Excuse my ignorance, I’m just now getting in to this story…
The parents were called to the school the day of the shooting before it happened?
The morning of the shooting
On the morning of the shooting, Ethan’s teacher found a note on his desk that “alarmed her to the point that she took a picture of it on her cell phone,” McDonald said.
McDonald said that the note contained: “a drawing of a semi-automatic handgun pointing at the words: ‘The thoughts won’t stop. Help me.’ Another section of the note was a drawing of a bullet with the following words above that bullet: ‘Blood everywhere.’ Between the drawing of the gun and the bullet is a drawing of a person who appears to have been shot twice and bleeding. Below that figure is a drawing of a laughing emoji. Further down the drawing are the words ‘my life is useless’ and to the right of that are the words, ‘The world is dead.’ ”
James and Jennifer were “immediately summoned” to the school, McDonald said, and a school counselor brought Ethan to the office with his backpack that prosecutors and police believe contained the gun.
“The counselor obtained the drawing, but the shooter had already altered it,” McDonald said. Drawings of the gun, the bloody figure, and the words “help me,” “my life is useless,” “the world is dead,” and “blood everywhere,” were altered by Ethan, McDonald said.
James and Jennifer were shown the drawing at the meeting and told they were required to get Ethan counseling within 48 hours.
“Both James and Jennifer Crumbley failed to ask their son if he had his gun with him or where his gun was located and failed to inspect his backpack for the presence of the gun, which he had with him,” McDonald said.
James and Jennifer “resisted the idea” of Ethan leaving the school, and instead left without Ethan, who went back to the classroom, McDonald said.