Ethan Crumbley, the Michigan high school student who killed four of his classmates and injured seven other people in a 2021 shooting attack, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Oakland County Circuit Judge Kwame Rowe imposed the sentence after hearing impact statements from families of victims in the Nov. 30, 2021, attack at Oxford High School in Oxford Township, Mich.
"He wanted to see the impact of his own crime, which is why he didn't take his own life," Judge Rowe said. "He chose not to die on that day because he wanted the notoriety. The terror that he caused in the state of Michigan and in Oxford is a true act of terrorism."
The four students who died were Hana St. Juliana, 14; Tate Myre, 16; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; and Justin Shilling, 17.
Crumbley, now 17, who pleaded guilty last year to multiple counts of murder and other charges, addressed the court and apologized.
"We are all here because of me today, what I did," Crumbley said. "My actions were because of what I chose to do; I could not stop myself....I have lied, I've hurt many people, and that's what I've done. That's not who I plan on to be. I do plan to be better, I will change. I am trying, and all I want is for the people I hurt to have a final sense of culpability that justice has been served."
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald sought the harshest punishment possible. She said Crumbley's crimes traumatized scores of students, parents and an entire community.
Defense lawyers urged the judge to spare Crumbley a life forever behind bars, maintaining that at 17, he is too young to be denied a chance for parole.
