There is a central character in the grim Michigan school-shooting saga, and it is not the 15-year-old kid charged with the murderous rampage. Not him.
It is not his four dead classmates, one of whom — Tate Myre — was killed trying to subdue the shooter, nor the seven others wounded. Not them, either.
It is not the Oxford High School administration, which had pulled the kid into the office the morning of the tragedy to discuss his classroom doodle depicting a bloody shooting, then sprung him — that according to Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, via Fox 2 News Detroit:
On Nov. 30 the day the mass shooting occurred, a teacher came across a note on Ethan's desk in the morning. In it was a drawing of a semi-automatic handgun pointing at the words “the thoughts won't stop, help me.”
In another part of the note, the words above that bullet read “blood everywhere.” There was also a drawing of a person who appears to have been shot twice and bleeding. There was also a laughing emoji. As a result of the drawings, both of Crumbley's parents and Ethan himself were called into a meeting, alongside a counselor. The counselor at that point had obtained the drawing, but according to McDonald, Ethan had already altered it, having scratched out most of the content. During the meeting, the parents were advised that they were required to get their son into counseling within 48 hours.
Nope, not them. Likewise, it is not the immigrant-bashing MAGA mom, Jennifer Crumbley, who in 2016 wrote to Donald Trump after the election to praise him for defending the 2nd Amendment. “As a female and a Realtor,” she wrote, “thank you for allowing my right to bear arms. Allowing me to be protected if I show a home to someone with bad intentions.” And who two weeks ago laughed off an incident — “LOL, I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught” — when a teacher noticed her son browsing for ammunition on his smartphone during class. Not her.
And it isn’t her husband, James Crumbley, the suspect’s father, who four days before the shooting bought the 9 mm Sig Sauer handgun, apparently as an early Christmas present for his troubled son. Not ol’ Dad, either — even after he and the little lady fled from manslaughter prosecution and wound up posing for the best his ’n’ hers mugshots ever.
No, none of those people are the stars of the Michigan horror story. The central player is: