The parents of the teenager who killed four students at a northern U.S. high school pleaded not guilty Saturday to manslaughter for letting their son use a gun offered as a gift, with a judge setting their bail at one million dollars.
• To be read also: Michigan gunman’s parents charged with manslaughter, are wanted by police
• To be read also: Manhunt to find Michigan gunman’s parents
• To be read also: Student who caused death at his school described as “merciless”
At the reading of the indictment on Saturday morning, James and Jennifer Crumbley, who had been detained since the day before, pleaded not guilty to the four charges once morest them, and for which they each face up to 15 years in prison.
AFP
DETROIT, MID – DECEMBER 04: Law enforcement officers inspect the vehicle belonging to James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of suspected Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, following their arrest on December 4, 2021 in Detroit, Michigan. James and Jennifer Crumbley were wanted by law enforcement following failing to appear for their arrest following charges for their connection to the shooting in Oxford, Michigan on Tuesday. Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images/AFP
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If in the United States, shootings with a teenager as the perpetrator have become tragically familiar, it is very rare for parents to be prosecuted.
Wanted by police and the FBI, the Crumbley couple were arrested on Friday at an industrial building in Detroit, regarding sixty kilometers north of the scene of the shooting.
The parents’ lawyers have assured that they intend to surrender, but County Sheriff Michael Bouchard believes on the contrary that they were on the run and “hiding”.
“They weren’t looking to get to this point… and, clearly, someone helped them to find this place and make it available to them,” he said during a press briefing on Saturday followingnoon.
Citing “very, very serious” charges and a flight risk, Judge Julie Nicholson set their bail at $500,000 each.
Four 14- to 17-year-old students were killed Tuesday at Oxford High school, a small town north of Detroit, and there were six injuries, including a teacher.
AFP
DETROIT, MID – DECEMBER 04: Detroit Police Chief James White briefs members of the press outside the building where James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of suspected Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, were arrested on December 4, 2021 in Detroit, Michigan. James and Jennifer Crumbley were wanted by law enforcement following failing to appear for their arrest following charges relating to the shooting committed by their son in Oxford, Michigan on Tuesday. Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images/AFP
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The perpetrator of the shooting, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, was charged with “terrorist act” and “murder”. According to the sheriff, the three family members are being held in the county jail, with no opportunity to communicate with each other.
AFP
On the occasion of the big “Black Friday” promotions, James Crumbley had been with his son to buy him a Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol as an early Christmas present. The teenager then bragged regarding it by posting images of the weapon on social networks, calling it a “beauty”.
According to the police, he had recorded a video the day before the shooting on his mobile phone in which he announced his intention to use his weapon in high school, without broadcasting it on the internet.
On the same day, both parents found out their son was looking to get ammunition over the internet at the school, according to local prosecutor Karen McDonald. The mother then sent her a message: “I’m not angry, next time don’t get caught”.
The next morning, Ethan Crumbley had been summoned with his parents by the high school management, for drawings of a weapon and a bloodied body.
Two hours following the meeting, he had come out of the bathroom with a gun in his hand, methodically advancing through the corridors of the high school by shooting at high school students and on the doors of the classrooms where the students had barricaded themselves. He fired at least 30 rounds.
According to the police, he had opened fire at random, without choosing previously identified victims.
“Instead of revealing to the school that he had full access to this weapon,” the parents “decided not to take their son home, they decided not to tell anyone that he might be dangerous,” the prosecutor stressed Saturday.
Shootings are a recurring scourge in the United States, where the right to own weapons is guaranteed by the Constitution.
“These indictments are a message for people to understand that from the moment they hold a gun, they are responsible for it,” the prosecutor said in announcing the prosecution of the parents.
The teenager “walked into the high school and pulled the trigger,” but “other people contributed to this event and I intend to hold them accountable,” she added.
Lawyers for the parents claimed it was wrong to say the teenager had free access to a weapon.
“Our clients are going to fight these charges,” Shannon Smith said. “Our customers are just as devastated as anyone else.»
At the announcement of a high school shooting, Jennifer Crumbley had sent a message to her son, writing “Ethan, don’t do it”. His father had then reported to the police the disappearance of the gun from the drawer where it was stored.
The tragedy has created an atmosphere of psychosis in Michigan, where authorities have been “inundated” with messages reporting threats once morest schools.