Parents of School Shooter on Trial and on Psychiatric Drugs

Once again, the November 30, 2021, shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan and the subsequent trial now taking place, leaves the public with more questions than answers. Most of the missing information deals with the son’s mental health.

It’s convoluted. First, we have reports that the father, James Crumbley, gave his son, Ethan Crumbley, “pills” and said suck it up when Ethan reached out to his parents for help (according to some of the released text messages of Ethan Crumbley).  This raises the first red flag.  What pills did James Crumbley provide to Ethan and did Ethan take them?  

It has been made public that the mother, Jennifer Crumbley, was taking Xanax which is a Benzodiazepine, which comes with a host of adverse events, including irritability, trouble concentrating, confusion, feeling of unreality, mood changes, actions that are out of control, attack, assault or force, nightmares, suicidality and agitation. 

Are the drugs that James gave Ethan prescribed psychiatric drugs, with a blackbox warning for increased risk of suicide and  increased risk of violence?  Was James Crumbley receiving mental health treatment?  If not, how did James obtain “pills” to give to his son? Or did the pills belong to Ethan’s mother?  Furthermore, one must wonder what role the mental health and drug industry had with this family prior to the shooting and how it will that connection play out in this trial.

Jennifer Crumbley’s attorney claimed in a filing earlier this week that the teenager’s testimony is crucial to refute text messages and journal entries he wrote about his parents’ knowledge of and involvement with his mental health.

This trial, like that of the Parkland High School shooting sentencing trial of Nickolas Cruz, reveals the unseen hand that string these mass killings together, which is the role of the mental health “experts” and prescribed psychiatric drugs.  

Let’s look at the school system, too.  We have no education records for Ethan Crumbley as he entered school up until 15-years old. We also see that the counselors and mental health professionals imbedded in the school system failed to see red flags the day of the killings to check his bag and insist that he be sent home.  With reasonable cause to search Ethan’s backpack, the school failed to do so and then blames the parents for not telling them that Ethan had a gun inside the backpack.  

The school had the opportunity to search Ethan’s backpack but did not. Based on the information publicly available it appears that both the school and the parents failed to recognize the very real threat.  So the blame game begins and the parents are the scapegoats because they did not believe their son needed mental health treatment.  Hindsight is twenty-twenty.  But the fact remains that the school simply could have taken Ethan’s backpack, searched it and recommended to the parents that Ethan go home for the day. Frankly, the school even had the power to engage law enforcement.

The school Administration isn’t being held to account in the courts for its missed steps.  The parkland death sentence trial revealed that the shooter, Nickolas Cruz, was seen by a mental health “expert” employed by Henderson Behavioral Health by the State of Florida and declared that he was not a harm to himself or others.  The school records showed massive involvement with the mental health community and drug companies.  There were no consequences for the mental health community that drugged Cruz since he was an adolescent. In fact, that the drugs and mental health treatment was a contributing factor was not even raised at the sentencing hearing. Henderson Behavioral Health walked away without losing the State contract and faced no liability.  

The parents in this case are being accused of not providing mental health to their son and not notifying the school he had access to a gun; therefore, he killed others. Many children have access to and compete within a sport with guns responsibly.   Henderson Behavioral Health wasn’t held to that standard regarding mental health treatment.  

It is very interesting that the lack of mental health treatment is on trial in this case. Two psychiatrist are actively participating in the trial and potentially drugging Ethan Crumbley with mind altering drugs. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Is this just another way for psychiatry to get another foothold in the schools by going after the parents of kids who commit these acts of violence? Drug your kids or we’ll go after the parents. Is that what mental health means in today’s world? 

Jennifer Crumbley’s attorneys have asked the judge to compel her teenage son and his two jail psychiatrists to testify at her trial. Her son was sentenced to life in prison without parole in December for killing four of his classmates and wounding six others and a teacher at Michigan’s Oxford High School in 2021. He was 15 during the attack.