At least 4 killed in shooting at Michigan high school

The suspect accused of killing four fellow students at a Michigan high school has arrived at Oakland County Jail and is being processed, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s office.

Authorities charged 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley as an adult, with terrorism causing death and four counts of first-degree murder. He was also charged with seven counts of assault with intent to murder and 12 counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald said.

During his arraignment Wednesday, Lt. Tim Willis said two separate videos were recovered from his cellphone via search warrant, where he talked about shooting and killing students the next day at Oxford High School.

Willis said in addition to the cellphone, a journal was recovered from his backpack detailing his, “desire to shoot up the school to include murdering students.”

Crumbley's lawyer entered a plea of not guilty on his client's behalf at Wednesday's arraignment.

Authorities have charged the 15-year-old suspect accused of killing four students in Oxford, Michigan, with four counts of first-degree murder and terrorism, among other charges.

Juliette Kayyem, CNN's national security analyst, said that the prosecutor’s decision to charge the suspect with one count of terrorism causing death focused on the actions of the shooter to intimidate a population.

“Michigan state charges of terrorism are not how we normally think about them,” Kayyem said. “They go to intimidation or felony and death, to intimidate a civilian population or the government, so you can — by killing, that's intimidating, of course of coercion. We have to take a political motivation out of this right now.”

Some context: The Federal Bureau of Investigations defines domestic terrorism as “violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.”

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon that the alleged actions by the suspect fulfill the requirements for a terrorism charge.

“What about all these other children, what about all the children who ran, screaming, hiding under desks," she said. “What about all the children at home right now who can’t eat and can’t sleep and can’t imagine a world where they could ever step back in school – those are victims too and so are their families and so is the community and the charge of terrorism reflects that."

Michigan prosecutors said video from the school surveillance cameras shows the shooting suspect “methodically and deliberately” walking the hallways and aiming a gun at students and firing.

Prosecutor Marc Keast said in court, “what is depicted on that video, honestly judge, I don’t have the words to describe how horrific that was.”

Keast described the video saying, just before 12:51 p.m. Tuesday, the suspect could be seen with a backpack, then a minute or two later he exited the bathroom without the backpack but with a gun in hand. At that point, he “methodically and deliberately” walked out of the hallways aiming the firearm at students and firing.

He started firing right outside the bathroom, Keast said, but after children started running away, he continued to go down the hallway at a “methodical pace” and shot inside classrooms and at students who hadn't had the opportunity to escape.

This continued for another four or five minutes and he went to another bathroom, Keast said. When deputies arrived, he set down the gun and surrendered.

“A preliminary review of the defendant's social media accounts, his cellphone, as well as other documented evidence recovered on scene showed that this defendant planned this shooting, he deliberately brought the handgun that day with the intent to murder as many students as he could,” Keast said.

A preliminary investigation has found that the suspect in Tuesday's shooting at Oxford High School remained in the school hallway for the duration of the shooting, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. He never went into any rooms, and never knocked on any doors, Bouchard added.

The shooting suspect was identified as a 15-year-old boy by Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald on Wednesday. He has been charged as an adult, with terrorism causing death and first-degree murder, among other charges, in connection with the fatal shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan.

Bouchard said based on their initial investigation, the first time the suspect is seen with a weapon is on surveillance video coming out of the bathroom at the school, but investigators are still working to piece together a timeline of events.

“The first time we saw the weapon actually in evidence was when he came out the bathroom [on surveillance video], so every other moment in time it wasn’t observed. So whether it was concealed on his person, or in backpack, or hidden somewhere in a restroom, that is all part of the investigation,” Bouchard said.

The sheriff also said he is not aware of any law enforcement agency that had the suspect on their radar prior to Tuesday’s shooting.

Bouchard said their investigation found that the suspect actually had 18 remaining rounds on him. He clarified remarks he made Tuesday, when he said the suspect had seven remaining rounds, explaining on Wednesday that additional rounds were found in a magazine.

Law enforcement authorities believe the suspect fired at least 30 shots, due to at least 30 shell casings recovered at the scene, Bouchard said. 

A search and forensic processing of the crime scene at Oxford High School began on Tuesday after the shooting and continued throughout the night until 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Bouchard added.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said there is no indication that the suspected shooter had been disciplined or complained about being bullied at school.

Bouchard said he personally asked the school district about the matter and "they had no information in any of their records that he had been bullied and we have had no information brought to our attention from any other source that he had been bullied."

The sheriff also said the suspect was not on any law enforcement radar.

"We had no communication about him or about anything that was pending," he said. "And I haven't heard from any law enforcement agency that they did."

Bouchard said he assumes that the shooter carried the gun into the school or put it in the waistband of his pants.

The arraignment of Ethan Crumbley — charged as an adult with terrorism and first degree murder offenses in connection with the fatal Michigan school shooting – is happening now.

The suspect faces first-degree murder, terrorism and other charges.

Oakland County, Michigan, Sheriff Michael Bouchard provided updates on the condition of the victims from the Oxford High School shooting.

"The 17-year-old fourth victim passed today at McLaren Hospital shortly after 10 a.m., as our fourth decedent to die from gunshot wounds in Tuesday's senseless shooting," Bouchard told reporters during a news conference.

Bouchard also updated reporters on the condition of the seven people who were injured during the shooting.

"Six students, one teacher, four remain hospitalized, three have now been treated and released," Bouchard said.

"A 14-year-old male remains in serious condition with... gunshot wounds to the jaw and hand. A 17-year-old female with neck wounds. She is at the local area McLaren Hospital," the sheriff said.

He continued, "a 14-year-old female has improved, thankfully, I would say no small part to great medical care, emergency responders, fire service, and prayers."

That 14-year-old female victim "has been removed from critical to stable with gunshot wounds to the left chest and neck. She's at Hurley Medical in Flint," Bouchard added.

A 17-year-old female "still remains in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the chest," Bouchard said. "So still looking for prayers and support for her and her family."

Three of the injured have now been discharged, including a 15-year-old male who had a wound to the left leg, a 17-year-old male with a gunshot wound to the hip and a 47-year-old female teacher, who suffered a gunshot wound to her left shoulder, the sheriff said.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Wednesday that the parents of the 15-year-old suspect in Tuesday's school shooting that left four students dead at Oxford High School in Michigan met with school officials that morning.

"The school did have contact with the student the day before and the day of the shooting, for behavior in the classroom that they felt was concerning," Bouchard said at a news conference.

"In fact, the parents were brought in the morning of the shooting and had a face-to-face meeting with the school," he said.

The sheriff continued, "The content of that meeting obviously is part of the investigation, but we did not learn of that meeting, nor of the content of that meeting until after the shooting and during this investigation."

Bouchard added that the shooting suspect "was released back into the school from the meeting."

Authorities continue to uncover new details about what happened during a shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan that left at least four students dead

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said at a news conference on Wednesday that the shooter had 18 live rounds of ammunition left when he was taken into custody.

That is different from what was previously reported by the sheriff's office. Bouchard said they initially thought there were only seven rounds left in the suspects pocket, but they later found additional rounds in an actual magazine.

"We have still got a ton of interviews to do, video to review, documents to review, search warrants that have been completed that have to be examined in terms of content and items that were seized – so sometimes things evolve," Bouchard said.

Bouchard said authorities have recovered 30 shell castings while processing the scene, meaning the shooter fired more than 30 shots.

The sheriff also said law enforcement is joining with the prosecutor to ask that the shooter be transferred to the Oakland County Jail. He is currently being held at Oakland County Children's Village, a juvenile detention facility.