By Tyler Clifford
(Reuters) – The Michigan teenager suspected of killing four classmates and wounding several other people in a school shooting last November is expected to plead guilty to terrorism and murder charges on Monday, a county prosecutor said.
Ethan Crumbley, 16, is accused of discharging a semi-automatic handgun in Oxford High School in a Detroit suburb on Nov. 30. The gun was a Christmas gift his father purchased days before the massacre, authorities said.
In a court notice earlier this year lawyers for Crumbley said he would mount an insanity defense. Those plans appear to have changed, according to Oakland County Chief Assistant Prosecutor David Williams.
“We can confirm that the shooter is expected to plead guilty to all 24 charges, including terrorism and the prosecutor has notified the victims,” Williams said in a statement on Friday. “There have been no plea deals, no reductions and no sentencing agreements.”
Three lawyers representing Crumbley, who was a 15-year-old at the time of the killings, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
A court appearance is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT).
Among the dozens of charges is a count of terrorism causing death and four counts of premeditated murder by a juvenile, according to the prosecutor.
Four students were killed in the rampage and six other students and a teacher were wounded.
Crumbley’s parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, also face involuntary manslaughter charges connected to the shooting. In that case, Rochester District Court Judge Julie Nicholson said evidence showed they purchased their son a gun despite signs that he was a “troubled young man.”
The case appears to be the first in the United States in which the parents of a teenage school shooter have been charged with crimes attributed to their child. They have pleaded not guilty.
Four days before the shooting, Ethan Crumbley accompanied his father to a gun shop, where James Crumbley bought a 9mm handgun, prosecutors said.
(Reporting by Tyler Clifford; editing by Grant McCool)
