On Tuesday a jury in Michigan found the mother of a school shooter guilty of involuntary manslaughter, following the deaths of four children in 2021. Setting a precedent, the conviction is the first of its kind where the parent of a child committing a school shooting is charged for the crimes they had committed.
Prosecutors argued that Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of 15 year old Ethan Crumbley, had a direct responsibility under Michigan state law, to prevent the mass killings that unfolded on 2021. She is being charged for arming her son through her failure to secure the weapon and ammunition used in the attack, and failing to also get Ethan Crumbley the necessary resources to help his mental health, which ultimately enabled the attack.
Following 11 hours of deliberations, Jennifer Crumbley was charged four times for involuntary manslaughter, one for each student killed in the shooting.
Jennifer Crumbley, 45, looked down and avoided eye contact with the judge as the verdicts were laid out in front of her by the jurors.
Jennifer and Jason Crumbley, are the only parents to have ever been charged by a mass shooting inflicted by their child, in United States history. Jason faces trial in March, and if found guilty, would make him and Jennifer the only parents to ever be convicted from a school shooting caused by their son.
Craig Shilling, the father of slain student Justin Shilling, said outside of a courtroom that, “the cries have been heard, and I feel this verdict is gonna echo throughout every household in the country.”
On the morning of November 30th, 2021, the day of the shooting, school staff members called in Ethan Crumbley’s parents, following concerns of drawings on his math assignments of a gun, bullet, and an injured man. His parents, despite the meeting, opted to not take him home.
Just hours later, Ethan Crumbley would continue in Oxford High School and kill 4 students, shooting 10 students and a teacher in the process, with a weapon concealed in his bookbag, which hadn’t been checked prior.
The Sig Sauer 9mm used in the shooting, was bought for Ethan by his father, Jason Crumbley, just 4 days prior from the shooting. Jennifer Crumbley had taken him to a shooting range the same weekend the weapon was also bought.
