They did not pull the trigger, but the parents of teenage Michigan school shooter will spend at least 10 years in prison for not preventing the shooting deaths of four students.
On Tuesday, a Michigan judge sentenced Jennifer and James Crumbley for not doing enough to help their son before he opened fire at his high school in 2021, per the Associated Press.
The Crumbleys are the first parents convicted in a mass school shooting in the U.S, according to the outlet. They were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for failing to secure a gun in their home and failing to give their son mental health help.
They were tried separately.
Their son Ethan Crumbley was 15 on Nov. 30, 2021, when he “drew dark images of a gun, a bullet and a wounded man on a math assignment, accompanied by despondent phrases,” according to the AP.
After a brief meeting between the staff at Oxford High School and the Crumbleys, Ethan stayed in school.
But later that day, he took a handgun from his backpack and started shooting.
Ethan, now 17, is serving a life sentence for murder and other crimes.
“These convictions are not about poor parenting,” Judge Cheryl Matthews said. “These convictions confirm repeated acts, or lack of acts, that could have halted an oncoming runaway train.
“About repeatedly ignoring things that would make a reasonable person feel the hair on the back of their neck stand up,” the judge said. “Opportunity knocked over and over again — louder and louder — and was ignored. No one answered.”
The defense, on the other hand, said the couple has spent enough time in jail — nearly 2 1/2 years — after failing to meet a $500,000 bond after their arrest, the AP reported.
The Crumbleys will be eligible for parole after serving 10 years in custody. The will receive credit for the jail time. If parole is denied, they will serve a maximum of 15 years.
Before sentencing, family members of the murder victims condemned the parents whose lack of actions resulted in the deaths of four students.
“The blood of our children is on your hands, too,” said Craig Shilling, wearing a hoodie with the image of son Justin Shilling on his chest.
Another parent, Nicole Beausoleil, the mother of Madisyn Baldwin, misses helping her daughter with various tasks.
“While you were purchasing a gun for your son and leaving it unlocked, I was helping her finish her college essays,” Beausoleil told the Crumbleys.
Prosecutors said there were several things the parents could have done to prevent the tragedy.
For instance, at the meeting earlier that day, they did not mention that the gun in Ethan’s drawing resembled one James Crumbley, 47, had purchased just four days earlier. An item Ethan called a “beauty.”
They also kept him in school.
“A counselor, Shawn Hopkins, said he believed it would be safer for the boy than possibly being alone at home,” per the AP.
But Ethan’s backpack which held the murder weapon went unchecked
No one, however, checked Ethan’s backpack. He pulled the gun out later that day and killed four students — Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Shilling, 17: and Baldwin, 17 — and wounded seven other people.
The jury was able to read for themselves the lack of support Ethan received by reading his journal.
“I have zero help for my mental problems and it’s causing me to shoot up the … school,” he wrote. “I want help but my parents don’t listen to me so I can’t get any help.”
