Ethan Crumbley: "I'm going to be the next school shooter" 

As much as I hate to say it. This kid needed help. If his parents stepped in earlier, almost guaranteed this wouldn’t have happened. I hope he finds peace, truly.

It's sad and pitiful that his so-called parents decided to solve his mental health issues by giving him a gun. Earlier intervention just may have been able to save him. But no chance of that now.

I’m so glad his parents were also charged

We finally get to see what dark thoughts he had in his mind. His parents failed him so much.

I wish Ethan would have used his intelligence on doing good. He needed help.

The problem is that most with mental health issues are not required to get mental health care despite obviously needing it. This is part of a greater systemic problem. The parents still could have tried.

I think its VERY important that we hear his words. Disillusioned in the deepest way...sadly terrifying. My heart breaks for his victims & their families. I believe this could hve been prevented on so many levels leading up to this. So damn tragic.

This is almost like some Law ABiding Citizen sh*t. This kid is actually extremely smart. Unfortunately, not one adult paid attention. He was right. They’re all brainwashed. Someone should have stopped them. Someone who was actually paying attention and actually cared about the well-being of students would have stopped him. Everyone failed this kid. The sad thing is he knew they would. It’s so sad he felt this was the only way to teach people a lesson….it’s so sad that no one encouraged him he had so much more to offer the world than this. I’m sorry for all the victims and their families, and I’m sorry for Ethan. One person who cared about this kid had the power to prevent this…I truly believe that. Unfortunately, no one did.

Him & the school where absolutely screaming help your son! And these parents weren't listening & hearing! They only were thinking about there own lives! A huge part of why this young man was in so much torment! So very sad!

Ethan said, and I quote, “I always hoped there was something out there for me; something to give me a happy, loving, caring life.” I spend every day with my daughter (14 years old). After school, we sit down together and do homework, we watch movies, we play Mario Kart, etc. But more importantly, we also discuss her goals, her dreams, and her ideas. We talk about philosophy, she asks questions, and I provide answers. She believes she has the smartest dad in the world, and I don’t correct her and admit that I’m far from it. My daughter doesn’t have many friends in high school, and she’s known as the “nerdy” girl to her classmates. I can say with 100% certainty that my child is loved, cared for, and most importantly happy. As a parent, it is our primary responsibility to raise our children and provide them with love, care, stability, and most importantly *guidance* . After watching hours upon hours of this mother’s trial, it’s abundantly clear that she had higher priorities than taking care of her son. This boy’s parents failed him. They should be held accountable for the atrocities their child committed against their community.

Dear Ethan, there are a lot of people who are "wasting" their lives doing jobs they don't want to do. They don't go and kill people. They try to be grateful and patient that maybe something better will come along, a better job, a better life. It's called having hope. Maybe that is what you were missing -- hope.

Well, he figured out a way to never have to work a day in his life.

This is one lost little boy who’s dad never spent time on turning into a man

I am watching the mom's trial now and I truly believe that they could have prevented this. Not sure where he got this impression of the world but he clearly needed to have someone to talk to about this. I gotta wonder if he found out about his mom's affair and that's what brought on all of this anger.

So he’s basically disenchanted with life (like a lot of kids) & murder seemed to be the answer? My thoughts & prayers go out to the victims families.

Oh to be 15 & think you have the world all figure out.. no idea how little you actually understand. Smh. Those kids lost their lives so he could prove a point.

Sounds like this guy never a proper conversation with his parents and was left isolated to have too much time to think and act out his fantasy which his parents are responsible for by buying him a gun to carry it out this atrocious tragic event.

1929 stock market crash, the civil rights movement, WW1&2, etc, 1920 - 1980 was not the golden years kid. Life is nothing but A struggle through time and space, no matter when or where. It will be too late when he realizes how good he had it to be born in America instead of like North Korea...

What a "working class" family, owning a horse. : / He is saying all this political stuff and trying to sound smart because he is too scared to say the real cause of his anger and hopelessness, which is that his parents don't love seem to him. His mom told the school she couldn't bring him home the day of the shooting because she couldn't take a day off work, but told her boyfriend same day she could make time to meet up with him. nasty

Alot of people seem to think mental illness makes u do bad things... no some evil people also have mental illness...there's a big difference...

Immediately, when the camera pans down to the accused, I thought - Yup, that is what a school shooter looks like.

