In a rare move, the parents of the 15-year-old boy accused of killing four students at a Michigan high school earlier this week were charged with involuntary manslaughter on Friday.
Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald said Friday that James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, committed “egregious” acts, including buying a gun and making it available to Ethan Crumbley and failing to intervene when they were summoned to the school Tuesday and confronted with an alarming, violent note he had drawn at his desk.
“These charges are intended to hold the individuals who contributed to this tragedy accountable and also send the message that gun owners have a responsibility,” McDonald said. “When they fail to uphold that responsibility, there are serious and criminal consequences.”
McDonald described chilling moments that day when a teacher found a drawing of a gun, a person bleeding and the words “help me” at the boy’s desk. School officials told Crumbley’s parents to get their son into counseling.
He returned to class and later emerged from a bathroom with a gun, firing at students in the hallway, according to police.
McDonald said that Jennifer Crumbley texted her son after the shooting, saying, “Ethan, don’t do it.”
It wasn’t immediately known if the Crumbleys have lawyers who could comment on the involuntary manslaughter charges, per The Associated Press. Under Michigan law, the charge can be pursued if prosecutors believe someone contributed to a situation where harm or death was high.
Ethan Crumbley has been charged as an adult with two dozen crimes, including murder, attempted murder and terrorism, for the shooting Tuesday at the school, roughly 30 miles north of Detroit. Four students were killed and seven more people were injured. Three were in hospitals in stable condition.
Sheriff Mike Bouchard disclosed Wednesday that the parents met with school officials about their son’s classroom behavior, just a few hours before the shooting.
The superintendent for the district late Thursday posted a YouTube video where he said the teenager was called to the office before the shooting but “no discipline was warranted.”
Tim Throne, leader of Oxford Community Schools, said the high school looks like a “war zone” and won’t be ready for weeks. But he repeatedly credited students and staff for how they responded to the violence.
“To say that I am still in shock and numb is probably an understatement. These events that have occurred will not define us,” Throne said in the video.
“I want you to know that there’s been a lot of talk about the student who was apprehended, that he was called up to the office and all that kind of stuff. No discipline was warranted,” Throne said. “There are no discipline records at the high school. Yes this student did have contact with our front office, and, yes, his parents were on campus Nov. 30.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
