'He was aiming to kill me': Teacher shot by Oxford shooter speaks out for first time

Editor's note: This story contains graphic information. Reader discretion is advised. 

Pontiac — Molly Darnell can still see the scars where the bullet entered and exited her left arm.

She was the only teacher shot among 11 people injured and killed at Oxford High School in November 2021 by 15-year-old student Ethan Crumbley, who pleaded guilty in October.

Darnell testified Thursday during the first day of the shooter's Miller hearing, where an Oakland County Circuit Court judge heard evidence to determine if the teen should be sentenced to life without parole or a term of years in prison. She was the fourth and final witness of an emotional day of testimony.

On the day of the shooting, Nov. 30, 2021, Darnell had just ended a meeting with a student and moved to her computer to check an email when she noticed a rush of students running past her door. The way they were running concerned her, though she assumed there was a fight or something else going on. She called the main office, but it went immediately to voicemail.

She poked her head out of the door and saw the hallway was empty. Then an announcement came over the public address system: Lockdown, this was not a drill.

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Darnell heard doors slamming and several pops. She reached for the Nightlock, a device used to barricade doors in classrooms, but saw movement in her peripheral vision. She looked up and locked eyes with the shooter.

"I remembered thinking in my head 'no orange tip,'" Darnell said, referring to the orange tip that usually comes on a BB-gun to indicate it is not a real gun. "That’s when I jumped to the side, to my right."

She saw him raising his gun, then heard — and felt — three loud pops.

It felt like someone had burned her with hot water, and she noticed her cardigan had ripped. Looking behind her, she saw a bullet hole in the window leading outside.

She remembers thinking that a BB gun wouldn't have been able to do that. She said she crawled over to the door to put the barricade in, and she grabbed a rolling cabinet and shoved it against the door, crouching behind it.

Darnell texted her husband: "I love you. Active shooter."

It was at that point she realized she had been shot. She used her cardigan to tie a tourniquet above the wound, then received texts from another teacher and her daughter. She didn't tell her 16-year-old daughter, who attended a nearby district, that she had been shot. She said she didn't want to worry her.

Another announcement came, telling the school they were still on lockdown. Darnell began to uncontrollably shake. She had told her husband that she had been shot, but no one else knew. She was waiting to tell anyone else until she knew the shooter was in custody and anyone who needed help had received it.

She ultimately told a teacher in the room next door she had been shot. About 20 minutes later, officers escorted her out of the classroom and into an ambulance.

Darnell went back to the classroom in January, wanting to be able to go back to her old job. She loved the work she had been doing. But she said Thursday she couldn't do it. She now works as a middle school mentor at Oxford Virtual Academy.

It wasn't until last week that she saw photos of the door of her classroom, with three bullet holes in it. She met with Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald to go over her testimony and saw the photo then.

"He was aiming to kill me," Darnell said. "The top shot was intended for my head and the two shots (below) were intended for my chest."

kberg@detroitnews.com