Forensic analyst Edward Wagrowski testifies about reviewing phones, surveillance video from Oxford shooting in James Crumbley trial
(CBS DETROIT) - Edward Wagrowski, a former detective and computer crimes analyst for the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, was the second person to testify during the trial of James Crumbley, the father of the Oxford High School shooter.
James Crumbley has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection to the Oxford High School shooting on Nov. 30, 2021, where his son killed four students, Justin Shilling, Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, and Hana St. Juliana, and injured seven other people.
Opening statements were delivered Thursday morning, followed by a testimony from Molly Darnell, an Oxford High School teacher who was shot during the shooting.
Wagrowski was the second person called to testify.
Right now, Wagrowski works for the U.S. Secret Service but worked for the Oakland County Sheriff's Office and went to the high school on the day of the shooting.
He explained how they get information from cell phones during investigations.
He says during the Oxford High School shooting investigation, they reviewed information from several phones that were seized.
Wagrowski testified that he reviewed the phones and social media data of the shooter and his parents.
On Nov. 30, 2021, he was called to Oxford High School after receiving the report of a shooting.
He got emotional as he shared details about heading to the high school. He said that as he was heading to the high school, he saw several patrol cars from different agencies heading that way, too.
As they crossed an intersection, he was the lead car, so he stopped at one of the intersections they passed on the way to block traffic and counted at least 16 patrol vehicles going past him.
When they got to the Meijer, he described seeing students who weren't dressed for the cold weather.
As they were ushering everyone into the Meijer store, he said it was crazy when parents and school buses arrived in the parking lot. "...So I just see the parents, like, you see them, almost praying that their happy kid came off the bus."
Wagrowski then headed to the school to help with the surveillance video since he was better versed in that area.
He saw other law enforcement officials once he got there, and he had to review video footage to determine when and how the shooting started. As he was doing this, the high school was still being cleared.
Wagrowski said there are at least 100 cameras in the high school, and he was responsible for reviewing the footage.
Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews dismissed the jurors for their lunch break, but Wagrowki's testimony continued after.
He discussed going through the footage, seeing the shooter on the footage, and trying to determine when the shooter went into the bathroom.
Wagrowski put together camera footage for the investigators by saving different clips from each camera and threading them together.
When the prosecution asked how many hours of video he watched to put the clips together, Wagrowski said, "Too many."
He was also asked to review footage of the Crumbley parents at the high school on the day of the shooting.
Wagrowski then detailed what he saw when identifying victims in the shooting while reviewing the footage.
"I'll never forget it," Wagrowski said. "He came out of that bathroom like, what I've referred to before in my life, like a proud chest; his shoulders were back."
He detailed what he saw as the shooter began shooting at students, including Hana St. Juliana.
In addition, he said one angle of the video showed Madisyn Baldwin, who got down into a fetal position. The shooter then walked up to her and put the gun right on her head, Wagrowski testified.
He said the video showed the students running down the hallway, and another angle of the video showed the shooter level the gun and shooting at Tate Myre as he turned the corner. "The shooter took a couple of steps and then leveled the gun again just to shoot Tate again, lying there. Shot him."
Wagrowski said the shooter went into the bathroom, where Justin Schilling was when he was fatally shot.
When he came out of the bathroom, Wagrowski said law enforcement officials were walking down the hallway, and when the shooter saw them, he just put his hands up. He was then taken into custody.
Next, the prosecution questioned Wagrowski about Facebook messages exchanged between James and Jennifer Crumbley on March 8, 2021.
The messages revolve around if their son was going to bowling, and the mother was freaking out because he wasn't home yet. The father told her he gets home at 3:15, but Jennifer said she wanted James to pick him up because he was upset, and she didn't want him to do anything stupid.
The father told her to chill.
They also reviewed messages from the next day, March 9, where the two were messaging back and forth about how the shooter was "out of control" the night before and how the mother gave him melatonin. Jennifer asked James how he was doing, and the father said he was fine, but he had a headache and was doing his schoolwork.
Wagrowski said there were more than 20,000 text messages sent between the shooter and his friend from January to the end of October.
The shooter sent his friend messages in April 2021 about hearing people talk to him and about how he asked his father to take him to the doctor, but he just gave him "some pills" and told him to "suck it up."
He told the friend his mom laughed when he told her about wanting to go to the doctor.
In August 2021, the shooter sent a video of a gun to his friend.
Wagrowski said GPS location data from Google showed that the parents were in the home when their son sent these videos to his friend.
After sending the second video, the shooter sent his friend a message that said," My dad left it out, so I thought 'Why not' lol."
Next, the prosecution presented a text message between James Crumbley and the friend's father.
James Crumbley asked him if his son's friend was okay as the shooter was texting him but hadn't heard anything back. The father told James Crumbley that the shooter's friend was "in a bad place," and they took him to get residential treatment in Wisconsin for 60 to 90 days.
James Crumbley responded and told the other father to let him know if there was any way they could help.
Wagrowski said the DoorDash application was installed on the father's phone on Nov. 9, 2021.
During Wagrowski's testimony on Thursday, James Crumbley's 911 call was played. James Crumbley placed the call to police at 1:34 p.m. on Nov. 30, 2021, after learning of the shooting at the high school. The call was placed before the shooter's identification was made public.