The sentencing hearing of Michigan high school shooter Ethan Crumbley unfolded as a haunting window into the mind of a disturbed and dangerous individual.
According to the Detroit Free Press, during the proceedings Thursday, the courtroom was subjected to a chilling audio of the teen’s manifesto, recorded the night before he carried out the heinous attack in November 2021.
Crumbley killed four classmates at Oxford High School in Oxford Township, near Detroit, and injured six others along with a teacher.
In the audio, he coldly proclaimed, “My name is Ethan Crumbley, age 15, and I am going to be the next school shooter.”
With an eerie calmness, Crumbley outlined his malevolent plan to inflict maximum carnage upon his unsuspecting peers.
“I will walk behind someone, and I will shoot a bullet into their skull. And that’s the first victim,” he declared, devoid of empathy or remorse, according to the Free Press.
He spoke of opening fire on everyone in the school hallway, with the explicit goal of causing as much harm as possible.
Crumbley, now 17, even referred to himself as a demon, asserting, “There are no demons. I am the demon.”
The courtroom was gripped with horror as the audio recording played on, but the revelations did not stop there. Prosecutors proceeded to share excerpts from Crumbley’s handwritten journal, offering a deeply unsettling glimpse into the darkest corners of his mind.
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According to CNN, in one troubling entry, he wrote, “I want to shoot up the school so f***ing badly.”
Another entry disclosed his warped fantasy of making his first victim “a pretty girl with a future” so she could suffer just as he did. The entry included a drawing of a gun pointed at the back of a girl’s head, the New York Post reported.
Crumbley’s journal was a canvas of torment and darkness, with entries describing his descent into a void of malevolence.
“I have worn my mask for too long. I can’t take it,” he confessed, suggesting he had hidden his true self behind a façade.
He wrote of battling internal demons, further fueling concerns about his deteriorating mental state. At one point, he indicated he wanted help to stop his negative feelings.
“All one of my teachers has to do is send me to the office and … I can get help,” Crumbley wrote. “One call and that can save a lot of lives.
“My evil has fully taken over in me and I used to like it, but now I don’t want to be evil. I want help but my parents don’t listen to me so I can’t get any help. I feel like I’m in a tiny loop of sadness.”
The prosecution also presented a series of text messages exchanged between Crumbley and a friend. In one particularly unsettling message, he wrote, “Kidnap her then tie her up then rape her then torture her then kill her then dissect her then take her eyeballs then bury the body.”
As if the audio recording and journal excerpts were not horrific enough, the courtroom, which included victims’ family members, was subjected to a video depicting the massacre, the Free Press reported.
The footage showed Crumbley calmly wielding a firearm, indiscriminately firing at his classmates during a class change.
Throughout the emotionally charged hearing, experts and advocates weighed in, calling for increased awareness of mental health issues in young individuals and the importance of fostering open communication channels among students, parents and school staff.
The revelation of Crumbley’s fascination with torturing and killing animals also sparked concern among experts who recognized the connection between such behavior and the potential for violence against humans.
As the sentencing hearing continued, the courtroom was filled with emotional testimonies from victims’ families about the profound loss and pain caused by Crumbley’s actions.
The hearing continued Friday with testimony from students who witnessed the shootings, according to the Free Press.
While the prosecution is seeking life in prison without parole for Crumbley, his defense team argued for a chance at rehabilitation, pointing to his troubled home life and perceived potential for change.
In October, Crumbley pleaded guilty to four counts of murder, one count of terrorism, seven counts of assault with intent to murder, and 12 counts of possession of a firearm while in the commission of a felony, according to WJBK-TV in Detroit.
