For the first time, parents of a school shooter in the United States face murder charges related to their child’s deadly rampage.
Ethan Crumbley – 15 at the time, but charged as an adult – is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole.
The Wall Street Journal reports that hours before Crumbley killed four students at Oxford High School, north of Detroit, his parents met with a school counsellor who showed them a picture their son had drawn in class of a handgun with the words ‘blood everywhere’, ‘the thoughts won’t stop’ and ‘help me’.
The Crumbleys refused to take him home to get psychological help. They also declined to tell school officials they had recently bought him a gun resembling the one in the drawing.
Separate trials will consider whether the couple were merely harried and inattentive parents, or guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter.
According to the Wall Street Journal, prosecutors have to show that the parents had a legal duty to prevent their minor son from gaining access to the handgun, but failed to do so with a wanton indifference to the foreseeable fatal consequences.
At the time, there was no law in Michigan requiring the Crumbleys to lock up the handgun. In 2023, the state enacted a law that punishes gun owners who have children in their homes with up to 15 years in prison for failing to securely store a firearm, if a minor child discharges it and inflicts death.
Prosecutors will try to show that the Crumbleys failed to get help for their son, despite his repeated requests. In a text to a friend, Ethan Crumbley said he told his dad he needed help, and his father gave him some pills and told him to ‘suck it up’.
A text to his mother shows he professed his belief that a demon was inside their house throwing objects.
[Image: Steve Buissinne from Pixabay]