Lawsuit says administrators knew Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley was dangerous

A lawsuit filed against the Oxford Community School District, the high school's principal and several others allege that administrators knew Ethan Crumbley was dangerous before he allegedly shot and killed four people and wounded seven others.

The federal lawsuit was filed in early December but was amended last week to include 11 new counts. The suit is seeking $100 million in damages.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, accuses the defendants of “gross negligence" and alleges that their actions caused "serious and permanent physical and emotional trauma."

Oxford High School students felt "less safe" because of the defendants' actions, the lawsuit says.

"The horror of November 30, 2021 was entirely preventable," it reads.

Named as defendants are the district, superintendent Timothy Throne, Oxford High School principal Steven Wolf and several unidentified counselors, staff members and teachers.

The lawsuit also named Ryan Moore, dean of students, but a lawyer representing the school and its employees said Moore left the high school more than a year ago, well before the shooting. The lawyer is trying to get Moore dismissed from the case.

"Our interest and priority is to recover from this tragedy ... which is more important than ... pursuing this lawsuit at this time," attorney Timothy Mullins said Wednesday.

The lawsuit alleges that on Nov. 11, about two weeks before the shooting, Crumbley brought a severed bird head in a mason jar "containing a yellow liquid" to school. It says he allegedly left the jar in the boys' bathroom.

When students found it, they reported it to school administrators, according to the lawsuit. In response, the school sent an email to parents the following day saying, in part, that there was "no threat to our building nor our students," the suit claims.

The complaint further alleges that the school was aware of concerns raised by parents over Crumbley's social media posts that depicted "violent tendencies and ideations" but administrators told parents and students that they were safe.

In a post the day before the Nov. 30 shooting, Crumbley allegedly wrote: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. See you tomorrow Oxford.”

Despite the concerns raised by parents and students, administrators continued to let Crumbley go to school, the suit says.

“This action assisted in the perpetuation of his plans to effectuate and provided the clearance for Ethan Crumbley to commit, a violent slaughter of classmates and increased the risk that Plaintiffs’ Minors would be exposed to Ethan Crumbley’s acts of violence,” the lawsuit reads.

Throne is accused in the lawsuit of allegedly discouraging “students and parents from reporting, sharing, or otherwise discussing” Crumbley’s social media posts.

The lawsuit also says Wolf “directed the teachers and counselors to tell students to stop reporting, sharing, or otherwise discussing the threatening social media posts, and violent animal slaughter that was occurring at Oxford High School.”

The shooting happened just before 1 p.m. on Nov. 30 after Crumbley left a bathroom, investigators have said. He is charged as an adult with murder and other crimes. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.

Crumbley's parents were also charged in the shooting with four counts each of involuntary manslaughter. James and Jennifer Crumbley are accused of making a gun accessible to their son and refusing to take him home following a meeting prior to the shooting. They have also pleaded not guilty.