PONTIAC.- The parents of a teenager who opened fire in a school of Michigan were sentenced Tuesday to at least 10 years in prison each for failing to take measures that would have prevented the murder of four students in 2021.
Jennifer and James Crumbley are the first parents convicted of a shooting massive in a school in the United States. They were convicted of involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors presented evidence of an unsecured gun in their home and indifference to the mental health of their teenage son, Ethan Crumbley.
Ethan Crumbley drew pictures of a gun, a bullet, and a wounded man in his math homework, accompanied by heartbroken phrases. Oxford High School staff did not ask the boy to come home, but they were surprised the Crumbleys did not mention it in a meeting.
Later that day, on November 30, 2021, the 15-year-old pulled a gun from his backpack and began shooting at the school. Ethan, now 17 years old, turns life imprisonment 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 stopped an oncoming runaway train.”
Before the sentencing, relatives of the students killed in the shooting asked the judge to sentence the parents to 10 years, calling them failed parents whose selfishness led to four deaths and plunged a community into tragedy.
“The blood of our children is on your hands, too,” said Craig Shilling, wearing a sweatshirt bearing the image of his son, Justin Shilling.
Nicole Beausoleil, Madisyn Baldwin’s mother, recalled simple things she enjoyed doing for her daughter, like making her car maintenance appointment or helping her choose courses for school.
“While you were buying your son a gun, I was helping my daughter write college application letters,” Beausoleil told James and Jennifer Crumbley.
Five policemen stood guard next to the Crumbleys and there were others pressed against the wall.
Prosecutors argued that “tragically simple actions” could have prevented the catastrophe.
The couple were tried separately in Oakland County Court, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Detroit. The jury heard how the young man drew a gun, a bullet and a person, accompanied by the phrase: “The thoughts don’t stop. Help me. My life does not make sense. “I see blood everywhere.”
Ethan told a psychologist that he was sad — his grandmother had died and his only friend suddenly moved to another city — but insisted that the drawing only reflected his interest in creating video games.
Source: AP
