breaking news into cnn, we have been tracking a case that is testing the limits of potential criminal liability for parents whose children are involved in school shootings. jennifer crumbley, the mother of the michigan high school shooter has been testifying in her own defense, some really revealing moments in court about her personal life and her thoughts about what her son was going through in the months before the shooting and the same day that the shooting took place. >> so much of what she is saying, it certainly looks very different through the prism of what we know now. there are questions about whether she knew enough, right? that she could have intervened at the time and there is this question of the access to the gun, which she has been very much been pushing off to her husband. who will face trial next month. ignoring the mental health needs of her son, ethan crumbley. the meeting at the school, a

couple hours before the shooting, is really key to that. that is what she has been on the stand talking about. let's discuss this with our reporters and analysts who can join us on this. we have jean, areva and joey jackson. jean, to you first, this meeting is really a linchpin of this case, what stood out to you? >> the night before, the night before the meeting, ethan got d in geometry. had a big argument at home. his phone was taken away from him, they said you're not going to be able to go to the shooting range at all until those grades go. we heard on the prosecution's case that he was locked out. locked out of what? we don't know. it was about argument. the next morning she gets a text from the counselor and sees the drawing. she testified that she was very angry, and she took it personally. did she interpret that drawing that from his

anger the night before that he was drawing a picture of his rebellion against the parents discipline that night before? that's what it appeared as though. she made it -- she said she was concerned at the meeting, but she made the meeting and texted this to brian also that it was just a calm meeting. so, that demeanor is different from what we heard before, that it was a little more concerning. but the counselor admitted he was concerned about suicide. that's what he was concerned about. nobody ever mentioned a mass shooting. >> areva, i'm curious to get your perspective on her remarks about what took place at this meeting because she is saying the school administrators told her that her son wasn't a risk and she thought school officials were giving her sound advice and that ultimately, she felt the meeting ended productively. it didn't end abruptly, as some

schools counselors said and testified that they felt she was inconvenienced by having to go to the school that day. what you make of her characterization of what to lace versus the other testimony that we heard? >> jennifer's testimony throughout this morning has been someone who is trying to minimize everything we have heard in this case. minimize all the text messages, the emails, and the conduct. she is blaming everyone. her husband drinking and being depressed. she has made references to the school, perhaps not doing their job. she made a reference to brian or some reference by him, maybe having a poor memory. the strategy here is clearly blame everyone and accept no responsibility. deny any knowledge about any mental health or emotional issues that her son may have been having. she denies seeing text messages and other written documents that clearly indicated that this young man was having some

issues. even so much as giving us this explanation that, he saw things in the house. we had the game we played around ghosts. nothing seemed to be an issue for this mother. i'm not sure that everything we learned about this kid that jurors are buying that this mother was either so oblivious or she has this way of just making everything seem so normal when it really wasn't. >> joy, i wonder what you think so far about what you have heard, what parts are going to work in favor of jennifer crumbley and what parts she has not been able to explain away. >> yeah, from the defense perspective, what you want to do is put matters in context. context matters. and so if you look at the evidence, this case will be decided on three pillars, the first pillar is that of foreseeability. should she have foreseen, jennifer crumbley, that her son could engage in this type of

behavior even with having access to a gun that was potentially hidden? number two, moving on from the issue of the ability, to what extent did she have notice of her sons mental health and other issues. number three, did she act reasonably? it's unusual in a case to have the defense say an opening statement that my client is going to testify, the committed to it, and here she is. but to the core of your question, i think a few other things stand out. you talk about these school communications where the school is communicative with each other. what are they saying? he's having a rough time. he is sleeping in class. they are talking about that. his family is a mistake. all that is highly relevant but did they ever inform the mother of that? if they didn't inform the mother, how would she be expected or anticipating to address that in any way form or fashion? that is a big in terms of context. number two, if we are sitting here talking about haunted houses and things flying off the shelves without knowing

