Parents of Michigan Shooter Charged with Involuntary Manslaughter
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The parents of the teenage boy accused of killing four students in a high school shooting have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
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James and Jennifer Crumbley, during their son's video arraignment
Charges of involuntary manslaughter have been filed by a Michigan prosecutor against the parents of the teen accused of killing four students at the Oxford high school.
James and Jennifer Crumbley did not act upon being faced with drawings and chilling messages written by their son at school, bought him a gun on Black Friday, and even resisted his removal from school when they were summoned a few hours before the shooting.
“I expect parents and everyone to have humanity and to step in and stop a potential tragedy,” Oakland Country prosecutor Karen McDonald said. “The conclusion I draw is that there was absolute reason to believe this individual was dangerous and disturbed.”
This prompted the prosecutor to file charges against them, as it is believed that they contributed to a situation where the possibility of harm or death was extremely high.
Warning signs
As for the shooting itself, the prosecutor says a teacher found Crumbley searching for ammunition on his phone on Monday, one day before the shooting. “Lol. I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught,” his mother told him in a text message.
A teacher found a drawing on the boy's desk on Tuesday of a gun pointing at the words "The thoughts won’t stop. Help me." There was another drawing of a bullet with the words "Blood everywhere" written above it, with another drawing of a person who was shot and bleeding. The teen also wrote "My life is useless" and "The world is dead," according to the prosecutor.
This prompted a school meeting on that day with the boy and his parents, who were told to get him into counseling within a period of two days, and resisted the idea of their son leaving the school. He returned to class and subsequently, the shooting occurred.
“The notion that a parent could read those words and also know that their son had access to a deadly weapon that they gave him is unconscionable — it’s criminal,” the prosecutor said.
Crumbley's father had gotten him the gun on Nov. 26 as a "Christmas present".
