charges in October 2022.

On December 8, 2023, Crumbley was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole plus an additional 24 years.

Crumbley's parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, were charged on December 3 with involuntary manslaughter for failing to secure the handgun used in the shooting.

After failing to appear for their arraignment, the parents were the subjects of a manhunt by the U.S. Marshals; they were caught and arrested in Detroit on December 4.

Lawsuits were filed against the school district, Oxford Community Schools, starting on December 9; they allege negligence by school officials towards warning signs exhibited by Crumbley leading up to the shooting.

On February 6, 2024, Jennifer Crumbley was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

She faces up to 15 years in prison.

Oxford High School used the active shooter drill known as ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate), which uses proactive strategies to evade a gunman, such as using noise as a distraction and creating distance.

The teachers were also trained to use a barrier at the base of the door called Nightlock, which was installed on every door of the school in 2017, three years before such barriers were required by Michigan law.

According to students and parents, rumors regarding threats of a mass shooting occurring at the school were circulating before the incident occurred, prompting some students to stay home on the day of the shooting.

Earlier that month, in response to an act of vandalism that included a severed deer head being thrown off the school roof and into the courtyard, school administrators published a note to parents, saying they had been investigating the rumors but found no threat.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said his office was not aware of any credible threats prior to the shooting.

Surveillance footage showed Ethan Robert Crumbley entering a bathroom and then exiting it about a minute later holding a semi-automatic handgun.

Immediately afterwards, Crumbley started firing in the hallway during passing time when hundreds of students were transitioning from one class to another.

When the students started fleeing, he "methodically and deliberately" walked down the hallway and shot into classrooms and at students who were unable to escape until he went to another classroom.

Due to the quick response by students and staff to the gunshots, Crumbley was unable to enter any of the classrooms.

According to students, a voice over the intercom alerted them to an active shooter, and their teachers started locking and barricading doors and covering windows, convincing them it was not a drill.

Others recounted hearing some loud banging noises, before realizing the noises were gunshots and quickly locking the door.

One student who hid in a bathroom stall recalled hearing the sound of a gun cocking outside the bathroom.

Once the school was secured, he opened the bathroom door to find several bodies lying on the floor.

At 12:51 p.m., police began receiving the first of around one hundred 9-1-1 calls about the shooting and responded to the school.

Within two to three minutes of the arrival of first responders, Crumbley was arrested unharmed by a deputy assigned as a school resource officer and a second deputy who had responded to the scene.

He allegedly still had seven rounds of ammunition loaded into his gun and two 15-round magazines when he was stopped by the deputies.

At a news conference, Oakland County Undersheriff Michael McCabe said Crumbley surrendered to deputies without incident.

The entire shooting lasted about five minutes and occurred in the southern end of the school building.

After the shooting occurred, the school went into lockdown.

Some students were evacuated to a nearby Meijer store, and one woman helped children to shelter in her house.

Authorities conducted three sweeps of the school in search of victims and evidence.

At least one student posted a video to social media of people hiding in a classroom during the lockdown, where a person out in the hallway claimed to be law enforcement.

Those in the classroom mistakenly believed they were speaking to Crumbley, and they subsequently fled the classroom via the windows and were led to safety by a deputy.

Due to confusion from the video, Sheriff Bouchard clarified during a press conference that Crumbley had never knocked on a door based on surveillance footage and the person was likely a detective trying to calm the students.

Three students – Madisyn Baldwin, age 17; Tate Myre, age 16; and Hana St. Juliana, age 14 – were killed at the scene, and eight other people were injured, including a teacher.

Myre was reportedly shot while attempting to stop the gunman; he died in a police vehicle en route to the hospital.

On December 1, a fourth student, 17-year-old Justin Shilling, died in the hospital from his injuries.

, three of the injured were in critical condition, with one of them on a ventilator; one was in serious condition; three were in stable condition; and the injured teacher was discharged after being treated for a graze wound to the shoulder.

The last of the injured was discharged on January 17, 2022, more than a month after the shooting.

The school was processed by authorities, with video footage from security cameras in the school building being the investigators' primary focus.