Ethan Crumbley’s parents have been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection to the Michigan school shooting allegedly carried out by their 15-year-old son.
The charges for James and Jennifer Crumbley stem from having purchased a gun for the teen in the days ahead of the deadly shooting.
Their son is already being held without bail on murder and terrorism charges over Tuesday’s Oxford High School rampage that left four dead and seven injured in the deadliest US school shooting of the year.
Officials had hinted for days that the parents — who told their son not to talk to investigators — could face charges.
The dad had bought the semi-automatic 9mm Sig Sauer handgun his son allegedly used just four days earlier, on Black Friday, officials previously revealed.
The second-year student then posed with it on social media, which suggested it was “freely available” in the family home before the slaughter, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald previously said.
Crumbley even had it in his bag when he and his parents were hauled in to talk to school officials on Tuesday over their son’s unspecified “disturbing” behavior — just hours before the killing spree, officials have said.
McDonald had said Thursday that the “actions on mom and dad’s behalf go far beyond negligence.”
“You have a right to possess a gun, but with it comes responsibility,” she told a press conference. “Allowing it in the hands of somebody that shows signs that they may hurt somebody is not OK, and those people should be held accountable.”
Sheriff Michael Bouchard also stressed to NBC News that it is “illegal for someone” at age 15 to “possess or carry a handgun.”
“So if they participated in that, that’s clearly a crime,” he stressed.
The accused mass shooter — who is charged as an adult — on Wednesday was ordered held without bond at the Oakland County Jail.
In addition to four counts of first-degree murder, he faces one count of terrorism causing death, seven counts of assault with intent to murder and 12 counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
He had recorded videos the night before detailing his plans, and also wrote in a journal about “his desire to shoot up the school to include murdering students,” Lt. Tim Willis of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office told the arraignment.
McDonald said the attack was “absolutely premeditated.”
“I am absolutely sure after reviewing evidence that it isn’t even a close call,” she said.
Assistant prosecutor Marc Keast told the court that Crumbley “deliberately brought the handgun that day with the intent to murder as many students as he could.”
He was found with an additional 18 rounds of ammunition when he was arrested, the court was told.
Three students hit by gunfire — Tate Myre, 16, Hana St. Juliana, 14, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17 — died on Tuesday. The fourth, 17-year-old Justin Shilling, died from his injuries the next day, officials have said.
Officials have said Crumbley did not appear to have specific targets or a clear motive, knocking back earlier claims that he was being bullied.
It was the deadliest school shooting since 2018 when 10 were killed in a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, 2018, according to the Associated Press/USA Today/Northeastern University Mass Killings database. The US has had 31 mass killings this year of which 28 involved firearms.
With Post wires