I am GenX. Something has changed in our society and access to guns is NOT what has changed. I grew up in a town that had this same "gun culture". I got my first gun for Christmas when I was 9. I stored the gun and the ammo in my bedroom. By the time I was in HS I had multiple guns, including the loaded handgun I kept in my car that I drove to school everyday. Many of my classmates did the same. We were taught gun safety from an early age. We didn't have school councilors. I didn't have a good home life. I was THE kid everyone picked on growing up. It never entered my mind that shooting up the school was even an option. It never entered the mind of any of my friends who had full access to guns and ammo. Point is, something has changed in our society and access to guns is not it.

I can understand his thoughts in society it does go like this Born Education Work until retirement at a job most people hate If you lucky you’re not too sick to enjoy retirement Than die That is our circle of life unfortunately in today’s society no time to enjoy even the simple things in life But what I can’t understand is what is the point or benefit of killing innocent people how is that going to change society?????

Seeing the lawyer keeping her mind occupied by fiddling thru papers is insain

This whole thing is just so sad. When I was 15, I never had thoughts of killing people, but I was very confused and angry. His parents and the school system totally let this kid down.

A lot of what he's saying isn't wrong. He's very intelligent. He had a chance and, instead, his mom gave him a gun.

I find it very bizzare that they bought him a gun when they knew he had issues, what kind of parents are they, this boy was suffering mental health and his parents failed him big time, they just turned a blind eye, the other issue he says he was bullied at school and no one seem to notice or do something, frm the look of it he thought the only way to be free was for him to commit crime and go to jail, this case is really a reminder that parents and teatches should always take note of any signs in student/ children, and report to the relevant aurthories.😳😳😳😳

His parents in this case should be held accountable also

He knew that audio would be found and played he’s enjoying every bit of this. The attention, who do you think he made this long recording for the night before he executes his plan. The parents of the murdered children have to live w him getting all this attention while their children are forgotten, tate, Hana, Juliana, Madisyn, and Justin . His parents getting called to the school that morning wow “ im going to have so much fun tomorrow” just evil!

Ethan's lawyer pretending to shuffle through those paper so she wouldn't show any "Raw" emotion while the video was being played is a brilliant lawyer tactic... It couldn't have been easy listening to that video and not display any emotion that will harm your clients case.

Ethan is a intelligent young man who has some mental problems, but he is not insane. Even if you accept his views on life and humanity, his actions won't and didn't change anything. He only succeeded in ending his own life.

He wanted to choose someone else’ children lives… he could of taken his life , if he was so depressed. Not innocent people .he is coward 😡

Another very disturbing kid who turns to killing people as a way to bolster his dillusins

Wow what a twisted dark way of thinking. He definitely needs help.

I lived through an abusive childhood and now I live with and incurable cancer. Ethan never considered that life is what you make of it and that God is real. He never considered to have hope . It is so sad.

What's sad to me are the comments people have posted about wondering why others feel sorry for him. How is a child who was neglected, had an attachment disorder, suffered from depression& anxiety, and felt the only way to feel anything&be remembered by people was to kill his peers not sad? He asked his parents to get him help and they didn't, how is this not sad? His teachers knew he needed help and there wasn't more done by the school where he spent at least fifty percent of his weekly awake hours developing and learning, how is this not sad? What's sad to me are the people who still don't want to accept that we have a gun issue in the USA. How many non-gun school killings can you think of compared to school gun killings? Wake up, USA-we are failing our children when we fail to recognize and act upon their need for help and to keep them safe. As a child social-emotional development evaluator for the past fifteen years, I see kids seeking healthy positive relationships with their parents/guardians all the time! From the time children are born we should be talking to them, listening to them, emotionally engaging with them, and being positive role models. Obviously no one is perfect and this is okay because you could be a positive role model even when you are having a bad day such as by taking a walk, modeling deep breathing, talking to a friend...children are always watching even when they appear not to be and will see this as utilizing healthy outlets. Ethan is not evil, he is not insane, he is experiencing everything in the second sentence and to explain what this can do to a child's brain from a psychological stand point would take a lot more time. Did he make a deadly life impacting choice that affected himself and several others? Obviously. Is it sad that he killed his peers? Of course...fly high beautiful angels and peace &prayers to your families. What we could gain from this is to stop being highly concentrated on reacting and be more proactive. Pay attention to children. Your smile might be the only smile they receive today. Say hello to them and ask them how they are doing. Don't bully children. Think about what you are going to say before you say it. Apologize to children when it's necessary just like you would an adult. Instead of abusing your child when they've made a mistake- use the situation as a learning opportunity.....they made a mistake, how can learn from their mistake? Ask the child what they could have done differently. Keep the line of communication open. These are the four parenting styles: permissive, authoritative, neglectful, and authoritarian...are you an authoritative parent? If not, which parenting style do you most associate with any how could you improve? We can as a whole help improve the lives of children with a conscious dedicated effort. Peace and love to all of you.

