Terrorism charge in Oxford High School shooting seeks justice for traumatized students
Prosecutors took the unusual step of charging Ethan Crumbley — the Oxford teen who authorities say shot and killed four of his classmates and injured seven more — with terrorism.
The charge, as the Oakland County prosecutor explained, is significant in this case.
It also should serve as a warning to pranksters — particularly other students — who are starting and circulating rumors and threats of copycat violence, even if they don't intend to carry them out.
Thursday, Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido reinforced this idea by promising to prosecute the threats.
"Anyone thinking of issuing such a threat," he said, "should know that as Macomb County prosecutor, I have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to issuing terroristic threats against our schools."
A Sterling Heights girl was arrested, accused of threatening to shoot up the school.
And in Flint, Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton on Thursday charged a 17-year-old student with false threat of terrorism and using a computer to commit a crime after school officials said she recorded and posted to social media a threatening video while riding a bus to Southwestern Classical Academy.
In the video, she performed a rap verse that mentioned shooting up a school "like Oxford," Leyton's office said.
“My message to our community has been loud and clear over the years whenever we have had instances of so-called ‘copycat threats’ following a school shooting or other mass shooting incidents around the country and that message is that it is not a joke, it is a crime and it will be treated as such,” Leyton said in a news release. “I’m not going to try to figure out whether this incident in Flint today was intended to be a joke or whether it was a credible threat, the bottom line is that it’s a crime."
In the Oxford High case, in addition to the terrorism charge, Crumbley faces four counts of first-degree murder, each of which carry a sentence of life imprisonment.
“It's not a usual, a typical charge," Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald acknowledged during her Wednesday news conference. However, she added, it applies to students who were not shot, but faced psychological trauma.
"What about all the children who ran, screaming, hiding under desks?" McDonald asked. "What about all the children at home right now, who can’t eat and can’t sleep and can’t imagine a world where they could ever step foot back in that school?"
Those students, she said, are victims, too, and "the charge of terrorism reflects that."
Terrorism took on new significance after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, with lawmakers more clearly defining what that was and setting penalties for intimidating and coercing civilians.
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Supporting terrorism is among the charges Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel brought against men accused of plotting to harm Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Gun-control advocates who track gunfire incidents on school grounds were not immediately aware of similar terrorism charges having been filed in other states, according to an Associated Press report.
The terrorism charge also could be an example future prosecutors follow.
Police say being able to charge students with making terrorism threats gives them more latitude to investigate, seek search warrants and make arrests.
"Let's just take why the school districts around southeast Michigan are closed right now," said Southfield Police Deputy Chief Jeff Jagielski. "Somebody made a terroristic threat online. It's unsubstantiated at this point, but the threat is there."
It's not the first time an Oakland County student has been charged with terrorism.
After the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, there were more than 100 false threats targeting southeast Michigan schools. State and federal law enforcement officials said they would aggressively prosecute anyone who falsely threatens schools.
More than a dozen teens in various districts were prosecuted, charged with making terrorism threats.
In 2006, a then-Rochester High senior was accused of scribbling a menacing message on a wall that threatened a Columbine-like school massacre. He was charged with making a threat of terrorism.
His friends said the 18-year-old made a mistake, officials wanted to make an example of him and the panic that was created was overblown. But authorities countered the threat was something that they had to take seriously.
"He might be a sweet kid. He might have done something stupid," Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said at the time. "But people are afraid of situations like this. There is nothing humorous about it."
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Why Oxford school shooting suspect faces terrorism charge
