The parents of the teenager who shot and killed four students at his school in Michigan, in the north of the United States, were arrested this Saturday (4) after indictment for manslaughter.
James and Jennifer Crumbley, the young man’s parents, were indicted on four counts of manslaughter each and, if convicted, face up to 15 years in prison.
After a search operation by police and the FBI, they were located in an industrial complex in Detroit, about 60 kilometers from the shooting, near their vehicle, which was found shortly before.
The shooting took place after noon on Tuesday in the small town of Oxford, 40 miles north of Detroit. ​Four students, aged between 14 and 17, died and another six were injured, in addition to a teacher.
Ethan Crumbley, who turned himself in to the police with no resistance, was charged with “murder” and “terrorist act” and could spend the rest of his life in prison as he is prosecuted as if he were of legal age.
The Crumbleys’ lawyers said on Friday that the couple would turn themselves in to authorities and were not fleeing but had left town on the night of the shooting “for their own safety”.
But the fact that they took out $4,000 and turned off their cell phones triggered the alert, police sources told CNN.
For Oakland County District Attorney Karen McDonald, Ethan Crumbley, 15, “was the one who walked into high school and pulled the trigger,” but “there are other people who contributed to the Nov. 30 events.” She said on Friday that her intention is to make them “accountable too”.
“These allegations are intended to hold the people who contributed to this tragedy accountable and also to send the message that gun owners have a responsibility,” he added.
Shooting attacks in schools remain a recurrent scourge in the US, a country where the right to have guns is guaranteed by the Constitution.
“Have to learn not to get caught”
James Crumbley had bought the semi-automatic pistol his son used four days before the tragedy, on Black Friday, the traditional day of deep discounts that kicks off the holiday shopping season.
Young Crumbley, who was with his father when he bought the gun at a local store, posted a photo of the pistol on his Instagram page. “I just received my new beauty today,” he wrote, along with a heart emoji.
Over the weekend, Jennifer Crumbley posted images on social media highlighting that her son was “trying out his new Christmas present”.
Days before the crime, Jennifer was called by the school after they found her son doing an internet search for ammunition. She didn’t answer the call.
Jennifer later exchanged text messages about the incident with her son, telling him, “I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught.”
According to police, the young man recorded a video on his cell phone the day before the shooting, in which he announced his intention to use his weapon at school, but did not share this content.
On the day of the attack, Ethan was called with his parents by school officials, who viewed with “concern” a note found by a teacher on the teenager’s desk, McDonald said. It was a drawing of a semiautomatic pistol and bullets, amid sentences like “Thoughts won’t stop. Help me.”
Elsewhere it was written: “Blood everywhere”, “My life is useless” and “The world is dead”.
School authorities told parents they should take the young man to therapy within 48 hours.
‘Ethan, don’t do this’
“The idea that a parent could read these words, knowing that their child had access to a deadly weapon he was given, is inconceivable and I think it is a crime,” prosecutor McDonald said Friday.
She also blamed James and Jennifer Crumbley for not asking their son if he took his gun with him or inspecting his backpack.
McDonald said the parents refused to take the child home and he went back to class. A short time later, Ethan came out of a bathroom with the gun, which was hidden.
McDonald said that when Jennifer Crumbley learned of the attack, she texted her son, saying, “Ethan, don’t do this.”
When the boy’s father heard the news, he called the 911 emergency number to report that his home was missing a weapon and that he believed his son might be the sniper, he added.
The police investigation revealed that the gun had been stored in a keyless drawer in James and Jennifer’s room.
The motives for the attack remain a mystery because Ethan Crumbley, who pleaded not guilty before a judge on Wednesday, chose to remain silent. He is incarcerated in solitary confinement.
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