INTERNATIONAL: A Michigan teenager was ordered held without bond on Wednesday after being charged with first-degree murder in the deadliest U.S. school shooting of the year, which killed four students and wounded seven other people. Michigan prosecutors have charged the teen suspect as an adult.
Ethan Crumbley, a 15-year-old sophomore at a high school in Oxford, Michigan, about 55 kilometres north of Detroit, was charged with a slew of criminal counts, Oakland County Prosecuting Attorney Karen McDonald has confirmed. She has also announced at a briefing that it was absolutely premeditated.
In addition to four counts of first-degree murder, Crumbley faces one count of terrorism causing death, seven counts of assault with intent to murder and 12 counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. McDonald said it was possible more charges could be issued very soon.
The shooting spree was considered the deadliest on U.S. school property this year, according to Education Week. It was the latest in a decades-long string of deadly American school shootings that will likely fuel debates about gun control and mental health care.
Crumbley has opened fire at Oxford High School with a semi-automatic handgun - which his father had purchased four days earlier - after emerging from a restroom shortly before 1PM on Tuesday, authorities have reported.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard has said Crumbley did not appear to be targeting any specific people during the shooting spree. Three students hit by gunfire -- Tate Myre, 16, Hanna St. Julian, 14, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17, -- died on Tuesday. The fourth, 17-year-old Justin Shilling, died on Wednesday.
Of the six students and one teacher who were wounded, three students remained hospitalized late Wednesday afternoon, including a 17-year-old girl in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the chest, the Sheriff's Office said. Four others, including the teacher, have been discharged.
Bouchard has shared at a briefing that investigators have yet to determine a motive for the shooting, adding that there was no evidence Crumbley had been bullied.But he said school officials had contact with Crumbley the day before the shooting and another meeting with him and his parents on the morning of the shooting "for behavior in the classroom that they felt was concerning." The content of that meeting, obviously, is part of the investigation. The investigators were poring over writings of the shooter they have obtained in the middle of the night that contain "some of his thoughts." They were also watching surveillance videos of the incident.