that the house was built in 1920 , that internally they would joke about it, that the circuit breaker was cut off while they played with the ouija board. if you talk about things flying off shelves, oh my goodness, he has a health problem, but she put it in context. look, this is generally what we do. i think all of these things , living off to what we heard about the meeting, it was a meeting. the school said he wasn't a risk. you know what, we will address the issue. at the end of the day i will stop where i began, should she have foreseen this? what she -- did she act reasonably under the circumstances? they are arguing that she should have and at the end of the day, you know what, she is maybe not the best mother or mother of the year but she should be criminalized for it. that's the defense's perspective and that's what the jury is going to have to buy if she is to be acquitted. >> i want to extend on something breanna mentioned a moment ago.

the defense questioning her about her awareness and her knowledge of how the gun that was given to ethan for christmas was kept. she specifically said that it was up to her husband to handle it. weapons made her uncomfortable at home. walk us through that testimony because that could be critical. >> well, we aren't went to get james in that courtroom to refute it. so she is a saying that she had only been to the shooting range once before, that guns weren't her thing. horses were her thing. that's what we know about that. james manley handled the gun. i think to a lot of jurors, that may make sense. it's very interesting, another point, this is the suburb of detroit. but apparently we heard in this trial through testimony from the school dean that a very big sports with people in the community is hunting. a lot of the students at the high school go hunting with

their families or their fathers before school starts. so they put out a notice every year saying, if you go to hunt before class, be sure not to come to school in your camo and be sure not to bring your weapon, your hunting rifle, with you to class. that is another thing. this jury is made up of people from this community, oxford, pontiac, michigan. so, that is something to take into consideration here and so a lot of jurors may say, my husband handles the guns. i do understand that. so, they may say that's the way it is done in our house, too. >> is it incumbent on her to -- since it is in her house and she has the awareness of the purchase and of the use -- to take more of an active role? >> you would think. obviously,

there isn't a law that says if you have a gun in your house you must do this. but it's curious to me that she says guns aren't her thing. she knows that her son has a gun. she doesn't know where the gun is. she testified the gun may be in the bedroom where the lock to the case may be in a beer stein in the kitchen. she wasn't clear about that. it strikes me and i think jurors sitting there are going to wonder, how come this mother didn't mention to the school in this meeting? we did get that gun for even for christmas and we want to make sure that given these drawings and what you have told us that the gun is still safe. maybe, you stay here and i will check for the gun. or anything like that. i can't imagine that some juror is not going to want this mother , with this history, to have taken that really simple step and alert the school about the possibility that the gun might have been removed.

because she really doesn't know. she's not in the chain of custody of the gun because as james said, guns are not her thing. >> areva, jean, joey, stay with us. i know you want to respond but we do have some other news we have different in. we will monitor what is happening in the courtroom and keep an eye on that. please stand by because there is a lot happening in the world. defense secretary lloyd austin spoke publicly for the first time since his complications for prostate cancer landed him in the hospital about a month ago. he apologized for failing to notify the public and the presidents of that days long hospitalization. >> now he is back to leading the pentagon in person as he prepares to respond to that drone strike by iran backed proxies that killed three u.s. soldiers over the weekend. cnn learned iranian leaders were caught off guard by the attack and that they are nervous about the consequences of this attack. we have cnn's oren liebermann

at the pentagon for us. warren, what have you learned about the mind-set of these leaders and to ron? >> reporter: according to u.s. officials, iran doesn't have full control over its proxies and iraq and syria doesn't have full control of the these as well. the actions we have seen from a drone strike that killed three u.s. service members has been served iranian leaders because of the potential for escalation. it shows the idea that though i run equips trends, funds supplies all of these different groups, it doesn't fully control their actions. that's what you see officials saying iran doesn't want an escalation in the region. with that drone strike that killed three u.s. service members on sunday, escalation very much a possibility with the u.s. missing to respond and officials telling us response will be more powerful than what we have seen in previous u.s. strikes in iraq and syria iran very much aware of that and this is a situation we are trying to avoid just as the

