Michigan school shooter’s parents sentenced to at least 10 years in prison

APRIL 9, 2024:

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The parents of a Michigan school shooter have each been sentenced (April 9, 2024) to at least 10 years in prison for failing to take steps that could have prevented the killing of four students in 2021. Jennifer and James Crumbley are the first parents convicted in a U.S. mass school shooting. They were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors presented evidence of an unsecured gun at home and indifference toward Ethan Crumbley’s mental health. The 15-year-old pulled a handgun from his backpack and shot up the school. He was allowed to stay in school despite the discovery of a violent drawing earlier that day. The shooter is serving a life prison sentence.

MARCH 15, 2024:

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The father of a Michigan school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. It’s the second jury conviction against Ethan Crumbley’s parents, who were accused of failing to secure a gun at home and doing nothing to solve his mental health problems. Ethan killed four students at Oxford High School in 2021. The Crumbleys were the first U.S. parents to be charged in a mass school shooting. Jennifer Crumbley was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in February 2023. Ethan, now 17 years old, is serving a life sentence for murder and terrorism.

MARCH 11, 2024:

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — It’s day three (March 11, 2024) of the trial for the father of a Michigan school shooter. Prosecutors are focusing on the morning of the tragedy at Oxford High School in 2021. A school counselor says Ethan Crumbley’s parents declined to take him home after being confronted with a violent drawing and disturbing phrases on a math assignment. Four students were killed later that day. James Crumbley is charged with involuntary manslaughter for failing to prevent the killings. Counselor Shawn Hopkins testified that he planned to call child welfare if the parents didn’t take action. Hopkins says they didn’t tell him about the gun James just bought with his son.

MARCH 8, 2024:

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Prosecutors on Thursday (March 7, 2024) played a recording of a desperate 911 call by the father of a Michigan school shooter as they tried to show jurors how he quickly determined that the teen might be the killer.

“I have a missing gun at my house. … I raced home just to like find out, and I think my son took the gun,” James Crumbley said frantically, soon after a fruitless search of the house for the gun and ammunition.

“I don’t know if it’s him. I don’t know what’s going on. I am really freaking out. My son’s name is Ethan Crumbley,” the father said.

It was the last piece of evidence presented on the first day of James Crumbley’s involuntary manslaughter trial in suburban Detroit. He isn’t accused of knowing that 15-year-old Ethan planned to shoot up Oxford High School, but prosecutors allege that his gross negligence was a cause of the tragedy.

Four students were killed and seven people were wounded on Nov. 30, 2021. The shooter’s mother, Jennifer Crumbley, was found guilty of the same involuntary manslaughter charges last month.

The Crumbleys are the first U.S. parents to be charged with having criminal responsibility for a mass school shooting committed by a child.

“This case isn’t about bad parenting — it’s not illegal to be a bad parent. It’s not kids doing kid things,” assistant prosecutor Marc Keast told jurors. “We’re talking about preventable mass murder.”

Keast emphasized a series of key points during his opening statement. He noted that James Crumbley, accompanied by his son, bought a Sig Sauer 9 mm handgun four days before the shooting.

The father never told school staff about the purchase — or a trip to a shooting range that same weekend — when he and his wife were summoned to discuss a disturbing drawing on Ethan’s math assignment on the day of the shooting.

There was a gun on the paper that looked similar to the Sig Sauer, blood drops and a bullet, accompanied by the phrases: “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me.”

“Emergency,” Jennifer Crumbley messaged her husband before the meeting.

“My god,” he responded when he saw the drawing.

But the Crumbleys didn’t take Ethan home, and the school, concerned that he might be suicidal, didn’t demand it. No one checked the boy’s backpack for a gun, however, and the nine-minute shooting happened that afternoon.

Evidence from James Crumbley’s wireless phone showed he made DoorDash deliveries after the meeting, investigator Ed Wagrowski testified. Crumbley didn’t search his home until after learning about the shooting.

James Crumbley missed an “incredible opportunity” to save lives that day, Keast said.