What a miserable soul, with such a lack of direction and appreciation of life. He just fell into victimization and blamed the world for his misery.

Ethan is sick

Ethan is so deeply depressed he needed so much help and nobody even knew. Maybe his friend who was sent to a mental hospital.

Dear, God; Ethan handed to the school and the world what would happen the very next day. The school missed, and his parents did not care, that is why it happened.

I’m a Canadian and I’m just amazed at the amount of murder trials that are happening at the same time, just wrapped up & are waiting in the queue to be held. America has some serious serious problems. Get your house in order

My heart is actually broken over this entire story! Ethan was terribly let down by his parents! He cried out for help in text message and phone calls. He even went straight to them and asked for help as he was laughed at by his mother and told him man up. Their idea of family game night was getting out a Ouija board. It’s no wonder the kids said he was seeing demons. I also feel like the school let down Ethan and all the victims. They chose to keep him at school that day without checking his person or backpack. As soon as they seen his drawing, they should have called the police immediately. This was preventable ! I feel like the school is responsible in many ways along with the parents. He was clearly experiencing psychosis. It’s absolutely heartbreaking.

We have a societal problem. Mental illness is on the rise and drug abuse and violence and chaos and so much evil is on the rise in our country. We have a failure not just with those parents and the school but society as a whole is failing our youth - heck kids now think they are animals and wanting genital mutilation. Things are going to get worse in society if we don’t turn things around

Amazing the arrogance of this kid. He thinks he needed to teach us a lesson - as if he gets to choose for us. Stripping away our choice as he whines about us being brainwashed

Mid-life crisis at 15.

At least a large portion of Ethan's speech could have made a decent RU-vid video, or Ted Talk Youth video (the rest, sadly, demonstrated his own youth and ignorance of the way the world actually works). If only Ethan didn't think that killing people was the best option... he might have changed the world. It's just so ironic that his actions wound up contradicting the goals he laid out in his video / speech.

Hearing this is just heartbreaking. As adults we forget that children,teenagers especially, are essentially going through existential crises throughout those years, to figure out who they are, the realization that the world is not what they thought it was, and how to find happiness. They are lost, trying to find their way. Without the Holy Spirit, and parents to guide, love, validate and support them, which is rare enough these days, they are left alone and susceptible to wander down a path they may never find their way out of. And then, like in this case, you add severe mental illness, and neglectful parents who when their child says he needs a therapist they respond with getting him a gun and even after being called into their son’s school with alarming drawings of intended homicide and suicidal ideation, they said they had to go back to work. I do agree this child made a conscious decision to take those lives and should be held accountable for that. But to some degree I feel the parents should be considered voluntary and his more involuntary. He was desperate for help, and no one listened.

Did nobody pick up these signs?

I mean he has a point with his opinion about society. But that he is thinking, that killing a bunch of innocent people to set a sign is just selfish and stupid. He could have change the world, but now he is just another crazy kid that will spend the rest of his meaningless life in prison.

Would love to hear from his friend that was sent away

“ I’m going to jail for life. Michigan has no death penalty. I don’t want to die. I know that life is precious.” Do you need any more evidence that removing the death penalty is a stupid and destructive thing to do?

Sick sick sick. As a parent, you know when they are this bad

Shannon who is now Jennifer's attorney would have stood up and objected to Ethans recording. She would have been sobbing and calling for a recess.🙄🙄🙄

This kid listened to adult conversations to much

I don't know if mental health services would have helped this kid. He is mentally disturbed on a different level.