u.s. has come to regional open warfare iranian leaders are also keen to avoid them. >> it's interesting. i wonder if this weighs some groundwork for what we may be anticipating when it comes to the response of the u.s.. if you have officials saying they believe iran was surprised, it seems they might be less inclined to do something more direct with iran rather than hitting the proxies. >> officials had made clear they hold iran ultimately responsible. the white house said yesterday they are blaming the direct attribution for the attack on an umbrella group of iran backed proxies but there is quite a bit of spectrum short of directly attacking iraq itself going right after iranian territory or striking the capital of iran. that's because iran has assets, proxies, and the u.s. can go after those and iraq, syria, yemen unlikely they would go after hezbollah and limit on this because of iran's region

the reason. the have plenty of reasons to go after iran and abilities, and capabilities throughout the region without striking iran it's all. that's what we are likely to see as the u.s. makes clear that this will be a multi- phased approach perhaps a wave of strikes carried out against targets that might not be directly iran but are clearly linked to iran. >> live for us at the pentagon, thank you for that. another story, president biden macon this visit to michigan. obviously, iq state politically and he is expected to meet with members of the united auto workers union. >> the state could be critical to his re-election campaign and this key block of voters that he is meeting with union workers, could be instrumental in winning in 2024 as he takes on the likely republican challenger, donald trump. cnn's mj with us. what are we expecting from the presidents trip today? >> reporter: boris, the

president has just arrived here in detroit. the main purpose of the trip is to capitalize on that uaw endorsement that the president received last week he is going to be meeting with members of that union group in just a little bit, but before that, we saw him stopping by at a local restaurant to mingle and chat with some of the local residents as he is, of course, trying to court some of these voters in this very critical battleground state of michigan as he mentioned. from the campaign's perspective, the main purpose really is to court and go after some of these working-class union voters that are going to be so critical to determining the outcome of the election in a state like this, but i think in the background, of course, this issue with arab-american voters. in the state. they make up a big segment of the population here, who of

course, many of whom have expressed a lot of anger, frustration, about the situation with the israel hamas war. many of them have expressed anger directly at the president saying they see his continued support for israel as making him impart complicit for the humanitarian crisis that we have seen in gaza and plenty of them have said that they are even considering and willing to withhold their support, support they might have given president biden back in 2020 when it comes time to vote again in the 2024 election. we are seeing these two major and very important voting blocs come into play here and coming into clear focus as he, again, comes here to this state of michigan to capitalize on that uaw endorsement that we saw last week. we will see what kinds of conversation he has with these members. we are told it is meant to be more of an informal setting. is

not going to be giving formal remarks. certainly, a state where the white house is trying to emphasize that he will be back. senior administration officials will be back as well, in particular, to have those ongoing conversations with arab and muslim leaders in the community. here on out there, concerns. concerns that have been intensifying as the israel hamas war has been raging on. >> one of will likely be many trips to michigan this year for president biden. mj, traveling with the president. thank you so much. we are falling breaking news out of michigan where jennifer crumbley is testifying in this historic trial and its testing whether parents of school shooter could be held accountable for their actions. we have more of her testimony in just a few moments.

they said it would be about a 10 minute break. it has been 20 minutes or so. at any moment testimony will continue from jennifer crumbley, the mother of the oxford, michigan shooter. she is testifying in her own defense. >> we have jean, reba and joey jackson back with us. joey, talk to us about what has stood out to you so far. >> a number of things have. when you look at when they were talking about the school, of course that meeting is significant. i'm referencing the meeting when james crumbling the husband and jennifer were called back, the mother who is on trial now to talk about the drawing of their son that had the blood on it that had the gun and it was significant. y are tre? she, jennifer, is think she left the meeting calmly. she felt there wasn't a security

threat. was very significant at that point, we heard in other testimony, the school had the ability, not only her to raise an issue about the gun in that meeting, but if there is a drawing of the gun, for the school to ask, that you have access to a gun? it doesn't stop there. the school got the backpack. your testimony previously from today that the dean got his backpack, ethan crumbley's, and handed it to him. was it searched? why wasn't it searched? it should have been a search? should there have been increase of the school based upon that? i think it's very important. the issue pertaining to when in context to these about his hallucinations but they were they dedicated upon being mentally ill? was he having hallucinations or anything else? was he playing tricks with them as he always did? that stood out. context as to what was important. all these things go to notice

