The parents of the US teenager accused of the shooting last Tuesday in the town of Oxford, Michigan, where four people died and seven were injured in a secondary school, were charged this Friday with involuntary manslaughter.
This was announced by the Oakland County (Michigan) prosecutor, Karen McDonald, at a press conference, in which she explained the reasons why she decided to indict James and Jennifer Crumbley, parents of Ethan Crumbley, 15, with four charges each of involuntary manslaughter.
If found guilty, they could face a sentence of up to 15 years in prison each.
The prosecutor explained that the father bought, with his son present, the semiautomatic firearm with which Ethan allegedly fired days later.
Later, the teenager posted photos on his social networks of the weapon, with the text “I just got my new beauty today”, with emojis of hearts.
For her part, the mother wrote messages on social networks, where she stated that her son was “trying his new Christmas gift.”
McDonald described how Ethan’s teachers notified the mother, both via voicemail and email, that her son had been searching in class for information on ammunition with his phone, without getting a response.
What Jennifer did was have a text message exchange with Ethan on this matter: “lol (laughing out loud, that is, laughing out loud), I am not mad at you, you have to learn not to be discovered”, the mother wrote to her son, according to McDonald.
The prosecutor added that the parents kept the gun in their bedroom without locking it.
On the day of the event, when news emerged that there was an active shooting at Oxford High School, Jennifer sent a text message to her son saying “Ethan, don’t do it.”
Later, the father called the emergency number to report that his weapon had disappeared and that he believed that his son was the author of the shooting at the school. Later, the pistol was seized by the authorities from Ethan.
On Tuesday, Ethan walked into the institute with the gun he kept in his backpack and headed to the restrooms.
Soon after, he came out with a Sig Sauer 9mm pistol in hand and began shooting students near the bathroom.
As a result of this shooting, four students died, two young men aged 16 and 17 and two girls aged 14 and 17. In addition, seven other people were injured.
The prosecutor charged the teenager, who will be tried as an adult, with one count of terrorism, four of first degree murder, seven of assault with attempted murder and twelve for possession of a firearm.
The young man pleaded not guilty and faces life in prison.