This is a unbelievable opportunity to actually hear from one of the kids that did a school shooting before it happened to really understand and hear the words and thoughts before they did it and after listening to this everyone in his life let this young man down it’s very unfortunate 🙏 for him to find some sort of peace

He was an outsider in his family. Every action his mother - the parent with the power - took de-prioritized Ethan. Her boyfriend, her horses, her ski patrol, her parties, her dieting, everything was more important than her son. He was also an outsider at school. Otherwise he would’ve had friends. He would’ve been part of school activities. I think it’s the fact that he was an outsider in both realms that made it possible for him to do the horrific thing he did. Idk what kind of sentence his mom will get but Ethan is in jail for the rest of his life. She laughed when he asked for counseling. Insensitive, selfish creature! She’s going to have a good, long time to think about if she had just made a few sacrifices on her son’s behalf, she wouldn’t be doing time now.

It’s like he documented this on purpose and his feelings and mental state he knew this would be found

With parents and officials that ignorant this will continue to happen more and more, over and over.

I feel bad that this kid had all the potential in the world, if someone would have just cared enough about him to have a conversation with him about life and get him the help he needed. All it took was for one adult to care. What he did was horrific and he has to be held accountable, but so do all the adults who watched him suffer mentally and did absolutely nothing!

If this doesn't give you chills to hear. He was alone, unloved, abandoned and ignored. Give him video games, access to alcohol, tv, etccccc so she didnt have to be a parent. The mother was more concerned with affairs, social media, horses, work, anything but her son. When Jennifer says "they did things together as a family". Did they really? was she on her social media, phone did they have him bring a friend so he wouldnt be in their hair, give him money to go on his own? They FAILED him!

This kid killed innocent people, just so his voice could be heard.... Absolute disgusting excuse of a human being. How can people show sympathy for this type of shit? Do people not understand that this was methodically planned out and he wasn't going to just stop there. He's getting the punishment he deserves, and may justice be brought to all the poor families that had to suffer through this horrific tragedy. 💔

💔So tragic. How many kids out there trapped in pain, hopeless and without a ray of hope or support…💔

So so Sad...he needed help..

Hearing this just makes me sick.

He really wanted help but the people who were supposed to advocate for his mental health were too self absorbed. As horrible as his actions were he is a victim as well. His mental health was completely disregarded. He was begging for help.

He might have had mental problems but he knew exactly what he was doing. What was the point of killing innocent kids? They should have the death penalty for people who kill.

15yo. Tragic

Sad. Sad. I feel as though he is emotionally empty and void of love and affection, alone. A lonely spirit.

Teach your kids the existence of God, then you will see the evil and devil run away from them

A reasonably san adult might know when to stop taking, but he's a sick child who did horrible things

He had severe violent intrusive thoughts, hallucinations, and so many more red flags! He told anyone who would listen, he posted about it on social media, he told his parents he seen demons and heard voices and they lock him out of the house for it instead of helping him. It’s so sad all the way around.

No parent should have to sit through the horror that these parents are suffering 😢 he should never be free, he is pure evil

Its a shame that the truth about the education and workforce that he spoke on will drowned by his actions.

It looks like he is slightly smirking as the audio is playing

Crazy he understands he will go to prison too

If only he had gotten help for his depression. His view of the world was not wrong, it was just dark.

There was nothing wrong with this kid. He was just a miserable child, and wanted others to suffer, because he didn’t have the opportunities other children have. he’s a monster people like this come out and do it again when things aren’t the way they want them he might have everyone fooled, but it’s not that hard to fool the system into believing some envy and insecurities, then diagnose them with some sort of mental health disorder!

How about all the killings in Chicago?? I lived in the hood as a black man.. i ha e a job and always had a job i would wake up at 5am for work and thugs my own kind and color sitting on the hood of my truck... 5 young men died in the same day where i put my truck and one women at party yet no one not even my own People care its very disgusting 🤢 not a single persons says anything we let it keep happening yet this young guy kills innocent black people and it makes news around all of USA yet my own ppl are killing there own people by the hundreds and no one not evem my own . People say anyth walking around screaming gamg gamg gang yet no one says a word im telling you i finally saved up enough to move my family to a white neighborhood... iv never been happier to spend thousands of dollars.. we are the only black families in the neighborhood and we are treated so good my kids play with all of the other kids in the neighborhood everyone greated like we where white.. the point of this message is we do nothing to stop our own black on black violence but yet its a uo roar everytime a cop kills a black person even through 95% of the time the only reason why the cop shot was because of the actions of the individual not because of hos skin color.. no one in the hood cares that hundreds of black on black killings everyday so why would this young man care about the black people he killed at that store when we dont even care about our selfs 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢 one ❤ to all colors of individuals

Ethan, I pray you find Jesus. He is the light in our darkness. I promise you there is a God and he gave his only son to die for our salvation. God loves you Ethan no matter what. We all want to give up at some point in this life but when we invite our savior to live in our hearts we can face anything evil sends our way. Sending prayers, love, and hope to you and everyone affected by this tragedy. 🙏❤️🙏

Delusion of Grandeur A delusion of grandeur is the false belief in one's own superiority, greatness, or intelligence.