and what the school having information that their son is having a problem, it would have been nice if he is having a rough time, not sleeping and other things, to inform the parents that never happened. it goes to the issue of blame last point. that is that she, jennifer crumbley, indicated that she is not into guns. it is the husband who purchased the weapon and the husband who hid the weapon from them. i think the defense is making the case that this was not foreseeable. she would not have known and she acted reasonably and non-criminally under these circumstances. >> areva, to joey's last point. part of the reason this case is important is because it could set a future president and i'm not talking the distant future, i'm talking about six or seven weeks when her husband is set to be tried for four counts of involuntary manslaughter. how could this case impact that one? and the testimony we hear today, what impact could that have down the road? >> as we have been saying throughout the morning, this could be a historic case

because, traditionally, parents are not held liable criminally liable that is for the intentional shootings or acts of their children. this would be a case of first impression. definitely would send a very clear message to parents that you have to be alert. you have to be involved. you have to be engaged. you do have a duty. i'm troubled by this notion that the defense believes that this mom could somehow abdicate her responsibility as a parent because she is not into guns. i'm thinking as a parent, if you're not into guns, maybe you don't let guns come into your house. maybe have some different loos about rules about your house. this is a community where guns are prevalent and people do go hunting as a normal course of their activities, but still, we have seen so many mass shootings in this country. we have seen kids come onto campuses with guns. i think this should have been a heightened sense of awareness on the part of these parents,

even the parent that says she wasn't into guns. what's going to happen at her husband's trial? there is going to be a lot of evidence that will have to be produced by the prosecutors that he too should have used a greater level of care in terms of how that gun was handled and what access to the gun. it is still not clear, how did ethan find the key that was allegedly hidden in a beer stein? how did he get that key? how was he able to unlock that gun without either of these parents knowing that he had the gun on his person on the day that this horrific shooting took lace? >> to that point, it was unclear whether it was just known that the key was in a beer stein, and a mug in the house. readily accessible to the shooter in this case. >> here's what's interesting. there is a text. the defense

wanted to get it in. it was from his friend or his journal, and he says i got to find where my father had that key. is not coming in because he has a fifth amendment privilege. if you let that income it opens the door, the prosecution argued, to the entire journal. as if ethan was testifying and he has exerted his fifth amendment right against self- incrimination. the journey jury is going to see that. i want to talk about one thing joey said. i want to look at the facts. at the school, on that monday, he was researching bullets. it was in his english class. the english teacher told the counselor and the dean, everybody, it made her remember that his writings that september, that fall had been of a violent nature. then at some point around that time in school, he was watching a video of somebody killing somebody. then you have the

math worksheet on tuesday. the school never told jennifer any of that. when they went to the school about that math worksheet, she wasn't told about the video he was watching of somebody killing somebody. she wasn't told about the english teacher sent, this semester he has been writing his violent tendencies in his papers. she didn't hear any of that. there has been a very big issue with the families in oxford about the inaction of the school. that day, the dean is the one that carried the backpack from math class, give it back to ethan. question was, why didn't you open it up? no reasonable suspicion, he said. >> very questionable. to your point, i judge, and there are so many parents who look to the school and say, you did not do right. the independent review of what happened, the 600 page report found the school failed to

provide a safe and secure environment, but a circuit judge also finding that the school is protected from civil lawsuits because, obviously, school employees are government employees. but there is a lot of blame that has been found there in that report. if you guys could stand by for us, we would appreciate that. we are waiting for this to get underway again. this trial, four counts of involuntary manslaughter. that could be a historic trial if jennifer crumbley is held responsible for this shooting that her son perpetrated in oxford high school in michigan in 2021. stay with us. we will be right back.

