Local 4 News at 4 -- March 8, 2024

[Music] live from downtown Detroit Local 4 News first at 4 Starts Now good afternoon I'm Devon skilia in today for Karen drew first at four prosecutors in the James Crumbley trial bring a critical piece of video into evidence today the father of the Oxford High School shooter charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter sha L has been in the courtroom and Court ended pretty early today Sean about 2:30 today that is early the judge saying that they are making rapid progress in this trial

and actually ran out of witnesses she kind of joked so sending the jury home telling them to be healthy because someone in the gallery apparently is sick but yeah sending them home but again even though it was a shorten type day it was not short On Emotion at all or news uh new information let's get right to that video we talked about because the jury heard from James Crumbley from that video himself take a look in court this afternoon this trial was all about about this video the jury hearing f

rom James Crumbley in his own words in this dramatic gut-wrenching video you're looking at an Oakland County Sheriff's video of investigators bringing James and Jennifer Crumley into an interview room two and a half hours after their son shot and killed four Oxford High School students let me show you the key moment of this video it's James Crumbley telling Sheriff's investigators that the 9mm handgun he bought for his son was not locked up was not locked up with a cable lock but hidden in an ar

moire in their bedroom what was it going to happen it was hidden in out on in the case and the bullets were hidden in a completely different spot underneath some jeans I raed home after I saw the cops after I found out was an active shooter after what we on this morning I immediately race home and found the G Miss that's when I called you guys I called you guys right away and let you know all right back here live so at 5 o' we're going to get to this because you heard what he said James Crumbley

in that video this is just hours after the shooting that he hidden the gun not locked it up did not have that lock cable lock on it either hid the as well that was not locked up uh and then he rushed home to go find that prosecutors hammering home the point that he didn't offer more information they think is critical Devon in this we're still working on that for 5 o'clock we'll have it for you then by back to you you know Sean in the past 24 hours we learned that James crumley's jail Communicat

ions have been strictly limited uh we first started to report on this last night at 11 really interesting twist what more do we know about the reasoning behind that like any inate he can use the telephone which is recorded at the jail he has a tablet for use as well to communicate with his attorney and others that could be text message or some kind of messaging app or email and what we got to the bottom of is that the court found that he was making some kind of threats to someone unclear how man

y threats or how many people were being threatened we pulled the court document it's just an order cutting off his communication except for communication with his attorney and with a clergy member if he wants to talk to someone from the clergy that that's it right now so there's a gag order here we have not gotten to the bottom exactly to answer the question who's on the other side of those messages fasinating development that came right after the day one of these of this testimony all right Sea

n we're going to talk more about today's key moments with Shawn coming up at 5 and 6 and remember we are streaming the entire trial on Local 4 plus you see the testimony as it happens just download plus wherever you find your streaming content or just scan the QR code on your screen right now we'll have Recaps and updates dur during our newscasts as well of course all right stay away and don't turn fire debris into souvenirs that is the message from authorities 4 days after that explosive fire i

n Clinton Township told the scene is secure but some people have been wandering around looking for canisters and other scraps authorities say it is too dangerous you still need to stay away from the scene at 15 M and gross backck because firefighters are still monitoring hotspots they estimate they have used about 2 million gallons of water on this scene investigation into exactly what caused the fire really hasn't started yet officials say they're going to need heavy equipment to move in to sta

rt breaking up the rubble first in a funeral being held today for the 19-year-old killed by the flying debris authorities are still looking for answers and grateful that the fire wasn't even more deadly um there certainly should have been more Dam you know more injuries more possible deaths on that scene um how we managed to get through it with you know what we did I can't answer that for you I there there was something looking out for us that day we will find out through our investigation what

happened who did it who's responsible and somebody will be held accountable you've seen the shots of the debris field it is stunning that more people weren't hurt the investigation we expect is going to start in Earnest next week if you find any debris near your home or business in that area call the number that you see on the screen 586469 5502 586469 5502 Michigan residents are going to pay a higher income tax this year according to a new report from the court of appeals some business groups a

nd others argued a drop in the tax rate was meant to become permanent but the Attorney General Dana nessle argued the law only provides for a temporary drop when State revenues exceed inflation so your income tax rate for 2024 should be 4.25% an appeal to Michigan Supreme Court though is still possible so this could all still move a little bit we will keep following it and keep you posted been a gray and rainy day in downtown Detroit this Friday afternoon soggy start to the weekend it's not look

ing too comfortable Brett caller in for Kim Adams with the first forecast Brett yeah we're going to keep the umbrellas if you're going to be out this evening this weekend though a different story as we're talking cold wind and maybe some snow just a moment in the meantime all of Southeast Michigan socked in the rain for the most part just light to moderate rain but you can see some heavier Pockets these darker greens from KAC Romeo udica over towards Pontiac also seeing some steady rain parts of

Ann Arbor Hamburg over towards Farmington Hills Leonia as well we'll hang on to the rain chances through the rest of today even parts of the overnight but like I mentioned this weekend we could see a few flakes fly we'll talk about when that may be in just a bit all right Brett Michigan of course is cradled by four of the five Great Lakes we are in a unique position to feel the brunt of climate change up close and personally Paula tutman has been working with a climatologist to get the cold har

d truth about the lack of ice on the Great Lakes this year and what that means moving forward take a look at this nothing on the St Clair River nothing in Lake hon and and this is going to affect everyone from the thumb all the way down through the Detroit River I am shocked yeah the stunning lack of in the St Clair River Channel and Lake hon was startling to drom Fujisaki menom a climatologist with the University of Michigan and a researcher with a Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes research

she's been collecting data on the lack of ice in the Great Lakes but today she saw it for herself for the first time this winter less ice and more open water it's a perfect setup for Lake Effect snowstorm and in some case that could be Lake Effect Ice Storm normally we would be seeing ice cutting operations for navigation but today we saw fishing boats and even a Leisure boat I worry that this could lead to some fundamental change in this the coastal landscape normally there is 40% ice cover th

is time of year today there's only 2% in the entire Great Lakes the season High only got to 16% climatologists say the data means we are at the Leading Edge of the end of Michigan Winters as we know them the culture and the recreation of ice fishing and snowmobiling will begin to slip away the stress crashing waves with no winter reprieve given by ice will mean continued and more costly repairs to keep homes from slipping into a watery grave along the shore and as far Downstream as the Jefferson

Charmers area in Detroit homeowners will have to mitigate against even more flooding and those who watched with empathy will need to prepare to be in flood zones themselves for the first time says Dr Richard Roode professor emeritus of climate and space sciences and Engineering at U ofm compound flooding because it'll be a combination of things associated with lake levels as well as precipitation because if the water is high in The Lakes when there's a lot of precipitation it doesn't have anywh

ere to go when it gets down there to the coast so it um exacerbates the flooding that might be associated with lake levels the cause and effect means we will have to start changing the way we see and react and prepare for winter how we enjoy it recreationally count on it economically and survive it environmentally we are going to have to relearn how to live with the weather we're going to have to relearn how to live with the climate and so what this means at the end of the day climatologists are

not saying look Panic about this but they are saying they need to study this more understand this more so that they can strateg I and teach others how to strategize so that we can adjust to the way we're living based on this new climate Paula tutman Local 4 all right Paul a climatologist said there's no going back the way to move forward is to study the changes in climate and use data-driven strategies for things like building codes zoning ordinances and to address the coming shifts in the econ

omy