Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley sentenced to life in prison without parole

Ethan Crumbley, who gunned down four students at a Michigan high school in 2021, has been sentenced to life in prison without parole, a judge ruled on Friday.

Ahead of his sentencing, the 17-year-old acknowledged that he is a “really bad person.”

“I am a really bad person. I have done terrible things that no one should ever do,” he told the court, CNN reported.

Crumbley, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, opened fire at Oxford High School outside of Detroit on Nov. 30, 2021, killing four students: Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14, and Justin Shilling, 17. Seven others were wounded.

He pleaded guilty last October to all 24 charges against him, including first-degree murder and terrorism. Just two months ago, a judge ruled that the teenager would be eligible for life imprisonment — the harshest possible punishment in Michigan.

The sentencing comes after emotional testimony from witnesses earlier in the day as Judge Kwame Rowe mulled Crumbley’s fate.

“We are miserable. Our family has a permanent hole in it that can never be fixed, ever. And there doesn’t appear to be a way out. So, to this day, you are winning,” Myre’s father, Buck, told the teen.

Baldwin’s heartbroken mother recalled seeing her daughter’s lifeless body at the medical examiner’s office after the shooting.

“I looked through the glass. My scream should have shattered it,” Nicole Beausoleil said.

Shilling’s mother told Crumbley, who sat with his head down, that he executed someone who could have been a friend when he needed one most.

“If you were that lonely, that miserable and lost, and you really needed a friend, Justin would have been your friend — if only you had asked,” Jill Soave said.

“You may have caused the pain and terror as you intended to do, but you did not destroy us,” she added.

St. Juliana’s older sister spoke of the things she had hoped to do with her as they grew up, such as thrift shopping and speaking at each other’s weddings.

“Instead of speaking at her wedding, I spoke at her funeral,” an emotional Reina St. Juliana said. “Instead of fishtailing her hair for a game, I curled her hair in a casket.”

The night before the massacre, Crumbley recorded a manifesto claiming he was “going to be the next school shooter” and said he planned to kill as many people as possible.

He also wrote disturbing journal entries in which he daydreamed about shooting up the school. Crumbley wrote that he didn’t want to die and wanted to be remembered.

Crumbley and his parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, met with school staff on the day of the shooting after a teacher found some of his horrific journal scribblings, including a gun pointed at the words, “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me.”

He was allowed to stay in school after his parents resisted taking him home, and his bag, which contained a gun, was never checked.

Baldwin, Myre, 16, Hana St. Juliana, 14, were shot dead on the day of the massacre. Justin Shilling, 17, died of his wounds at the hospital the following day.

Attorney Ven Johnson, who represents the four deceased victims, called Friday’s ruling “a pivotal step towards justice for our clients and all survivors.”

“Despite the two-year delay, the gravity of the situation endures, and this sentencing is a crucial stride towards accountability,” he said in a statement.

“We wholeheartedly support Judge Kwame Rowe’s decision to condemn him to life in prison without parole.”