we are keeping of close i in pontiac, michigan where we are expected to hear more testimony from the mother. the trial is currently in a break. we will bring it to you once they get underway again. >> the senate majority leader chuck schumer is taking steps to hold the first vote on the border deal and foreign aid package by next wednesday with text of the measure coming as soon as friday. but no later than sunday. this is a very big development in these negotiations. this potential step forward to a deal here. let's get to our chief congressional correspondent. tell us what you are hearing. >> reporter: the sense of a

major showdown between the senate and former president donald trump and his allies on capitol hill over an issue central to the 2024 campaign, immigration and the crisis of that southern border. with it, what about aid for ukraine and israel? republicans have demanded for months that the border must be dealt with first before they relay more aid to ukraine. handful of senators have reached a deal on the issue of securing the border. that is going to all come together with this emergency aid package with israel, ukraine and with taiwan with text to be released as soon as tomorrow, as late as sunday with the first procedural vote by wednesday. that means there needs to be 60 senators to advance, 51 democrats, 49 republicans. and the get 60 votes? donald trump has tried to scuttle this plan saying it is a bad deal, betrayal, even though the text has yet to be released because in large part, both sides believe trump is trying to kill this in order to

campaign on this issue and deny joe biden a victory on this major issue. that is a big question right now. candace get out of the senate and can get out of that republican-led house where a lot of republicans, including trump allies, say they are in no mood to cut a deal with joe biden on this issue some bluntly saying, let's not give joe biden a victory. >> why would we do do anything to help 33%? do you believe if joe biden's approval rating was at 53% we would even be talking about the border? >> he has to do something because he's hemorrhaging. he is bleeding. he will try to come up with some border security plan, bipartisan through the senate, that is nothing but hogwash. >> that would be a big mistake to surrender to putin and ukraine like we did in afghanistan. >> the fact they are right coldwater.

>> we got to give him a chance to come up with a bill and look at it and decide. >> you are seeing the divisions within gop ranks, but how this ultimately gets resolved and can be overcome trumps opposition on the gop side is going to remain a huge question as we get into this first key procedural vote by wednesday. i just got up with a number two senate republican john. he counts the votes on the gop side. he said it is uncertain whether there are enough republicans to break unexpected filibuster attempt on wednesday. they have yet to see the text. i said, can you overcome donald trump's opposition? he said i don't know the answer to that yet. this decision about whether to go ahead will be made by the republican conference as gop leadership is noncommittal about this. even the top republican mitch mcconnell has pushed or this deal has praised some of the elements and is demanding action on ukraine in particular at this moment, but can they get there given divisions

within the ranks and opposition that could come from democrat to the border provisions as well. all huge questions to have these key votes next week. >> this is a huge step that we will be watching. thank you. we are awaiting more testimony, actually waiting for it to resume in that michigan in the trial of jennifer crumbley, the mother of the oxford high school shooter. the trial is in a break right now. it's set to resume any moment. we will bring it to you when it does get started back up.

we are awaiting court to begin in pontiac, michigan, which is where jennifer crumbley is facing -- is on trial facing trial for involuntary manslaughter for her alleged role in her sons shooting at oxford high school in michigan in 2021. four students were killed and others including school officials were wounded as well. i want to bring back jean and areva martin. they have been following this entire trial along with us. jean, what are we expecting after this break, which has taken a considerably longer amount of time than we expected. >> you wonder what is going on because the break, obviously, is longer than the judge said it was going to be. that can be anything. they could be talking in the back about issues. we are getting near to the end

of the trial. you never wanted the jury to wait, so, we will see if we hear what is happened but it looks like they are about to reconvene. we will have continued direct examination of jennifer crumbley , and this may extend for the rest of the day because her attorney wants to focus on everything. one thing i think we have a hold on that we need more explaining on is the cable lock for that gun. we heard from the person that sold that gun at the gun shop that they have to always give a cable lock or another type of lock for a gun, a cable lock was given for that gun. when the gun case was found on the day of the mass shooting, it was found in the master bedroom, on the bed of jennifer and james crumbley. it was opened and james found this when he came home because he came home and he is the one who turned his son in. the gun case was open, the gun was gone i didn't see a cable lock anywhere around there in the picture that we saw.