He displayed a picture of a gun lock, still in a package, for the jury.

“It was never used,” the prosecutor said.

“This nightmare — these murders — were preventable by him, foreseeable by him,” Keast said.

But defense attorney Mariell Lehman said James Crumbley was being portrayed in the wrong way.

“James Crumbley was not aware that his son had access to that firearm,” she told jurors. “You will hear testimony that access was not allowed in James Crumbley’s mind. You will not hear that James Crumbley even suspected that his son was a danger.”

Prosecutors also allege that the Crumbleys ignored their son’s pleas for help for mental distress. Ethan told a friend that James Crumbley’s response was to tell the boy to “suck it up,” according to text messages introduced by Wagrowski.

“I am mentally and physically dying,” Ethan told the friend in April 2021.

Before the day began, Judge Cheryl Matthews made rulings that could benefit James Crumbley. She said prosecutors can’t use text messages between son and mother that suggested he was having hallucinations about demons months before the shooting.

The messages were used as evidence at Jennifer Crumbley’s trial.

The first witness at James Crumbley’s trial Thursday was Molly Darnell, a faculty member who was shot by a bullet that pierced her office door. Darnell, one of seven people wounded that day, stood, removed a jacket and showed jurors the spot on her upper left arm.

Darnell said that while she hid behind a cabinet, she texted her husband without telling him she had been shot.

“I love you,” she wrote. “Active shooter.”

Ethan, now 17, is serving a life prison sentence for murder and terrorism.

Jennifer Crumbley, 45, is scheduled to return to court for her sentence on April 9. Her minimum prison term could be as high as 10 years.

MARCH 7, 2024:

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The father of a Michigan school shooter who killed four students in 2021 missed an “incredible opportunity” to prevent the tragedy, prosecutors said Thursday (March 7, 2024) as jurors heard opening statements in a trial that will determine whether a second parent will be held responsible for the attack.

“This case isn’t about bad parenting — it’s not illegal to be a bad parent. It’s not kids doing kid things,” assistant prosecutor Marc Keast said. “We’re talking about preventable mass murder.”

James Crumbley is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for each teenager killed by Ethan Crumbley at Oxford High School. Jennifer Crumbley was found guilty of the same charges last month.

Keast emphasized a series of key points for the jury. He noted that James Crumbley, accompanied by his son, bought a Sig Sauer 9 mm handgun four days before the shooting.

There was a gun on the paper that looked similar to the Sig Sauer, blood drops and a bullet, accompanied by the phrases: “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me.”

The Crumbleys didn’t take Ethan home, and the school, concerned that Ethan might be suicidal, didn’t demand it. No one checked the boy’s backpack for a gun, however, and the shooting happened that afternoon.

“Instead of seizing that incredible opportunity, James Crumbley spent hours making deliveries” for DoorDash, Keast said.

He displayed a picture of a gun lock, still in a package, for the jury.

“It was never used” at home, the prosecutor said.

James Crumbley is not accused of knowing what his 15-year-old son had planned for his school. But he’s accused of being grossly negligent by not securing the weapon.

“This nightmare — these murders — were preventable by him, foreseeable by him,” Keast said.

Defense attorney Mariell Lehman strongly suggested James Crumbley, 47, would testify in his own defense.

“James Crumbley was not aware that his son had access to that firearm,” Lehman told jurors. “You will hear testimony that access was not allowed in James Crumbley’s mind. You will not hear that James Crumbley suspected that his son was a danger.”

James and Jennifer Crumbley are the first U.S. parents to be charged with having criminal responsibility for a mass school shooting committed by a child.

Prosecutors said the Crumbleys ignored their son’s pleas for help for mental distress. Ethan told a friend that James Crumbley’s response was to “suck it up,” Keast told the jury.

Ethan, now 17, is serving a life prison sentence for murder and terrorism.

Jennifer Crumbley, 45, is scheduled to return to court for her sentence on April 9. Her minimum prison term could be as high as 10 years.

