Hours Before School Shooting, Suspect and Parents Met with School Officials About 'Concerning' Behavior

Four students were killed and seven people were injured during Tuesday's mass shooting at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit

Photo: JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images

The suspect in Tuesday's mass shooting at a Michigan high school met with his parents and school officials to discuss his "concerning" behavior hours before the massacre, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said at a news conference Wednesday.

Four students were killed and seven people were injured in the shooting at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit. Ethan Crumbley, 15, is charged as an adult with multiple crimes, including terrorism causing death and four counts of first-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

At the news conference, Bouchard said his office had not been made aware of any alarming behavior by the suspect before the shooting. But he said the office had since learned the suspect met with school officials on Monday, and then with his parents and school officials on Tuesday.

"The parents were brought in the morning of the shooting and had a face-to-face meeting with the school," Bouchard said. "The content of that meeting obviously is part of the investigation."

Bouchard said the school district had no record indicating the suspect had been bullied at the school. He added that authorities believe no specific students were targeted in the shooting.

In an interview with CNN, Bouchard said two teachers raised concerns about the suspect's behavior — first on Monday and then on Tuesday. He declined to specify what raised the teachers' concerns, but said that "ultimately it was determined that [the suspect] could go back into class."

Authorities have said the gun used in the attack was purchased by the suspect's father four days prior to the shooting.

Hana St. Juliana, Tate Myre, Justin Shilling, Madisyn Baldwin.

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Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said during a Wednesday press conference that her office is considering charging both of the suspect's parents and will make a decision "swiftly."

McDonald did not discuss a motive, but said the facts of the case "suggest this was not just an impulsive act," citing "a mountain of digital evidence, video tape, [and] social media."

CNN reports that the suspect was arraigned Wednesday. PEOPLE has not been able to reach his lawyer. He is being held without bond, The New York Times reports.

At the suspect's arraignment, authorities said they found two videos on his cell phone in which he talked about shooting and killing his schoolmates, CNN reports. According to the outlet, a journal found in the suspect's backpack also detailed plans for a school shooting.

JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images

Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Marc Keast said at the arraignment that video footage shows the suspect emerging from the bathroom with a gun in his hand, Fox2 Detroit reports.

"At that point, he deliberately aimed the gun at students and began firing at students," Keast said. "After students started running he continued down the hallway pointing the gun and firing and firing in classrooms and at students who were unable to escape."

If convicted, the suspect faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The four fatal victims of the shooting were Madisyn Baldwin, 17, Tate Myre, 16, Hana St. Juliana, 14, and Justin Shilling, 17.

At her Wednesday press conference, McDonald said the shooting underscored the need for sensible gun-violence prevention laws, saying, "If the incident yesterday, with four children being murdered and multiple kids being injured, isn't enough to revisit our gun laws, I don't know what is," she said.