2021 Oxford High School shooting

On November 30, 2021, a shooting occurred at Oxford High School in Oxford Township, Michigan. Ethan Robert Crumbley, a 15-year-old sophomore, entered a school bathroom, emerged with a 9mm SIG Sauer SP 2022 semi-automatic handgun, and opened fire in a hallway as students moved between classes. He walked through the hallway shooting into classrooms and at students who could not escape. Police received the first of approximately 100 9-1-1 calls at 12:51 p.m. and arrested Crumbley within two to three minutes of arriving on scene; he surrendered without incident. The shooting lasted about five minutes, and 32 spent bullet casings were recovered.

Three students—Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; and Hana St. Juliana, 14—were killed at the scene. A fourth student, Justin Shilling, 17, died in the hospital the next day. Seven other people, including a teacher, were injured.

Investigators found that Crumbley had been called into two meetings with school officials—one the day before the shooting after a teacher reported him searching for ammunition on his phone, and one on the morning of the shooting after another teacher found a violent drawing on his desk depicting a gun, a bleeding figure, and phrases including "Help me" and "Blood everywhere." School officials met with Crumbley's parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, and instructed them to seek counseling for their son within 48 hours, but did not search his backpack. The parents did not disclose that they had purchased a handgun for Ethan four days earlier, on Black Friday, and Crumbley was returned to class. Prosecutors said Crumbley had already hidden the gun on school grounds before that meeting.

Crumbley was arrested and, on December 1, 2021, charged as an adult with terrorism causing death, first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder, and firearm possession during a felony—reportedly the first U.S. terrorism charge filed over a school shooting. He pleaded guilty to all 24 charges on October 24, 2022, and was sentenced on December 9, 2023, to life imprisonment without parole plus 24 years. His appeals to withdraw the plea and challenge the sentence were rejected by trial and appellate courts through 2025.

On December 3, 2021, prosecutors charged James and Jennifer Crumbley with four counts of involuntary manslaughter each for failing to secure the weapon. The parents missed their arraignment and were the subjects of a U.S. Marshals manhunt before being found and arrested in Detroit on December 4. Tried separately, both were convicted on all four counts and, on April 9, 2024, sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison, with parole possible after 10 years. Their appeals were denied by a judge in June 2025.

Lawsuits filed by survivors against Oxford Community Schools alleging negligence were dismissed by a state judge in March 2023 on governmental-immunity grounds.