FEBRUARY 6, 2024:

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan jury in a groundbreaking trial has found a school shooter’s mother guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of four students in 2021. The verdict against Jennifer Crumbley was returned Tuesday (Feb. 6, 2024). Prosecutors said Crumbley was grossly negligent. She failed to tell Oxford High School officials that the family had a gun that her son, Ethan Crumbley, had used at a shooting range. Ethan was allowed to stay in school on Nov. 30, 2021, following a roughly 12-minute meeting with Jennifer and James Crumbley when school staff expressed concerns about a violent drawing. The teenager pulled the gun from his backpack that afternoon and shot 11 people. No one had checked the backpack.

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PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan jury convicted a school shooter’s mother of involuntary manslaughter Tuesday (Feb. 6, 2024) in a first-of-its-kind trial to determine whether she had any responsibility in the deaths of four students in 2021.

Prosecutors say Jennifer Crumbley had a duty under Michigan law to prevent her son, who was 15 at the time, from harming others. She was accused of failing to secure a gun and ammunition at home and failing to get help for Ethan Crumbley’s mental health.

The guilty verdicts — one for each student slain at Oxford High School — were returned after roughly 11 hours of jury deliberations.

Jennifer Crumbley, 45, looked down and shook her head slightly as each juror was polled after the verdicts were read.

Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews thanked the jurors and said: “We all know that this was one of the hardest things you’ve ever done.”

On her way out of the courtroom, prosecutor Karen McDonald hugged Craig Shilling, the father of victim Justin Shilling, and the family of Madisyn Baldwin.

“Thank you,” a man whispered to her.

A gag order by the judge prevented McDonald and defense attorney Shannon Smith from speaking to reporters.

On the morning of Nov. 30, 2021, school staff members were concerned about a violent drawing of a gun, bullet and wounded man, accompanied by desperate phrases, on Ethan Crumbley’s math assignment. His parents were called to the school for a meeting with school staff, but they didn’t take the boy home.

A few hours later, Ethan Crumbley pulled a handgun from his backpack and shot 10 students and a teacher. No one had checked the backpack.

The gun was the Sig Sauer 9 mm his father, James Crumbley, purchased with him just four days earlier. Jennifer Crumbley had taken her son to a shooting range that same weekend.

“You’re the last adult to have possession of that gun,” assistant prosecutor Marc Keast said while cross-examining Jennifer Crumbley last week. “You saw your son shoot the last practice round before the (school) shooting on Nov. 30. You saw how he stood. … He knew how to use the gun.”

The teen’s mom replied, “Yes, he did.”

Besides 17-year-old Justin Shilling and 17-year old Madisyn Baldwin, Hana St. Juliana, 14, and Tate Myre, 16, were also killed. Seven people were wounded.

Ethan Crumbley, now 17, pleaded guilty to murder and terrorism and is serving a life sentence.

Jennifer and James Crumbley are the first parents in the U.S. to be charged in a mass school shooting committed by their child. James Crumbley, 47, faces trial in March.

Jennifer Crumbley told jurors that it was her husband’s job to keep track of the gun. She also said she saw no signs of mental distress in her son.

“We would talk. We did a lot of things together,” she testified. “I trusted him, and I felt I had an open door. He could come to me about anything.”

In a journal found by police, Ethan Crumbley wrote that his parents wouldn’t listen to his pleas for help.

“I have zero help for my mental problems and it’s causing me to shoot up the … school,” he wrote.

The jury of six men and six women included people who own guns or grew up with them in their home. They said they could put their opinions about guns aside and serve fairly.

Jennifer Crumbley will get credit for roughly 2 1/2 years in the county jail when she returns to court for sentencing on April 9. The judge will set the minimum prison sentence, based on scoring guidelines and other factors.

It will be up to the Michigan parole board to determine how long she actually stays in prison. The maximum term for involuntary manslaughter is 15 years.

