Parent/Caregiver Involvement: Lessons Learned in the Aftermath of the Michigan School Shooting

In VTRA cases with all age ranges, including adults, there is a growing tendency for professionals to “drift” back to underreacting to blatant indicators that someone is moving on a pathway to violence. PBAs remain the most simplistic way to do screening:

• Is the threat or threat-related behaviour Plausible?
• Is there a shift in Baseline?
• Is there any evidence of Attack-Related Behaviours?

When the initial screening data supports activation, VTRA trained professionals need to proceed with Stage One even if parents/caregivers are not cooperative or appear to be underreacting to their child’s level of risk. Family generated dynamics, as we know, are at times a primary risk enhancer in cases including factors related to denial, fear, and shame. The 2021 school shooting in Michigan has been receiving international news attention because both the parents of the shooter were charged and now recently convicted of four counts of involuntary manslaughter. Their sentence could be up to 15 years in prison. This case is a stark reminder of how Stage One VTRA or VTRA Screening could have prevented this case. It also highlights the responsibility that parents/caregivers have to take reasonable steps to heed cries for help from their children and not inadvertently contribute to risk. The following is a brief synopsis of the pre-incident behaviours of Ethan Crumbley, his parents and school personnel prior to this tragedy.

 

REMINIDER TO PARENTS/CAREGIVERS:

VTRA/ARTO IS MEANT TO BE

HELPFUL AND NOT HURTFUL.

Michigan School Shooting

Individual of Concern (IOC): Ethan Crumbley, 15 yrs.

Parents: James Crumbley (45 yrs.) and Jennifer Crumbley (43 yrs.)

Incident: Tuesday, November 30, 2021 Oxford High School, Oxford Michigan (40 miles outside of Detroit) Crumbley came out of a school bathroom with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun and started firing shots at people in the hallway killing 4 people (students) and wounding 7 others (6 students and one teacher). He fired approximately 30 shots and still had 18 rounds remaining when arrested. The attack began at 12:51pm and was over at 12:56pm, when he was arrested in the building without struggle.

Pre-Incident Data:

• Two notebooks were found in the home. One appeared to be shared by the family.
• Entries ranged from Nazi symbols to grocery lists. The second notebook had pictures of firearms on every page, Ethan bragging about asking for a 9mm and always asking to go to the shooting range.
• He wrote pages in his journal about what he was planning and made a video at home talking about what he was going to do.
• Ethan reportedly made 2 videos on his cell phone the night before of him talking about shooting and killing students the next day at his high school.
• Ethan’s father bought the gun 4 days prior to the shooting.
• Ethan’s parents gifted him with the gun 4 days prior to the attack. It was an early Christmas gift according to his mother, Jennifer.
• He showed the gun on his Instagram account.
• Jennifer took him to the shooting range the week before the shooting. She posted a video of Ethan showing her how to use the gun at the range.
• Ethan bragged about the gun to a friend and showed them.
• Day before the shooting, a teacher sent him to school officials for searching ammunition online during class. They contacted home. His mother texted him, “LOL, I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught.” He also showed empty casings and live rounds at school that same day.
• Just hours before the attack he wrote on Instagram, “now I become death – destroyer of
  worlds – see you tomorrow Oxford”.
• November 30, 2021, the day of the shooting, Ethan was caught by two different teachers; one with the drawings and the other of him viewing violent videos on his phone that depicted shooting.
• School Counsellors believed the drawing displayed suicidal ideation and assessed him for Suicide.
• November 30, 2021, the parents were called into school (11:00am) for a meeting concerning drawings of a handgun, a bullet, and a shooting victim … “the thoughts won’t stop, help me,” “my life is dead,” and “blood everywhere” were found on his math worksheet. The teacher had taken a picture of the drawings.
• He altered the drawings after the teacher found them; erased the gun and the writings. He wrote, “I love my life so much!!!!,” “video game this is,” “OHS rocks!”, “we’re all friends here,” and “harmless act”.
• During the meeting with officials and his parents, Ethan explained that the drawings were for a video game he was designing.
• Superintendent said, “At no time did counsellors believe the student might harm others……said Ethan “appeared calm”.
• It is believed that Ethan had the gun in his backpack at school that morning, and with him during the school meeting.
• School asked the parents during their meeting to take Ethan immediately for mental health assistance. The Crumbleys explained they needed to return to work, but would take him within the next 48 hours.
• Officials did not search his backpack or locker and sent him back to class.
• Some students stayed home November 30, 2021, because they “felt like something was going to go down”.
  

 

Recommendations:

There have been some parents/caregivers attempting to prevent Stage One VTRA from being conducted [now also referred to as the “Assessment of Risk To Others” (ARTO)]. As such, some VTRA teams are either not activating the protocol or simply not involving parents/caregivers. However, the protocol is clear that parents/caregivers “must be notified at the earliest opportunity”. This does not mean that notification must occur once the threat-related behaviour comes to your attention. It means that once adequate data has been collected by the Site-Specific Team and/or community protocol partners, where there is reason to believe the IOC may pose a risk, you must notify parents/caregivers. As well, parents/caregivers not only have the right, but are usually part of the intervention or at the least sources of insight and data, including the “bedroom dynamic”, etc.

We need to be prepared to ask parents/caregivers questions like:

• Are you concerned for your own safety or the safety of your other children?
• Do you believe your child poses a risk to themselves or others outside of the family home?
• Can you tell me a little about your child’s bedroom or is that off limits (meaning off limits to the parent/caregiver)?
• Has anything happened (current or in the past) that you feel may help explain why your child has come to our attention in this situation?
• Is there someone who poses a risk to your child?
• Have any of your other children (if applicable) been concerned about the (IOC’s) behavior?
• Have any of your extended family, family friends or other acquaintances, been reluctant to visit your home due to concerns with the IOC’s behavior?
• Have you observed or had any reports related to concerning social media posts by your child?

As noted above, remember PBAs and if you are not familiar with this screening language, or not trained in the new VTRA/ARTO process, it’s time to refresh.

VTRA Protocol Regions and trained organizations should be renewing their “Fair Notice” communications reminding students, staff, parents/caregivers and the community in general, that we have trained teams and processes in place to assess and intervene when violence and threats of violence occur. This communication should include whom to contact if students, staff, parents/caregivers or others are concerned.

Better to course correct now than later!

Sincerely,

J. Kevin Cameron and the CTIP Team