(Washington) The parents of a teenager who killed four students at a school in the northern United States pleaded not guilty on Saturday to manslaughter for letting their son use a gun given as a gift, a judge having set their bail to a million dollars.
Updated 4 Dec. 2021
During the reading of the indictment on Saturday morning, James and Jennifer Crumbley, detained since the day before, pleaded not guilty to the charges once morest them, four manslaughters for which they risk each time up to 15 years in prison.
PHOTO SETH HERALD, REUTERS
Police arrested Ethan Crumbley’s parents at an industrial building in Detroit.
While in the United States, shootings involving teenagers have become tragically familiar, it is very rare that parents are prosecuted.
Wanted by the police and the FBI, the Crumbley couple were arrested Friday in an industrial building in Detroit, regarding sixty kilometers north of the scene of the shooting.
OAKLAND COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE PHOTO VIA REUTERS
Ethan Crumbley
The parents’ lawyers have assured that they intend to surrender, but the county sheriff Michael Bouchard thinks on the contrary that they were on the run and “hiding”.
“They weren’t looking to get to this stage” and “clearly someone helped them find this place and make it available to them,” he said during a Saturday followingnoon press briefing.
Judging by “very, very serious” charges and a risk of absconding, Judge Julie Nicholson set bail at $ 500,000 each.
Four students aged 14 to 17 were killed at a school in Oxford, a small town north of Detroit, on Tuesday, and six were injured, including a teacher.
The perpetrator of the shooting, Ethan Crumbley, 15, has been charged with “terrorist act” and “murder”. According to the sheriff, the three family members are being held in the county jail, without the possibility of communicating with each other.
Christmas gift
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 “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 at school, without posting it on the internet.
On the same day, both parents learned that their son was looking for ammunition on the internet at school, according to local prosecutor Karen McDonald. The mother then sent him a message: “I’m not angry, next time don’t get caught”.
PHOTO ERIC SEALS, DETROIT FREE PRESS VIA AP
Oakland County District Attorney Karen McDonald
The next morning, Ethan Crumbley had been summoned with his parents by the school administration, for drawings of a weapon and a bloody body.
Two hours following the meeting, he came out of the toilets, gun in hand, methodically progressing through the halls of the school, shooting at students and at the doors of the classrooms where the students had barricaded themselves. He fired at least 30 bullets.
According to the police, he had opened fire randomly, without choosing previously identified victims.
“Instead of revealing to the school that he had full access to this weapon”, the parents “decided not to bring their son home, they decided not to tell anyone that he might be dangerous” , said the prosecutor on Saturday.
” Do not do it ”
Shootings are a recurring scourge in the United States, where the right to own guns is guaranteed by the Constitution.
“These charges are a message for people to understand that from the moment they have a weapon, they are responsible for it,” said the prosecutor when announcing the lawsuits once morest the parents.
The teenager “entered the school and pulled the trigger”, but “other people contributed to this event and I intend to hold them accountable”, she added.
The parents’ lawyers claimed it was untrue to say the teenager had free access to a gun.
“Our clients will fight these charges,” said Shannon Smith. “Our customers are just as devastated as everyone else. »
When news of a school shooting broke out, Jennifer Crumbley texted her son, writing, “Ethan, don’t do it.” His father had then reported to the police the disappearance of the pistol from the drawer where it was stored.
The tragedy created an atmosphere of psychosis in Michigan, where authorities were “inundated” with messages reporting threats once morest schools.