I'm not hearing mental illness .....I'm hearing a rational young man who us frustrated with the 9 to 5 slave system we have gotten ourselves into

The entitlement this brat felt is disgusting, how dare you

Does anyone wonder why the school did nothing? Never have heard any inquiry of the school. After his drawing…. School simply asks if parents want to take him home!!? WTH??? They should have demanded it. Why no questions of the school?

He had a well thought out plan

I can't believe he was thinking so hard about his future all those years when he was just a babe. Worried already about his life ahead. That's pretty heavy for a kid. Too bad at 15 he already drew conclusions.

He has no clue what he’s saying. A kid trying to be an adult. Sickening.

Why is he still alive

Why did he ask his parents for a hand gun instead of an assault rifle? He could have done a lot more if he had better weapons.

He WANTED this.. now he doesn’t think he deserves to deal with the consequences that come along with it 🙃 why are we wasting tax payers dollars on this killer? He isn’t mentally ill he is entitled…

I wonder who turned this child into such a cynic. Def his parents

He is a child … his parent bought him a gun for Xmas … his parents are the one at fault here , how can u blame a kid for making the wrong decisions when he had no guidance or proper adult supervision from his own mum & dad .. he was a trouble kid with a lot of issues

The last 10 seconds on this video .Just kills me.. I know I’ll get criticized for a lot of my thoughts on this whole video cause I’ve made a few different comments I guess it’s because it really hits home with me because I have a son his age and at the end when he says he’s sorry to his parents and he had gained their trust. . It’s like I feel his pain it’s almost like you know as a parent you know that looking back I think in hindsight, his parents are really just are always gonna have this guilt wishing that you would’ve seen these signs because it’s not uncommon these days having a teenager that tends to be very introverted and you don’t really know what to do or say from the parents perspective because you think they’re just online and they’re just talking with their friends or whatever you don’t really ever in 1 million years think your kid is gonna be the next school shooter🤯 I can almost promise you every parent of every school shooter never saw their kid in this particular way I mean until after the fact, and they have no other choice but to face it for what it is and it’s 💔 heartbreaking I mean, now looking hindsight obviously any parent is gonna see signs that they probably just never saw at the time and if any parent can sit here and act like they know their Kid inside out going through their teenage years I personally believe they’re full of shit I raised two of my own, and I was really close with both of them because I’m young and it still doesn’t matter. Parents are viewed on a different level. Don’t matter how close you think you are with your kid they’re always gonna be different around you, mainly because I don’t want to disappoint you or to avoid conflict or ultimately they just don’t feel like the age gap. Usually you have with your child is enough for them to reach out and think you’ll understand how they feel so they just don’t reach out at all until it’s too late, and just snap and I think Ethan is a perfect example of that in a sense…. I even felt like I heard George Carlin a little bit when he was talking like the way he viewed things in the government etc. maybe I’m wrong but George felt like our society government etc. was tilted from the get-go except I guess Carlin decided to make stand-up out of his views where this child unfortunately decided to kill people everybody’s different and what levels/ extremes they’ll take you can’t predict crazy sometimes

This is heartbreaking 💔 this should of being prevented starting from home parents failed him 1000% and the school

I think he is a high functioning autistic person.

He could have entered alternative education. Not the creativity of thought. He felt hopeless. No direction. No future. No help at home.

Ethan was doomed from an early start. No mental health care. Easy-easy access to weapons that can blow holes into human beings. Horrible neglectful parenting. Poorly trained school counselors.

so if michigan had the death penalty he basically said he wouldn't have done this.....he would have been too afraid for his own life... he didn't care about anyone elses life though. no sympathy , lock him up and let him rot.

A few comments on here saying "he's intelligent." JFC, this is their idea of intelligence? Nope. This is not intelligence. He's just repeating what all the crazies online say. It's ignorance at its finest. Get real.

That defense attorney is disrespectful sitting there fumbling thru her papers and looking around.