if the cable lock was always on it, it had to have a key to open it, where was the cable lock when it mattered? so, we need to hear an explanation for that. >> a significant question. she actually testified jennifer crumbley, she was mortified when those pictures were published of ethan's bedroom because it was so messy, and that also became an interesting point of testimony to ascertain , how aware was she of what was going on in his life? what his mental state was. i'm wondering as jurors hear these details about him messaging her that their house was haunted, that he reportedly told them that stuff that he saw in the house only happened when he was alone. it seemed like he was a lonely kid wanting attention from his parents, even based on her own testimony. >> absolutely. again, jennifer spent a lot of time trying to convince the jurors that this

was a very normal, happy family. there were photographs of ethan because he didn't like to take pictures. they had this really close communication. the three of them were very close family but yet there are all of these disturbing lapses in time when her son is trying to reach her and she is not responding. despite her efforts to try to downplay this time that she spent on the horses and with this extramarital affair, it's pretty clear that ethan was lonely and evidently after his best friend the way, there were some issues. again, i want to indict this mother because parenting is very difficult, but in this era where we see so many disturbed kids, to have a gun in a home where you are not even sure where the key is, where the gun is, it just begs the question about how in tune she was with her own son and what the foreseeability was in terms of him accessing this gun, either

hurting himself or in this case, murdering these four students at the school. >> areva, the unfortunate reality is that there are a lot of children out there who are neglected or who do not have good parents. a lot of them do not go and shoot up a school, right? a question i have is, does it come down to that bad parenting or is it really just the access to the weapon and the not cooling the school in when you see a drawing of a gun and then the not getting the mental health help at the moment that the school is telling you to get that, and then not securing the weapon, clearly as well as it should be? >> two things can be true at the same time. we have a school that clearly could have done a lot more. the school failed even. i think his parents failed him and all of the adults involved in this situation, none of them took the steps that could have

been taken, pretty simple ones, to get him the help he needed, to get him in a situation where he would not have had access to this gun. i think there are a myriad of things that went wrong in this case, from the mother being very involved with her extracurricular activities, not paying close attention to what was going on with her son, and a school where they were not either, negating with each other , principals and staff, and then with the parents. >> please stand by. we are waiting for testimony to resume in the courtroom. we will await that to get started again. we will go back to you once we hear more from jennifer crumbley directly on the witness stand. another story we are keeping an eye on, the embattled district attorney who was overseeing former president trumps georgia election interference case is standing her ground. >> sources tell cnn fani willis has no plans to stand down amid

allegations she was having an affair with the lead prosecutor in the case and benefited financially from that relationship. nick valenti is outside the courthouse in fulton county, georgia with these exclusive details. walk us through the reporting. >> reporter: it is very interesting because fani willis went over the former president after the 2020 election loss because of his defiance and now she seems to be taking up page out of that playbook. she is showing no signs of stepping down according to sources that we have spoken to within the district attorney's office. one of the possible concerns is that if she does resign or step down from this case, the case against the former president would effectively be over. not only are they aware of the political and legal challenges of finding another special prosecutor, they believe any change in their prosecutorial team would delay the proceedings indefinitely and the window for them to try to get a trial started before the november 2024 election is shrieking fast. fani willis is not likely

addressing these alleged allegations that she had an affair with a man she appointed special prosecutor, nathan wade. according to sources, she is personally involved in this written response to these filings which is due by tomorrow, the deadline that the judge has given her. we understand, she is not going to directly address the affair but rather point out where she believes the attorneys who are trying to get this case dismissed are wrong in their interpretation of the law. major developers happening here in fulton county. this case just getting more dramatic by the day. >> thank you for that report from atlanta. we are awaiting more testimony in michigan in the trial of jennifer crumbley, the mother of the oxford high school shooter. that trial is in break right now. we are expecting court to reconvene here shortly and we are going to bring it to you when it doesn't start back up. -- does start back up.

