Oxford school officials knew suspect brought bird's head, bullets to school before shooting, suit claims

DETROIT – Nearly three weeks before Ethan Crumbley allegedly shot up Oxford High School, he brought a bird's head to school in a mason jar filled with yellow liquid and left it on top of a toilet paper dispenser in the boys' bathroom, according to new claims in a lawsuit.

School officials knew the sophomore had done this, the suit says, but told students and parents there was nothing to worry about.

Then he showed up with ammo.

On the day before the massacre, Crumbley brought bullets to class and had them out on full display – this in addition to researching ammunition on his cellphone that same day, a revised lawsuit states. School officials knew about the bullets, the suit claims, along with a post on Twitter hours later: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. See you tomorrow Oxford.”

"The school was on alert about Ethan," attorney Nora Hanna said to the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, in a phone interview this week, stressing school officials could have prevented the bloodshed. "There are a million things that they could have done." 

Hanna's comments come on the heels of an updated lawsuit by Geoffrey Fieger's law firm that seeks to hold school officials accountable for the Nov. 30 shooting that left four students dead and seven injured, including a teacher. 

Hanna, who works for Fieger, added 11 new counts against school officials last week, alleging that they knew troubling details about Crumbley before the shooting, and that they accelerated the teen's "murderous rampage" through a series of missteps.

'Intent to kill':A visual timeline of deadly shooting at Oxford High School

Given what they knew, the lawsuit says, school officials made the situation worse.

The school principal "excited Ethan Crumbley by pulling him out of class, warning him that Child Protective Services might be called, thereby, encouraging Crumbley to accelerate his timetable for murder," the lawsuit says, adding that removing the teen from class in front of his classmates and making him sit for an hour and a half while waiting for his parents "further escalated" his plan.

The revised lawsuit accuses school officials of failing to report Crumbley to Child Protective Services as required by law. They threatened to do so, the suit notes, but never did.

Not after he allegedly brought a bird's head to school.

Not after he allegedly brought bullets to class, or researched ammunition on his phone.

Nor after he allegedly drew a picture of a gun on his math homework, along with the words "The thoughts won't stop. Help me."

One dark morning:In just 5 minutes, a gunman turned a normal day at Oxford High into a nightmare

Fieger's law firm revised the lawsuit after new details emerged in the criminal case, including allegations that Crumbley videotaped himself torturing animals at home, texted his mother multiple times about "ghosts" and "demons" in the house, made Molotov cocktails at home, drew a sketch of himself shooting up his school in a journal, texted a friend "it's time to shoot up a school JK." and hid a bird's head under his bed for six months.

It was that bird head that wound up in a bathroom stall at Oxford High School two weeks before the shooting, the lawsuit says. It says students reported the gruesome discovery to school officials.

The next day, the suit says, a school email went out to the parents. 

“Please know that we have reviewed every concern shared with us and investigated 

all information provided…[w]e want our parents and students to know that there has 

been no threat to our building nor our students,” the email said.

According to Hanna, video surveillance at the school showed it was Crumbley who left the bird's head in the bathroom.

It turns out it wasn't the only animal head sighting at the school.

According to the school's website, someone had dumped a severed deer’s head in a school courtyard on Nov. 4 and scrawled messages in red acrylic paint on the pool deck and various windows. Shortly thereafter, parents started complaining to the school principal about threats to students made on social media.

On Nov. 16, another email went out to parents.

"I know I'm being redundant here, but there is absolutely no threat at the HS," the principal said in the email, which was cited in the lawsuit. "Large assumptions were made from a few social media posts, then the assumptions evolved into exaggerated rumors."

But Fieger's lawsuit says school officials had spotted troubling social media posts from Crumbley before the shooting in which he "threatened Oxford High School students." And they knew about his "violent tendencies and ideations," the suit says.

Yet despite knowing this, the suit says, the superintendent sent emails to parents "reassuring them that their children were safe," discouraged parents and students "from reporting, sharing or discussing" threatening social media posts," and went on the school intercom and warned students "to stop spreading information over social media." 

As for the severed deer head, school officials said an investigation has determined who did it, but they have not released the person's name. 

The lawsuit also accuses school officials of negligently excluding the school safety liaison officer from a meeting with Crumbley and his parents on the morning before the shooting, when a teacher found the teen's violent note with the drawing of a handgun. It also accused two counselors of "deliberately" deciding against showing that note to the school officer.

Tim Mullins, an attorney for the school district, could not be reached for comment, though he has defended the district's handling of the shooting and said it was fully cooperating with authorities.

In court documents, Mullins has said the school will fight to have Fieger's lawsuit dismissed on immunity grounds. He has not elaborated on the immunity strategy, saying only that the goal is to get the school back up and running.

"My focus is to get this community healed … to get the teachers who love their kids back in the classrooms," Mullins has said, stressing that a more pressing criminal case is going on. "The prosecutor made it very clear, 'I don’t want you releasing anything.' I said, 'Agreed.' We've given (the prosecution) everything we have."

Crumbley faces charges of terrorism and first-degree murder for allegedly opening fire in a school hallway with a gun that his parents bought him as an early Christmas present four days before the shooting.

His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, face charges of involuntary manslaughter for what prosecutors have described as poor parenting choices that they believe cost four students their lives. Prosecutors have accused the couple of ignoring a child who they say was troubled and spiraling out of control. And rather than get their son help, prosecutors have said, they bought him a gun and failed to properly secure it.

The Crumbleys maintain they are innocent and say they had no way of knowing that their son would use the gun in a school shooting, that they kept the weapon properly secured, and that they are not responsible for the tragedy.

Crumbley and his parents have pleaded not guilty.

At issue in this case is why school officials allowed Ethan Crumbley to return to class given the violent drawing he allegedly made on the morning of the shooting and the ammunition he allegedly researched the day before. His parents were called to the school that day, authorities said, but they refused to take him home, so the teen was allowed to return to class on the condition he get therapy within 48 hours.

His backpack was never searched.

According to school officials, Crumbley explained that the drawing of the gun and blood was part of a video game design and that counselors did not believe he might harm others based on his "behavior, responses and demeanor," so they let him return to class.

Shortly after, police said video evidence from inside the school showed Crumbley emerging from a bathroom and opening fire in a hallway. The shooting lasted for about five minutes before the gunman surrendered to law enforcement. Police said they believe the weapon used in the shooting was carried in Crumbley's backpack.

The high school sophomore is accused of shooting Hana St. Juliana, 14; Tate Myre, 16; Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17.

Crumbley, who was charged as an adult, was set set to be arraigned Wednesday in Oakland County Circuit Court. If convicted, he faces life in prison.