OXFORD, Mich. – The mother of the Oxford High School shooter testified Thursday that she sent the infamous “don’t do it” text to her son on the day of the shooting because she thought he would kill himself, and not others.
While testifying on her own behalf at her involuntary manslaughter trial, Jennifer Crumbley told the court on Thursday, Feb. 1 that even when she learned there was an active shooter at her son’s school, she didn’t think her son had injured or killed anyone. She did, however, think her son was going to kill himself.
On Nov. 30, 2021, Crumbley said her husband called her and told her there was an active shooter at Oxford High School. Both parents had been at the school just hours before to meet with their son and a counselor, who was concerned about the shooter’s mental state. Multiple teachers had expressed concern about his behavior in the days leading up to the shooting, especially after the shooter had drawn disturbing, violent images and phrases on a math assignment.
After meeting with the shooter and the counselor, Crumbley said it was a mutual decision to allow her son to return to class, and the parents to return to work. The mother said she sent her son a text saying, “You can talk to us,” to let him know his parents were there for him.
In response, the shooter texted his mother, “I love you,” she testified Thursday -- but she didn’t see that text until after she was back at work, and received a call from her husband about an active shooter at the school. Crumbley said she was alarmed by the text from her son, especially since he was “at that age” when saying “I love you” wasn’t too common.
Once she saw the text, Crumbley said she texted her son back asking, “are you OK?” as she was in the process of leaving work and heading to the school. While she was in the car, Crumbley said her husband let her know that their new 9mm handgun was missing from their house.
“Instantly, I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s got the gun.’ I didn’t actually think he was at the school shooting it, I thought maybe he walked home and got the gun and was in the field by the school ... I didn’t imagine my son actually going to the school and shooting,” Crumbley said.
“Then, when we got more updates, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s a school shooter, he’s going to kill himself,’ because in my mind, that’s what school shooters have done is killed themselves after,” Crumbley said. “So, I yelled in my talk-to-text, ‘[shooter’s name] don’t do it,’ because I thought he was going to kill himself.”
The text has been brought up by prosecutors in both the case against the parents and against the shooter to indicate the parents, or at least the mother, had an idea that their son was either capable of or planning to cause harm.
Defense attorney Shannon Smith finished with her direct questioning of Crumbley on Thursday afternoon. Prosecutors were scheduled to begin their cross-examination of her on Friday morning.
Crumbley is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter for the four students murdered by her son on Nov. 30, 2021.
You can watch the trial and our coverage live all day on ClickOnDetroit.com and on our streaming app Local 4+.
---> From Thursday: Full updates from day 6 of Jennifer Crumbley’s trial (Feb. 1)