The parents of the fifteen-year-old suspect who caused a massacre at Oxford High School in the American city of Detroit at the end of November have been arrested. According to the prosecutor, James and Jennifer Crumbley “willfully ignored the needs and well-being of their son and the threat he posed to others”. This includes references to disturbing drawings that their son Ethan had made on a math test.
Shortly after the shooting and arrest of their son, the couple fled, but were apprehended a few days later. Their bail was set at $500,000 (about $442,000). According to the prosecutor, the risk that they will run off again is even greater, now that they are officially charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Their son Ethan took a firearm to school on Nov. 30 and killed four students with it. Seven others – six students and a teacher – were injured. He is charged with, among other things, terrorism, murder and attempted murder.
In the court documents, the prosecutor said James and Jennifer Crumbley were “in a better position than anyone in the world to avert this tragedy, but they failed to do so.” After all, the parents would have known that their son was depressed and fascinated by firearms.
“Parents focused on their own problems”
The prosecutor, on file on Ethan Crumbley’s state of mind in the six months prior to the shooting, says his parents knew he was “more sad than usual”, that his only friend had moved, and that he was disturbing his mother. sent text messages about his mental state. While their son was struggling, his parents spent several hours in a stable caring for their horses three to four nights a week, and one of the parents was involved in extramarital affairs. James and Jennifer Crumbley were focused “on their own problems”, it sounds, including substance abuse (drugs or alcohol, ed.).
disturbing drawing
Prosecutors also alleged that Ethan Crumbley tortured animals and kept “the head of a ‘baby bird’ in a jar” in his bedroom. “Instead of paying attention to their son and seeking help, they bought him a firearm,” it reads.
Included in the file were two versions of a drawing that Ethan Crumbley allegedly made during a geometry test on the day of the shooting, showing a picture of a gun and the words “The thoughts don’t stop” and “help me.” However, after the drawing was discovered, the teenager made adjustments. He scratched out a few words and added new text. A teacher found the drawing on Crumbley’s desk, whereupon the school arranged a meeting with Crumbley and his parents, who were instructed to find psychological help for their son within 48 hours. However, the parents refused to pick up their son from school that day. Since there had never been any problems with the teenager before, the school decided it was better to let him return to his class, rather than to an empty house. A few hours later, he shot and killed four fellow students.
All they had to do was tell the school they recently bought him a firearm, ask him where the gun was, open his backpack, or just take him home.
“In school shootings, it is not uncommon to find evidence of post-shooting intent and planning. The novelty in this case is that the suspects were notified in graphic form prior to the shooting of the serious risk posed by their son,” the indictment said.
The duo have “deliberately ignored evidence” that their son posed a serious risk to other students on the day of the shooting. “All they had to do was tell the school they recently bought him a firearm, ask him where the gun was, open his backpack or just take him home,” it said.
Prosecutors also take offense that the Crumbleys hired lawyers for themselves after the shooting, but not for their son. In a text message to a colleague, Jennifer Crumbley said that “her son’s fate is sealed and she had to fend for herself”.
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