Jennifer Crumbley 'didn't look closely' at her son's drawings until after Oxford High School shooting
When Jennifer Crumbley was taken into custody at her home on Nov. 30, 2021, she was recorded on police cameras telling the arresting officer all about the meeting with school counselors earlier that day and she expressed shock that her son would have shot students at the school.
Tuesday afternoon, the prosecution called Oakland County Sergeant Matthew Peschke, who was among those who responded to the Crumbley home within minutes of the shooting at Oxford High School. When they arrived, this was after the Crumbley parents had already been to the Oakland County Substation and Jennifer confronted their son on the shooting.
Peschke said he observed a man walking near an awning, then spotted a female coming out onto the porch, who he identified as Jennifer Crumbley. She was placed in the backseat of a deputy's car and video showed her talking with a deputy off-camera.
She explains in the recording that James took their son to school that day and she believed the gun was still at the house that morning. She said she had slept in and that James had taken her son to school that day.
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The deputy explains that the gun box was found on the Crumbley parents' bed in the back bedroom of the home, where Jennifer had been sleeping. She reasoned that James must have put the box on the bed when he learned about the shooting.
"When we found out where the active shooter, we were at the school with the counselor this morning about some drawings on the paper. It didn't seem a concern (to the school), (and he could) stay at school. and then we find out about the active shooting, James came home and he opened the gun box and the gun is gone," she said.
The bullets, she said, were hidden in a different location and were also missing.
The deputy prompted her for more information about the drawings.
"I didn't look at them that closely," she said. "When I was at the substation and I looked at them closely, they were a little bit disturbing. they were very disturbing because look what he just f***ing did."
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Jennifer then said she was shocked about what happened.
"This is f**ed up. My son just ruined his life. I'll probably never see him again. Like, what the f***," she said.
The deputy asked about other weapons in the house, and Crumbley said shooting guns was a hobby of the family.
She said, prior to the meeting that morning before the shooting, her son had never shown any kind of violent tendencies.
"He said he was sorry that with the loss of a dog, his best friend (left), my mother-in-law passed away. He said he's dealing with a lot of stress and put his thoughts on papers. it's The first time I've ever seen anything like this before," Jennifer said. "He never had any mental issues, like, I've never…he's never exerted any type of angry, never exerting anything, he's always been a mellow, laid back kid. We've always had an open...and he'll talk about stuff. Like I don't get it. I don't get what happened."
The video continued for several more minutes and Jennifer asked about his name being on the news.
"They're not going to release his name on the news, are they?"
The deputy responded but it was inaudible.
During the remainder of the time in the car, they discussed more details, including about his grade and the optics of her getting handcuffed outside her front door.
We're tracking all of Tuesday's testimony and evidence on this story.