Involuntary manslaughter: What charges mean against Oxford shooting suspect's parents
Prosecutors have charged the parents of a teen accused of gunning down his classmates at Oxford High School earlier this week, according to court records filed Friday.
Online records for 52-3 District Court in Rochester Hills show the charges sought are:
- James Crumbley, four counts of involuntary manslaughter
- Jennifer Crumbley, four counts of involuntary manslaughter
They could face up to 15 years in prison.
"It's the strongest possible change that we could prove that there's probable cause to charge," Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said Friday.
UPDATE: James and Jennifer Crumbley found, arrested in Detroit
The Oxford couple's son Ethan Crumbley, 15, was charged Wednesday as an adult with:
- Four counts of first-degree murder
- One count of terrorism causing death
- Seven counts of assault with intent to murder
- 12 counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony
He could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted. He's accused of bringing his father's gun into the school and shooting 11 people, killing four of his classmates.
More: Prosecutor: Oxford officials knew shooting suspect searched online for ammo, made drawings
The teen was arraigned Wednesday and ordered held without bond at the Oakland County Jail.
The charges against the parents had not yet been approved by a judge.
"These charges are intended to hold the individuals who contributed to this tragedy accountable," McDonald said, "and also send a message that gun owners have a responsibility. When they fail to uphold that responsibility, there are serious and criminal consequences."
There's some history of gun owners being charged with felonies after unsecured guns were found and fired by children, though prosecutors don't always pursue charges.
A Detroit father in 2016 pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after his 9-year-old son shot himself with a shotgun that was loaded, unsecured and accessible to the child. A Detroit grandfather and grandmother were charged with manslaughter in 2014 after their 4-year-old grandson was shot by his 4-year-old cousin with a rifle left loaded in a bedroom of the home where the children were playing. The grandparents were each sentenced to two years in prison.
In Washtenaw County in 2016, police sought manslaughter charges against the father of a 3-year-old shot and killed by the 10-year-old son of his mother's boyfriend. The boy found the gun in a bedroom closet shelf about 5½ feet from the ground.
Police said the father had a history of leaving a loaded firearm in areas accessible to children, but prosecutors declined to pursue the case, finding that there was not enough evidence of gross negligence, recklessness or wanton indifference for the boy's safety.
The prosecutor's office at the time suggested that Michigan lawmakers "enact legislation regarding how a firearm must be safely stored within a residence."
National legal and gun experts say it's rare for the parents of the perpetrators of mass school shootings to be charged. But a such charges could prompt more parents to properly secure their firearms, said Kris Brown, a lawyer and president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
McDonald on Friday also said Michigan's laws on firearm safety are weak.
More:Why prosecutors charged Oxford school shooting suspect's parents
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"Michigan's laws are woefully inadequate," she said. "We don't have a safe storage law. We're not legally required to store a weapon in a safe manner. ... We don't have strong enough laws."
McDonald said James Crumbley purchased the 9mm Sig Sauer SP 2022 used in the shooting at a gun store in Oxford on Nov. 26. She said a store employee confirmed Ethan Crumbley was with his father at the time.
The day of the shooting, the teen's teacher saw an alarming note on his desk, McDonald said. The note contained a drawing of a semiautomatic handgun pointing at the words: "The thoughts won't stop, help me." She said it also contained a drawing of a bullet with the words "blood everywhere" and a drawing of a person who appeared to be shot and bleeding.
Farther down on the drawing, McDonald said, were the words: "My life is useless," and "The world is dead."
James and Jennifer Crumbley were summoned to the school that morning and Ethan Crumbley was brought to the office with his backpack, McDonald said. She said the drawing, by that point, had been altered. She said the parents were shown the drawing and told they had to get their son into counseling within 48 hours.
"We should all be very angry, and we should take a very hard look what is in place in terms of criminal responsibility, what gun owners are required to do," McDonald said. " ... I am not here to say that people should not own guns. I know a lot of people who own guns, but they do so responsibly. And it's your responsibility, it's your duty to make sure that you don't give access to this deadly weapon to somebody that you have reason to believe is going to harm someone.
"It is our position that on that morning ... looking at that drawing, it's impossible not to conclude that there was a reason to believe he was going to hurt somebody," she said.
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USA Today contributed to this report.