FEBRUARY 5, 2024, UPDATE:

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan jury has begun deliberations (Feb. 5, 2024) in an unusual trial against a school shooter’s mother. Jennifer Crumbley is charged with involuntary manslaughter. She’s accused of contributing to the deaths of four students in 2021. Prosecutors say she was grossly negligent when she failed to tell Oxford High School that the family had guns, including a new one that was later used by her son. The school was concerned about violent images and desperate phrases written on a math assignment. But Ethan Crumbley was allowed to stay in school. Prosecutors also say the boy’s parents ignored his mental health.

FEBRUARY 5, 2024:

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan jury will get instructions from a judge and begin deliberations in an unusual trial against a school shooter’s mother. The deliberations beginning Monday (Feb. 5, 2024) could send Jennifer Crumbley to prison if she is convicted of contributing to the deaths of four students in 2021. Prosecutors say she was grossly negligent when she failed to tell Oxford High School that the family had guns, including a new one that was later used by her son. The school was concerned about violent images and desperate phrases written on a math assignment. But Ethan Crumbley was allowed to stay in school. Prosecutors also say the boy’s parents ignored his mental health.

OCTOBER 3, 2023:

DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court turned down an appeal Tuesday (Oct. 3, 2023) that cleared the way for the parents of a teenager who fatally shot four students at Oxford High School to face trial on involuntary manslaughter charges.

James and Jennifer Crumbley are accused of making a gun accessible to Ethan Crumbley and ignoring his mental health needs. The state appeals court said in March that the couple could face trial, and the Supreme Court let that decision stand in a one-sentence order.

Prosecutors in suburban Detroit had to show only that there was probable cause to put the parents on trial, a low threshold at this stage. The appeals court noted that an Oakland County jury will hear a more expansive case from all sides.

The shooter killed Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana and Justin Shilling at Oxford High, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) north of Detroit, in November 2021. Six students and a teacher were also wounded.

Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty to terrorism and murder. A judge last week said he is eligible for life in prison without parole.

Attorneys for the parents insist the school shooting was not foreseeable. They acknowledge that bad decisions were made but not ones that should rise to involuntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.

The teen and his parents met with school staff the day of the shooting after a teacher noticed violent drawings, but no one checked his backpack for a gun. He was allowed to stay.

The 17-year-old, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, will be sentenced Dec. 8, 2023. The judge will have the option of giving him a prison term that would make him eligible for parole in the decades ahead.

The Crumbley parents have been in custody since shortly after the shooting, unable to afford a $500,000 bond. Their son is in the same jail, though they have no contact with him.

Defense lawyers declined to comment on the Supreme Court’s order, citing a gag order.

Colin King, a psychologist who has met with the teen, has described him as a “feral child” who was neglected by his parents. Judge Kwamé Rowe said his home life was “not ideal,” with his parents often drinking alcohol and arguing, but “not terrible.”

The teen “appeared to have a loving and supportive family,” Rowe said Friday. “He went on family vacations, owned several pets and had visits from family. … In defendant’s own words, his childhood was ‘good.’”

OCTOBER 24, 2022:

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A teenager has pleaded guilty to terrorism and first-degree murder in a Michigan school shooting. Four students were killed and more were injured in the shooting nearly a year ago at Oxford High School. The investigation put an extraordinary focus on Ethan Crumbley’s home life and the alleged role of his parents in the tragedy. The 16-year-old Crumbley pleaded guilty Monday (Oct. 24, 2022) to 24 charges in the Oakland County court. On the day of the shooting, school staff discovered violent drawings and desperate messages created by Crumbley. But his parents declined to take him home and he was allowed to stay in school. James and Jennifer Crumbley are charged with involuntary manslaughter. They’re accused of making a gun accessible at home and ignoring Ethan’s mental health needs.

