The parents of a Michigan boy who shot and killed four of his classmates in 2021 are awaiting the announcement of their sentence today after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter by a jury in one of the rare times parents are found criminally responsible for a massacre at a U.S. school.
Jennifer, 46, and James Crumbley, 47, who were tried separately this year, could face up to 15 years in prison in connection with the homicides committed by their son Ethan in 2021 at the Oxford, Michigan, school at the age of 15.
He pleaded guilty in 2022 to four counts of intentional homicide and other charges and was sentenced to life in prison without parole in December.
Prosecutors said at both his parents’ trials that they were criminally negligent for giving their son a gun as a Christmas present and ignored evidence that his mental health had deteriorated and that he was potentially violent.
The parents’ defence lawyers argued, among other things, that it was impossible for the mother and father to imagine that their son would commit a massacre.
The United States, a country facing increased gun violence, has experienced a number of gun attacks in schools over the years, mostly committed by former or current students.
The Crumbley are the first parents to be charged with manslaughter in a case of a juvenile perpetrator of a school massacre.
Gun safety experts and advocates stressed that their trials marked an important step in increasing accountability for parents who own guns for school violence committed by their children.
Investigations by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have shown that about 75 percent of all perpetrators of school attacks found the gun they used in their home.
James Crumbley bought the 9mm semi-automatic pistol as a Christmas present for Ethan just four days before the massacre on November 30, 2021.
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The morning before the tragedy, both of Ethan’s parents were called to his school because teachers had discovered threatening messages and drawings in his schoolwork, prosecutors said during the trial.
There they were told Ethan needed immediate psychological support. But, according to prosecutors, the Crumbley refused.
That day they took their child home, but did not search his bag or ask him about the gun they knew he had access to.
Eventually Ethan returned to school. He came out of the bathroom holding the gun and started shooting, according to prosecutors.
