© Getty Images via AFP
The mother and father of a Michigan teenager who fatally shot four classmates were each sentenced Tuesday to 10 to 15 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter. According to the jury, they are partly responsible for the shooting because they gave their son a gun for Christmas and ignored his mental health.
Jennifer (46) and James Crumbley (47), the parents of Ethan Crumbley, were told on Tuesday that they were partly responsible for the death of four of their son’s classmates. In 2021, when he was 15 years old, Ethan shot and killed four classmates at Oxford High School in the US state of Michigan. He got a life sentence for that.
His parents will now each receive 10 to 15 years in prison after several parents of victims emotionally testified in court that they consider the teenager’s parents partly responsible for the death of their children. “Not only did your son kill my daughter, but both of you did,” Nicole Beausoleil, the mother of Madisyn Baldwin, 17, told the court.
Christmas gift
Prosecutors said the parents were negligent for giving their child a gun for Christmas and ignored his deteriorating mental health and possible signs of violence. The parents were called to the school after teachers found violent messages and drawings on his schoolwork. The parents were told that their son urgently needed guidance, but prosecutors said the parents rejected that. They allegedly did not search his backpack or ask about the firearm. That same day, Ethan returned to school, walked out of the bathroom and shot fellow students. (Read more below the photo)
© AP
The defense argued that it was impossible for the mother and father to imagine their son committing such a mass shooting. Jennifer Crumbley expressed her “deepest sorrow” just before she was sentenced, saying she had no inkling that her son was capable of killing people. “My husband and I always said we had the perfect child. I really believed that,” she said. “I had no reason to think otherwise. I didn’t see this coming. If the general public can learn anything from this, it’s that this can happen to you too. “I will spend the rest of my life in my own internal prison,” she said. Her husband said in court: “I am sorry for your loss as a result of what my son did. My heart goes out to each of you.”
Jennifer and James Crumbley are the first parents in the United States to be convicted of involuntary manslaughter for a school shooting committed by their child.