Ethan Crumbleys Parents James and Jennifer Crumbley Charged in Wake of Oxford High School Shootin
The parents of Michigan school shooting suspect Ethan Crumbley have been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the aftermath of the horrific Nov. 30 attack that left four teens dead and seven people injured, including a teacher.
The decision to pursue criminal charges against James and Jennifer Crumbley—who posted an open letter online in 2016 thanking President-Elect Donald Trump for protecting “my right to bear arms”—is a rarity in the U.S. legal system, which seldom holds parents of school shooters accountable for their child’s actions.
A law enforcement source told The Daily Beast that the parents face four counts of involuntary manslaughter. The Associated Press first reported on the charges shortly before Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald was set to give a press conference on Friday.
James Crumbley purchased the 9mm Sig Sauer handgun on Black Friday, four days before the shooting, and Ethan had flaunted it on his social media profiles, authorities said. The high school sophomore allegedly opened fire on classmates and teachers at Oxford High School without warning earlier this week, and has been charged as an adult with one count of terrorism, four counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of assault with intent to murder, and 12 counts of possession of a firearm.
In TV interviews before the charges against the parents were announced, McDonald said the gun used in the shocking rampage had not been locked or secured, and investigators had evidence to suggest “gross negligence” on the parents’ part.
One Oxford High mother, who did not wish to identify herself out of fear of retribution, told The Daily Beast that the Crumbleys “did not really engage with other parents at the high school.”
“When we found out that Ethan was the shooter, some of us came together and couldn’t even remember too much about his parents. Which is weird because this is such a tight-knit place—and they just weren’t involved,” the parent added.
Hours before bullets began flying in the halls of Oxford High, James and Jennifer Crumbley had been called in for a face-to-face conference with school administrators to discuss Ethan’s “behavior in the classroom that they felt was concerning,” Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said Wednesday without elaborating on the behavior.
At Crumbley’s arraignment on Wednesday, Oakland County Sheriff’s Lt. Tim Willis said police seized “two separate videos recovered from Ethan’s cellphone made by him the night before the incident, wherein he talked about shooting and killing students the next day at Oxford High School.”
Willis also told the judge that investigators discovered a journal in Ethan’s backpack, “detailing his desire to shoot up the school, to include murdering students.” An analysis of social media accounts indicated that Ethan had access to firearms and practiced with a Sig Sauer handgun identical to the one used in the shooting, Willis told District Court Judge Nancy Carniak.
Assistant prosecutor Marc Keast told Carniak that Crumbley entered a bathroom with a backpack on Tuesday afternoon then emerged with a semi-automatic handgun, firing at students in the hallway. The four kids killed were identified as 16-year-old Tate Myre, 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana, 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin, and Justin Shilling, who was also 17.
The day after James Crumbley bought the weapon, a woman in Florida filed a complaint against him for thousands in unpaid child support, according to court records reviewed by The Daily Beast. Money has apparently been an issue in the Crumbley household for several years. Shortly after the 2016 election, Jennifer Crumbley posted a missive to Donald Trump in which she claimed she was skipping car insurance payments to hire a tutor for Ethan, blaming the “common core” curriculum mandated in schools. She seethed in the letter about schools where the “kids come from illegal immigrant parents” and “don’t care about learning.”
“As a female and a Realtor, thank you for allowing my right to bear arms,” Jennifer Crumbley wrote. “Allowing me to be protected if I show a home to someone with bad intentions. Thank you for respecting that Amendment.”
James Crumbley posted a link on Facebook to his wife’s screed, commenting, “My wife can be spot on. Sometimes.”
Charging the parents of a school shooter is highly unusual. The mother of an Indiana teen who in 2018 opened fire in his middle school didn’t kill anyone, but fatally shot himself after being cornered by police. His mother pleaded guilty last year to child neglect charges and was sentenced to 2.5 years probation. In Texas, the parents of a 17-year-old student who in 2018 killed eight classmates and two substitute teachers with a shotgun and pistol that reportedly belonged to his father, continue to battle lawsuits by victims’ relatives who allege the parents were aware of their son’s “dangerous propensities” but still allowed him access to guns.
There are no laws in Michigan requiring gun owners to lock up their weapons and keep them away from children.
“We have to prevent kids from getting their hands on guns in the first place, and that starts with secure gun storage. It’s every gun owner’s responsibility to store their guns locked, unloaded, and separate from ammunition,” Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, told The Daily Beast.
“We’ve seen far too many times what can happen when they don’t and there needs to be accountability—that includes both informing gun owners of their obligation and responsibility to securely store their guns, as well as passing and enforcing laws that hold gun owners accountable when they fail to do so.”
Dozens of schools in the area canceled classes in the days after the shooting, and the small community has been left reeling.
“If you weren’t hit by a bullet, [it] doesn’t mean you weren’t terrorized that day and will have nightmares about it the rest of your life, whether you’re a parent, a teacher, or a student,” Bouchard said at a press conference prior to charges being filed against the Crumbleys.
“Going through that building in the wee hours of this morning, looking at disarray in the classrooms and the backpacks strewn across the floor, that had to have been an absolutely terrorizing moment in anyone’s life,” he added. “I don’t care if you’re an adult or child.”
Ethan Crumbley has pleaded not guilty, and was transferred from a juvenile lockup to the Oakland County Jail, where authorities say he is under suicide watch. He is due back in court on Dec. 13.
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