Lawsuit alleges Ethan Crumbley brought severed bird head to school before deadly shooting
A civil lawsuit filed against Oxford Community School District this week accuses administrators of putting students in danger by allegedly downplaying the actions of the accused gunman before a shooting that left four students dead and seven other people injured.
Ethan Crumbley, the 15-year-old suspect, posted "countdowns and threats of bodily harm," the lawsuit alleged. The complaint claims the teen left "a severed bird head in a mason jar containing a yellow liquid" in a school bathroom.
The school then emailed students and parents that "there has been no threat to our building nor our students," the lawsuit said.
The morning of the shooting, a teacher at the high school was alarmed when she saw a note on Crumbley's desk that contained a drawing of a gun, a bullet and a person who appeared to be bleeding.
An attorney for the school told CBS News that some of the claims in the lawsuit are false, adding that school officials are cooperating with prosecutors.
Crumbley entered a not guilty plea on Wednesday during a court appearance. He faces 24 counts, including murder and terrorism charges, linked to the shooting.
The teen's parents are also accused of ignoring warning signs and allowing their son access to the gun used in the shooting. Police tracked them down in a Detroit warehouse in the days after the shooting and they now face involuntary manslaughter charges.
At their hearing Friday, prosecutors made allegations about Crumbley's mental state, saying, "Ethan Crumbley would text his mother, Jennifer, on more than one occasion and always when he was home alone that he thought there was a demon, a ghost or someone else inside the home."