Michigan school shooter sentenced to life in prison without parole

A teenager in Michigan who killed four students with a semi-automatic handgun has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility for parole.

Ethan Crumbley, 17, pleaded guilty to terrorism and murder charges last year.

He was 15 when he opened fire at Oxford High School, around 30 miles (48km) north of Detroit, in November 2021.

His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, are awaiting trial on four counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Prosecutors have argued Mr and Mrs Crumbley ignored their son's depression and fascination with guns.

The teenager killed four and injured seven in the worst school shooting in Michigan's history, which devastated Oxford - a small suburban town of 22,000 people.

Though the defense asked for the option of parole, the judge said he was applying the maximum sentence, in part, as a deterrent to any other young person plotting a similar gun attack.

"He did this for notoriety," said Judge Kwamé Rowe, calling the attack "a true act of terrorism".

Friday's sentencing followed nearly five hours of emotional testimony from survivors and the loved ones of the four young victims, Hana St Juliana, 14; Tate Myre, 16; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; and Justin Shilling, 17.

While the victims' friends and family sought the harshest sentence during the hearing, the defendant wore an orange prison jumpsuit and sat with his head bowed and eyes fixed on his hands.

"We are suffocating together in disbelief," said Madisyn's mother, Nicole Beausoleil. "No-one will forgive you."

Reina St Juliana, the sister of Hana, spoke of losing the family's "bright light".

"Loving Hana shouldn't be this painful and life isn't supposed to be this paralysing," Reina said. "I don't want to wake up in the morning because Hana is not here."

Other students and educators at the school that day also took the stand on Friday to share gut-wrenching details from the shooting. Some at the sentencing hearing openly wept and buried their faces in their hands due to the nature of the testimony.

Hana St Juliana, Tate Myre, Madisyn Baldwin and Justin Shilling were all killed in the 2021 shooting

Molly Darnell, a teacher at Oxford High School, described the enduring trauma she has faced after she was injured in the attack.

"You may not be glancing my way today, but I know you can hear me," she said, speaking to the young shooter. "You intended to leave my husband a widower and my children motherless. There is no forgiveness for you."

Kylie Ossege, a student who was shot in the attack, remained in hospital for months after watching Hana St Juliana take her last breaths at the school. She said paramedics found her lying in a pool of blood.

"I am still disabled and in extreme pain every day," Ms Ossege said. "It has been 738 days of reliving the tragedy in my head every single hour."

The shooter's parents face their own trials in 2024. It marks the first time parents in the US face involuntary manslaughter charges - punishable by up to 15 years in prison - over their child's role in a mass shooting, experts told the BBC.

• When a mass shooting happens, who is to blame?

Prosecutors argue the parents are criminally responsible because they bought their son the weapon he used in the attack and ignored his mounting mental health troubles. The defendant's lawyers have also argued he was neglected by his parents and suffered from mental illness.

The parents later attempted to flee after being charged with manslaughter.

Karen McDonald, the Michigan prosecutor who filed charges against the parents, told the New York Times in 2021 the decision to prosecute represented "a brand-new way of approaching school shootings".

Many have also laid blame on the Oxford Community Schools district. On the day of the shooting, school officials found the teenager with disturbing drawings. But they failed to check Crumbley's backpack, where he stored the gun, and sent him back to class.

Oxford Community Schools did not respond to a request for comment from the BBC.

Before being sentenced the attacker addressed the court to say that he was solely responsible for the killings.

His parents and school officials, he said, "did not know and I did not tell them" of the attack plan, "so they are not at fault for what I've done".