Journal entries from teen about "shooting up" Oxford High School shared during Jennifer Crumbley's trial
(CBS DETROIT) - Timothy Willis, a detective lieutenant with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, was the first person to testify on the sixth day of testimony in the trial of Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the Oxford High School shooter.
Willis was at the prosecutor's office for a different matter on Nov. 30, 2021, when he learned about the shooting.
Details from the day of the Oxford High School shooting
He then headed to the school and arrived within 20 minutes.
"It was completely lights, sirens, cars just flooding northbound on Lapeer Road, and it was just chaos," Willis said.
Willis said he was shocked at how many resources were at a northern Oakland County school so quickly.
He went into the school, and the perimeter was already secured.
Willis handled the investigative portion of the event.
"There were so many tips, if you will, social media tips coming in about this, that, and the other. A lot of them certainly proved not to be true, but they had to be vetted," Willis said.
Officers were sent to the Crumbley family's house, and he discussed charging decisions at the prosecutor's office.
During the testimony, Willis discussed the autopsy reports for Justin Shilling, Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, and Hana St. Juliana. All four deaths were ruled homicides.
Willis also named the seven other people injured in the shooting.
He then met with FBI agent Brad Carter, who determined the gun was registered to James Crumbley.
Willis testified that he learned the identity of the shooter while on the scene, and authorities were sent to the Crumbley home.
Authorities were concerned about explosives, as they had found a video of the shooter with a Molotov cocktail on YouTube. While detectives were investigating at the school, a K9 officer found the shooter's backpack, and then a robot determined it was safe.
When interviewing witnesses, Willis learned the shooter exited the bathroom near room 258. This is when the shooting began.
Journal entries made by the shooter that referred to the Oxford High School shooting
In the shooter's backpack, where they found a journal with 22 pages, and 21 pages of the journal mention the shooting.
Here are some of the things the shooter wrote in the journal:
- "I have zero help for my mental problems and it's causing me to shoot up the f------ school."
- "I want help, but my parents don't listen to me so I can't get any help."
- "My parents won't listen to me about help or a therapist."
- "I want to shoot up the f------ school so badly."
- "Soon I am going to buy a 9 mm pistol."
- "I'm about to shoot up the school and spend the rest of my life in prison."
- "First off, I got my gun. It's a SP 2022 Sig Sauer 9mm. Second the shooting is tomorrow. I have access to the gun and the ammo. I am fully committed to this now. So yeah...I'm going to prison for life and many people have about one day left to live."
They showed a video from inside the school on the day of the shooting, and described what was happening. Jennifer Crumbley was crying, while Willis got emotional sharing details while watching the video.
A video of the parents sitting in the back of a police car was shown, and then Willis testified that when officials were getting ready to announce charges, he knew they were not at their house. Willis said that's when he had David Hendrick, a former detective sergeant for the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, to find James and Jennifer Crumbley.
Tracking down the Crumbley parents after the shooting
Willis discussed receipts that showed the phones the parents had bought, along with receipts for a hotel they stayed at in Lapeer and an extended-stay hotel they were at in Auburn Hills, where authorities had found one of the vehicles.
In addition, they withdrew cash on multiple different occasions.
Video footage of the parents at the industrial building in Detroit was also shown. It showed them arriving and backing the car into the spot.
Dispute over journal entries
Defense attorney Shannon Smith wants to include portions of the journal that had previously been excluded from being mentioned. This consists of a section where the shooter talks about not knowing where his dad hid the gun.
Smith claims she needs to ask Willis questions about some of the passages because she cannot call the shooter to testify.
Matthews said she's worried about "opening the door" into the rest of the shooter's journal.
Judge discusses how entries open door to "bird evidence"
After a recess for the judge to review the entries, Matthews talks about how, in the journal, the shooter says, "However, I do not want to get caught as that will make me getting the 9mm impossible."
Matthews says the shooter was referring to getting caught with the "bird evidence" that has also been excluded from the trial.
Smith says she doesn't want to open the door to the bird evidence and thought it meant he didn't want to be caught having mental problems.
Matthews ruled that no more entries of the journal would be included.
"I think that would do nothing more than hurt Mrs. Crumbley severely. It is highly prejudicial. That's my ruling on that," Matthews said.
