Ethan Crumbley, only 15, was sentenced to life after he killed four classmates at Oxford High School with a gun that his parents had bought him. Now his father as well as his mother have been found guilty on four counts which is the first time parents have been charged in a case like this,
A jury just convicted James Crumbley of involuntary manslaughter over his role in his son’s 2021 school shooting.
This after his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, was also found guilty.
The jury found that both parents ignored warning signs, such as their son’s erratic behavior, including disturbing drawings of him shooting another teenager and not getting him professional help even after Ethan told them he had worrying thoughts.
And they bought him a gun. Despite claims that they secured the gun, the lock box was open so he always had access to it.
This is a rare case of parents being charged in the case of a shooting carried out by their child.
Tellingly the prosecutor in the case said it represented “accountability.”
“This verdict does not bring back their children, but it does mark a moment of accountability and will hopefully be another step to address and end and prevent gun violence,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, whose office prosecuted the case, said at a press briefing Thursday night. “There were egregious facts in this case. These parents could have prevented this tragedy, it was foreseeable, with just the smallest of efforts.”