Accused Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley’s mother wrote an open letter to Donald Trump after the 2016 presidential election praising his support for gun rights.
“As a female and a Realtor, thank you for allowing my right to bear arms. Allowing me to be protected if I show a home to someone with bad intentions,” Jennifer Crumbley wrote in a blog post, according to the Daily Beast.
“Thank you for respecting that Amendment,” added the mother, who worked as a real estate agent in Michigan, according to the outlet, which noted that her staff bio has been taken down.
Ethan, 15, was charged Wednesday as an adult with first-degree murder, terrorism and assault charges in the shooting rampage that left four students dead and injured seven others when he allegedly opened fire inside Oxford High School, authorities said.
In her open letter from Nov. 11, 2016, that the Daily Beast posted, Jennifer also referred to school trouble, financial struggles, resentments — but also hope for the future.
She said she was skipping car insurance payments to hire a tutor to help her son, who was 10 at the time, and blamed the “common core” curriculum used by teachers.
Ethan Crumbley has been charged as an adult in the shootings.Oakland County Sheriff’s Office via AP
“My son struggles daily, and my teachers tell me they hate teaching it but the [sic] HAVE to,” Jennifer wrote. “I have to pay for a Tutor, why? Because I can’t figure out 4th grade math. I used to be good at math. I can’t afford a Tutor, in fact I sacrifice car insurance to make sure my son gets a good education and hopefully succeeds in life.”
She continued: “My parents teach at a school where their kids come from illegal immigrant parents. Most of their parents are locked up. They don’t care about learning and threaten to kill my mom for caring about their grades.
“Do you realize Mr. Trump that they get free tutors, free tablets from our Government so they can succeed. Why cant my son get those things, do we as hard working Americans not deserve that too?” Jennifer wrote.
Parents walk away with their kids from the Meijer’s parking lot where many students gathered after the shooting.Eric Seals-USA TODAY NETWORK via REUTERS
She also wrote that her husband had “suffered a stroke and a broken back and we were with just my income. Do you know how hard it is to support a family on only $40,000 a year? I couldn’t qualify for State Aid. I made to (SIC) much.
“Mr. Trump, this is why I voted for you. I see the change that we so desperately need. I see jobs coming back, people having to work for their handouts, money going to who really deserve it,” she added. “If this blog even makes it to your eyes…thank you. From the bottom of my heart.”
The 9mm semiautomatic pistol Ethan allegedly used was purchased by his father, James, on Black Friday, according to officials.
Ethan posed with the gun on Instagram just days before the shooting.Instagram
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said she also was “considering charges against both parents.”
“Owning a gun means securing it properly and locking it and keeping the ammunition separate,” she said.
No motive was offered for the shooting but McDonald said it was premeditated, based on a “mountain of digital evidence” against the suspect.
“This was not just an impulsive act,” he said.
Sheriff’s Lt. Tim Willis told a judge that Ethan recorded a video the night before the violence in which he discussed killing students.
Ethan was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder, terrorism and assault charges.WDIV
Earlier, Sheriff Mike Bouchard said that the boy’s parents were called to the school Tuesday — the same day of the deadly shooting — “for behavior in the classroom that was concerning.” He didn’t disclose what had worried school officials.