UPDATE MARCH 23, 2022:

UNDATED (AP)- A judge has granted a prosecutor’s request that a Michigan teen charged in a fatal school shooting not be named in court during his parents’ separate criminal trial. Oakland County Circuit Judge Cheryl Matthews in her ruling Monday (March 21, 2022) ordered that Ethan Crumbley’s name not be spoken openly in court or used in writing in the case against James and Jennifer Crumbley. Matthews ruled that “calling the shooter by name does not appear to be relevant to these proceedings and prohibiting its use does not appear to prejudice the defense in any way.” Prosecutor Karen McDonald filed a motion March 18 requesting that the boy’s name be withheld.

UPDATE FEBRUARY 24, 2022:

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (AP) — The counselor of a 15-year-old boy charged with killing four students at his Michigan high school says he told the teen’s parents the morning of the shootings that he believed their son was a threat to himself and needed mental health support. Shawn Hopkins testified Thursday during the preliminary examination for Jennifer and James Crumbley that he told them Ethan Crumbley should get help “soon as possible, today if possible.” They are charged with involuntary manslaughter. Ethan Crumbley is charged as an adult with first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder, terrorism and gun charges in the Nov. 30 shooting at Oxford High School.

UPDATE JANUARY 7, 2022:

DETROIT (AP) — A judge has denied a request to lower a $500,000 bail set for two parents who with their son are charged in a fatal Michigan school shooting. The judge says James and Jennifer Crumbley failed to turn themselves in when charged with involuntary manslaughter on Dec. 3, 2021, and have few ties to the area. The Crumbleys have been jailed since Dec. 4 and unable to meet the bond. They are charged in a shooting that killed four students at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021. They’re accused of making a gun accessible to their son, Ethan Crumbley, who is charged separately as an adult with murder and other crimes. Earlier Friday he waived a key evidentiary hearing.

UPDATE JANUARY 7, 2022:

DETROIT (AP) — A teenager charged with killing four students at their Michigan high school has waived a key court hearing. The decision means Ethan Crumbley’s case moves straight to a trial court in suburban Detroit. Prosecutors in Michigan typically must present some evidence to show there’s probable cause to send people to trial on felony charges. It’s a low bar. Crumbley waived his right to go through that stage Friday (Jan. 7, 2022). The 15-year-old is charged with murder and other crimes. Four students were killed and others were injured during a shooting at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021. Separately, Crumbley’s parents are charged with involuntary manslaughter. They’re trying to get their bond reduced Friday so they can leave jail.

UPDATE JANUARY 7, 2022:

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (AP) — Two parents charged with their son in a fatal Michigan school shooting are returning to court to ask for a lower bail to get out of jail. James and Jennifer Crumbley have been locked up since Dec. 4, 2021, unable to meet a $500,000 bond. They’re hoping a judge is willing to reduce it Friday (Jan. 7, 2022) to $100,000. The Crumbleys are charged with involuntary manslaughter for the Nov. 30 shooting at Oxford High School, which killed four teenagers. They’re accused of making a gun accessible to son Ethan Crumbley. The 15-year-old faces a separate court hearing Friday. He is charged as an adult with murder and other crimes.

UPDATE DECEMBER 4, 2021:

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A judge has imposed a combined $1 million bond 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 commercial building. James and Jennifer Crumbley entered not guilty pleas to each of the four involuntary manslaughter counts against them during a hearing Saturday (Dec. 4, 2021) held on Zoom. Judge Julie Nicholson assigned bond of $500,000 apiece to each of the parents and placed other requirements such as GPS monitoring, agreeing with prosecutors that they posed a flight risk.

DECEMBER 3, 2021:

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The parents of a teen accused of killing four students at a Michigan high school have been charged with involuntary manslaughter. A prosecutor described chilling moments that day when a teacher found a drawing of a gun, a person bleeding and the words “blood everywhere” at the boy’s desk. Prosecutor Karen McDonald says Jennifer and James Crumbley committed “egregious” acts, from buying the gun for Ethan Crumbley and failing to intervene when they were summoned to the school and confronted with the drawing. Police say he returned to class and later emerged from a bathroom with a gun, firing at students in the hallway.

Michigan school shooter’s parents sentenced to at least 10 years in prison

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