The parents of the suspect in a shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan that left four students dead this week are facing involuntary manslaughter charges in those deaths.
Legal experts were quick to point out that such charges are far from the norm — it is James and Jennifer Crumbley’s 15-year-old son, Ethan, who is accused of pulling the trigger and killing four of his fellow high school students. “It’s exceptionally unusual,” said Cassandra Crifasi, deputy director of Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence and Research. “We rarely hold people accountable for giving someone a gun who shouldn’t have one.” But it’s the alleged egregiousness of the couple’s behavior that appears to have led to the charges. Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald on Friday laid out a timeline of chilling events in the days leading up to the shooting, from James Crumbley purchasing the 9 mm Sig Sauer SP2022 semi-automatic pistol just days before it was allegedly used in the shooting, and Jennifer Crumbley posting on social media it was a Christmas present for Ethan. The day of the shooting, a teacher noticed a disturbing drawing Ethan had made, including “a drawing of a semiautomatic handgun pointing at the words ‘the thoughts won’t stop help me,'” and a drawing of a bullet with “blood everywhere” written above it, McDonald said. Then, when called in to the school’s office and ordered to get counseling for their son, the couple did not try to determine the whereabouts of the gun, or whether their son had it with him that day, the prosecutor said. The parents “resisted” taking Ethan from school that day, and he returned to class. An investigation found the gun was stored in an unlocked drawer in the parents’ bedroom, McDonald said. “These are extraordinary charges,” said CNN legal analyst Areva Martin. “We know that prosecutors have been reluctant to charge parents in these school shooting cases, even though in some cases, like the Crumbley cases today, parents seem to have some responsibility.
