Wounded teacher kicks off testimony in James Crumbley involuntary manslaughter trial: Watch live

Testimony began Thursday in the involuntary manslaughter trial of James Crumbley, father of the Oxford school shooter, in Oakland County Circuit Court. Watch the livestream here.

Crumbley, whose son is serving a life sentence for murdering four classmates at Oxford High School in 2021, is facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter — the same charges on which his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, was convicted a month ago. She was the first parent in America to be held criminally accountable for a school shooting.

Livestream: James Crumbley trial

An all-white jury of nine women and six men — three of whom will be designated as alternates before deliberations begin — was seated Wednesday.

Wounded teacher: 'He was aiming to kill me'

The first witness to testify Thursday was Molly Darnell, a teacher at Oxford High School who was shot in the arm by Crumbley’s son and came eye-to-eye with the gunman during his rampage.

Through tears, her voice shaking, she detailed the horror as it started to unfold. According to her testimony:

Darnell was in her room when she saw a rush of students go past her door. She was confused. It was quiet. Then she heard three sounds.

The principal came over the PA and announced: “We’re headed into lockdown. This is not a drill.”

Then a “pop pop pop.”

Then doors slamming — so she closed her door as well and grabbed a "night lock" to secure the door when through a window she saw someone in a hoodie, mask and skull cap. She saw his eyes.

“I realize that he’s raising a gun to me. I remember thinking in my head, ‘There’s no orange tip on that gun,’“ she said, explaining she realized it wasn’t a BB gun, which she remembered being told have orange tips.

She jumped and then felt as if she had been stung by hot water. She had been shot in the arm — though she was focused on barricading the door. She couldn’t move a filing cabinet, so she got on her hands and knees and crawled to the door and put the night lock in place.

She then pushed a rolling cart in front of the door.

She felt blood going down her arm and used her cardigan as a tourniquet.

“I texted my husband, ‘I love you. Active shooter.’"

She also texted with her daughter, but did not tell her that she had been shot, only that she was barricaded and safe.

Police eventually showed up. On her hands and knees, she opened the door, was pulled to safety and taken to a hospital, where she saw nurses and doctors lining the hallways.

“They were prepared for a disaster,” she said through tears, adding: “He was aiming to kill me.”

Prosecution: James Crumbley knew his son was in distress

Assistant Prosecutor Marc Keast began his opening statements by talking about the massacre.

"On November the 30th, 2021, James Crumbley's 15-year-old son walked out of a boy's bathroom holding a 9 mm handgun ... he pointed. He aimed ... and fired that weapon at teachers, at students and teachers.  Killed four. Wounded seven.

"James Crumbley bought that gun that his son used to kill as a gift for his son," he said, later adding Crumbley bought that weapon "even though he knew" his son was in distress "and had been in a downward spiral."

More: James Crumbley is wearing headphones during his trial: Here's why

Keast told the jury that James Crumbley failed to secure that gun as a way to prevent his son from accessing it.

He then introduced the victims murdered by Crumbley's son: Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17.

"These are the four students who never made it home that day. What happened inside that school was truly a nightmare come to life, but ... that nightmare was preventable."

"There are three people who are responsible ... The shooter .... but so are his parents."

And James Crumbley was the key player, Keast told the jury. "He was the adult out of anyone in the world to prevent these kids' deaths."

Keast argued the students would still alive today if the dad "seized on any small opportunities" to prevent the shooting.

"The shooter didn't snap. The shooting was foreseeable, especially to his father."

Keast also introduced to the jury perhaps the most damning evidence against the father: the troubling drawing Ethan Crumbley drew on a math worksheet on the morning of the shooting. It featured a gun, a human body bleeding and the words: 'The thoughts won't stop.  Help me.'

"It took that counselor all but 20 minutes that parental involvement was required," Keast told the jury before explaining what happened when the parents arrived at school.

James Crumbley never mentioned the gun they had purchased four days earlier, or that their son's best friend had just moved away, Keast told the jury.

Rather, the parents left their son at school and went back to their jobs.

James Crumbley went on a DoorDash run.

Two hours later, their son fired his first shot. An active shooter alert went out to all school parents, Keast said, noting James Crumbley went home to check for the gun.

He asked the jury to consider that no other school parent that day is known to have gone home to check for a gun.

Keast also stressed during his opening statement that James Crumbley is not accused of knowing what his son would do that day.

"You will never hear any allegation that James Crumbley knew what his son was going to do ... there is no claim that James Crumbley gave him that gun hoping he would kill four students."

Rather, Keast said, James Crumbley is accused of engaging in gross negligence, for failing to use "ordinary care" when he was the one who knew the background, the origins of the drawing.

"Him sitting in the counselor's office, looking at this drawing ... his failure to act, right there, is his willful disregard of danger."

No one is suggesting that every parent should be held responsible for their child's misdeeds, Keast said.

But in this situation, he said, James Crumbley reasonably knew what his son was going to do.

"This case is not about guns ... this case is about this gun, for this kid, with these issues ...  When this kid was begging for a deadly weapon, that's why we're here."

Defense: If jurors follow the law, father will be acquitted

Defense attorney Mariell Lehman acknowledged to jurors that the shooting undeniably changed people’s lives and wrecked families.

“But this case is not about what happened inside of Oxford High School,” she said in her opening statement. “This case is about what happened outside of Oxford High School.”

She said the prosecution has alleged that James Crumbley was aware that his son was a danger to others and that he had knowledge that his son could and would hurt other people and failed to take steps to protect others.

“And ladies and gentlemen,” Lehman said, “that simply is not true.”

She told jurors they will hear about James Crumbley’s relationship with his son, the math worksheet on which the shooter drew troubling messages and about the gun James Crumbley purchased, how and where it was stored and whether the shooter knew where the firearm was located in the house.

“Pay attention also to what you don’t hear,” Lehman said. She said James Crumbley was not aware that his son had access to the firearm and that access to it was not allowed.

“You will not hear that James Crumbley knew what his son was going to do,” she said, adding that they also won’t hear that he even suspected his son was a danger.

Lehman said James Crumbley “did not know that his son could potentially harm other people. He did not know what his son was planning.” She said he did not purchase the gun knowing his son might use it against other people.

Lehman told jurors that the prosecution has repeatedly asked them to follow the law and said she was asking them to do the same. If they do, she argued, they will find James Crumbley not guilty.

Jury will not see texts shooter sent his mom about demons

The judge delivered some good news to James Crumbley Thursday morning. Before the jury came in, Matthews ruled that the prosecution will not be allowed to show the jury text messages that the shooter sent his mom months before the massacre. In a handful of texts, which were shown during the mom's trial, the teenager tells his mom he is seeing a demon throw bowls around the house, hearing toilets flush and seeing doors open.

Jennifer Crumbley testified that her son was messing around and had an ongoing joke with his dad that the house was haunted, and that ghosts nicknamed Veronica and Boris lived there.

The prosecution has argued the texts show the son was hallucinating and mentally struggling, though the mom said no such thing was happening.

Either way, the judge has concluded that James Crumbley's jury will not see those texts because there's no evidence the dad knew about the texts.

Matthews also excluded from the dad's trial a text the shooter sent his friend at 8:21 a.m. on the day of the shooting. 

“Hey man, times have gotten rough ever since you left. I don’t know if you died or you moved away but I hope you’re doing well. I’m about to do something really bad and there is no turning back so I’ll probably never be able to see you again. I hope the best for you and I’m sorry for anything I’ve ever done.”

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: James Crumbley trial begins with opening statements: Watch live