two leading candidates for senate. two very different visions for california. steve garvey, the leading republican, is too conservative for california. he voted for trump twice and supported republicans for years, including far right conservatives. adam schiff, the leading democrat, defended democracy against trump and the insurrectionists. he helped build affordable housing, lower drug costs, and bring good jobs back home.

the choice is clear. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message. we'll take you back to the courtroom in pontiac, michigan because jennifer crumbley just walked in the courtroom. she is back on the witness stand for more of her testimony. she is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter after the defense begins to ask her questions. this case could set a precedent because she is being charged for acts carried out by her son ethan. let's listen as court resumes with the jury walking back into the courtroom.

>> you may be seated. mrs. crumbley. >> you were talking about the meeting at the school. i think the jurors heard a lot about this so i will fast- forward. you go back to work, you thought ethan walker back in. >> correct. >> you heard amanda testified how she gives you advice can it do recall her giving advice? >> i don't. >> issue so many go to advice? >> no. >> why not? >> we were not friends outside of work, she was the assistant, formalities. we had nothing in common, she had a child really young, i had a teenager.

>> i want to go to the time where you heard there was an open shooter, the juror has already heard about how you heard about that. we know you got into your car and drove up to oxford. >> correct. >> we heard about the description of the caravan. did you hear about it? >> yes. the best way to get to the school. >> you were part of that with the law enforcement officers headed up. speaker i jumped in. it started on 75, i work at square lake, i got on 75 at square lake and it was well before the 24 exit, i would say a quarter-mile traffic was backed up. >> you sent a text, if you need

to see it, let me know can you sent a text to your son, you can talk to us. why did you send that? hey after i left the meeting, i knew that he was sad about things and i wanted to let him know he can talk to us about anything. i wanted to make sure that i opened that door to let him know that we are there for them and that we love him. >> he said he loved you, do you recall that? >> i do. >> was there anything unusual about that? >> he was at that age where it was hard to get i love youse back. for me to open my text and to see him randomly say that i love you was abnormal for him. >> did you think anything at that point? see no, not right at that point. i think i text back that i love you too, i don't remember. i believe i did. >> later in the thread, you say, don't do it.

when you hear there is an open shooter at the school, i want to know in your mind what do you believe is happening? >> my husband had called me while i was at work. he says there's an active shooter at the high school and i cannot get a hold of ethan. i opened my phone and saw that i love you text. i texted him, are you okay? in the process of it, i was getting my stuff and running out the door, letting my boss know i was going to my son's school. it was 75 when i was trying to get to the exit that my husband called me and asked where i had the bullets. i told him, he said that the gun was missing. instantly, i'm like oh my gosh, he's got the gun. i did not think he was at the school shooting it, i thought maybe he walked home and got the gun and was in the field by the school.

i did not imagine my son going to school shooting. when we got more updates, oh my gosh, he is the school shooter, he will kill himself. in my mind, that is what they have done after. i yelled in my talk to text, ethan, don't do it because i thought he would kill himself. >> at that point, had you thought ethan killed anyone? >> no, i had not thought he had shot anyone at that point.'s secret did you believe he shot or injured anyone? >> no, no. i thought he would kill himself. >> okay. you find out the gun is missing so you think he has got the gun and turn it on himself. >> right. okay pick at that point you went to the substation, we saw the video. >> my husband had called when i got close to the house, he said the substation called and they

want us to come down, they have my son. i picked him up on the way and we drove to the substation together. >> 20 say pick to up , who? >> my son was in custody . >> you picked up james . what was going through your mind at this point going from picking up james to the substation? >> i don't know. i asked my husband, is he alive? he said that i don't know, we are going down there. i did not know what to think. >> powerful moments as we listen to jennifer crumbley her reaction learning parachuting was unfolding at her son's school and his gun was missing from where it was supposed to be. will keep monitoring this important powerful testimony. we will handed over to the lead with jake tapper that starts right now.