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Michigan Church Holds Prayer Vigil After Deadly School Shooting Takes the Lives of 4 Students

LakePoint Community Church
Photo from Unsplash.com: @Mike Ralph

On Tuesday, November 30, 2021, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, a sophomore at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan, used a 9mm Sig Sauer to kill four students and wound seven others, including a teacher. Mere hours later, LakePoint Church in Oxford sought to bring the community together amid their grief.

Crumbly will be charged as an adult with four counts of first-degree murder, one count of terrorism causing death, seven counts of assault with intent to murder, and twelve counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Investigators are still unsure of the shooter’s motive, but have shared that the gun was purchased by the minor’s father on Black Friday and said the suspect had used the gun for target shooting, based on images they gathered from social media.

The four who were killed at the 1,700 student school were 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana, 16-year-old Tate Myre, 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin, and 17-year-old Justin Shilling. Myre died in a police vehicle while a deputy was rushing him to a hospital, and Shilling died on Wednesday in the hospital.

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One of the students wounded was a 14-year-old boy who was shot in the jaw and head, while another 14-year-old girl underwent surgery for her wounds and was on a ventilator.

Police responded to more than 100 calls 911 received at was at the scene in less than three minutes. Authorities were able to arrest the suspect within minutes after their arrival, just before 1 p.m. It has been estimated that the 15-year-old boy fired at least 30 shots and still had seven rounds in his weapon when he was apprehended.

CNN reported that teachers and students sprang into action after they heard gunfire and warnings over the school’s loudspeaker system. As teachers locked doors, students pushed desks in front of them, then arming themselves with scissors and calculators in the event the shooter broke through a barricaded door.

The school’s video security system caught the suspect on camera shooting victims at close range. “It’s absolutely cold-hearted, murderous,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.

Other students climbed out of first floor windows at the instruction of their teachers and ran to law enforcement officers.

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Crumbley hasn’t spoken to authorities after being instructed not to by his parents. Because he is a minor, police must ask his parents’ permission to speak with him, per Michigan law.