Parents deny manslaughter in U.S. school shootings

PONTIAC, Michigan — A judge imposed a combined $1-million US bond Saturday for the parents of the Michigan teen charged with killing four students at Oxford High School, hours after police said they were caught hiding in a Detroit commercial building.

James and Jennifer Crumbley entered not guilty pleas to each of the four involuntary manslaughter counts against them during a hearing held on Zoom. Jennifer Crumbley sobbed and struggled to respond to the judge’s questions at times and James Crumbley shook his head when a prosecutor said their son had full access to the gun used in the killings.

Judge Julie Nicholson assigned bond of $500,000 apiece to each of the parents and required GPS monitoring if they pay to be released, agreeing with prosecutors that they posed a flight risk.

Lawyers for the Crumbleys still argued Saturday that they never intended to flee and had made plans to meet them early that morning. Lawyer Shannon Smith accused prosecutors of “cherry-picking” facts to release publicly, including that accusation that their teenage son had unrestricted access to the handgun prosecutors say his father bought for him days before the shooting.

“Our clients are just as devastated as everyone else,” Smith said, adding that the gun “was locked.” She didn’t provide more detail during Saturday’s hearing.

The office of Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald filed involuntary manslaughter charges against the Crumbleys on Friday, accusing them of failing to intervene on the day of the tragedy despite being confronted with a drawing and chilling message — “blood everywhere” — that was found at the boy’s desk. They could each face up to 15 years in prison, according to a spokeswoman for McDonald’s office.

The Crumbleys committed “egregious” acts, from buying a gun on Black Friday and making it available to Ethan Crumbley to resisting his removal from school when they were summoned a few hours before the shooting, McDonald said Friday.

Authorities had been looking for the couple since Friday afternoon. Late Friday, U.S. Marshals announced a reward of up to $10,000 each for information leading to their arrests.

Smith had said Friday that the pair left town earlier in the week “for their own safety” and would be returning to Oxford to face charges.

During Saturday’s hearing, Smith said they were in touch by phone and text on Friday evening and blamed prosecutors for failing to communicate with her and fellow defence lawyer Mariell Lehman.

“Our clients were absolutely going to turn themselves in. It was just a matter of logistics,” she said.

But McDonald said on Saturday that the couple took $4,000 out of an ATM on Friday morning in Rochester Hills, not far from the courthouse where they should have appeared that afternoon. “These are not people that we can be assured will return to court on their own,” she said.

A Detroit business owner spotted a car tied to the Crumbleys in his parking lot late Friday, Oakland County Undersheriff Michael McCabe said.

A woman seen near the vehicle ran away when the business owner called 911, McCabe said. The couple was later located and arrested by Detroit police.

Detroit Police Chief James White said the couple “were aided in getting into the building,” and that a person who helped them might also face charges.

On Friday, McDonald offered the most precise account so far of the events that led to the shooting at Oxford High School, 50 kilometres north of Detroit.

Ethan Crumbley, 15, emerged from a bathroom with a gun, shooting students in the hallway, investigators alleged. He is charged as an adult with murder, terrorism and other crimes.

Under Michigan law, the involuntary manslaughter charge filed against the parents can be pursued if authorities believe someone contributed to a situation where there was a high chance of harm or death.

Parents in the U.S. are rarely charged in school shootings involving their children, even as most minors get guns from a parent or relative’s house, according to experts.

School officials became concerned about the younger Crumbley on Monday, a day before the shooting, when a teacher saw him searching for ammunition on his phone, McDonald said.

Jennifer Crumbley was contacted and subsequently told her son in a text message: “Lol. I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught,” according to the prosecutor.

On Tuesday, a teacher found a note on Ethan’s desk and took a photo. It was a drawing of a gun pointing at the words, “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me,” McDonald said.

There also was a drawing of a bullet, she said, with words above it: “Blood everywhere.” Between the gun and the bullet was a person who appeared to have been shot twice and is bleeding. He also wrote, “My life is useless” and “The world is dead,” according to the prosecutor. The school quickly had a meeting with Ethan and his parents, who were told to get him into counselling within 48 hours, McDonald said.

The Crumbleys failed to ask their son about the gun or check his backpack and “resisted the idea of their son leaving the school at that time,” McDonald said. Instead, the teen returned to class and the shooting subsequently occurred.