Police arrest the fugitive parents of the boy who shot dead four people in a Michigan high school.
+++ December 5, 2021, 10:25 a.m.: After the armed attack by a 15-year-old on his high school in the US state of Michigan, the attacker’s parents are also on trial. Both are accused of fourfold negligent homicide after their son Ethan attacked classmates and employees of the school with a semi-automatic weapon on Tuesday (November 30, 2021). At the time of his arrest, there were still 18 rounds of ammunition in the youth’s weapon, said the police chief Sheriff Michael Bouchard in an interview with the US television channel MSNBC.
Since the 15-year-old should not have had access to weapons according to the legal situation of the state of Michigan, his parents must also answer in court. Both were arrested after going into hiding after the fact. While the parents’ legal representatives asserted that the gun had been stored in such a way that the young person would not have had access to it, the police said the opposite: “There is nothing to suggest that the gun was locked – absolutely nothing,” said Bouchard.
After shooting rampage in Michigan: parents of the shooter plead “not guilty”
In custody, the parents, like the shooter, have so far shown no remorse, Bouchard said in the television interview. All three are housed separately and have no way of talking to each other. Only the most necessary things are spoken to with the police. Excerpts from a court hearing via an online video system that have been made public show the mother bursting into tears while reading out the charges. Both parents pleaded “not guilty” on all counts at the hearing.
In his television interview with the broadcaster MSNBC, police representative Bouchard also indirectly blamed the school for the fact that the crime was not prevented. For many years, the message has been sent to schools that it is important to call the police in cases of justified suspicion. Unfortunately, that did not happen in this case. Since there had been indications that the shooter could become violent, the parents were at the school for a parenting meeting a few hours before the incident, but did not draw any conclusions from the conversation.
Parents of the Michigan Gunman: Repeatedly at odds with the law
+++ 3:04 p.m.: The parents of the shooter Ethan Crumbley, Jennifer and James Crumbley, have apparently come into conflict with the law several times. According to online records from the Duval County, Florida community, both were charged with drink driving on February 12, 2005 and each fined $ 652. James Crumbley was also arrested by the Atlantic Beach Police Department for driving a car with an “improper trademark” despite his license being revoked. For this he paid a fine of more than $ 200.
In 2003, Jennifer Crumbley was charged with writing a bad check for $ 150, the case was later dismissed. She committed the same offense, however, in 2004, when she was fined $ 240, according to records. Meanwhile, James also got into legal trouble. The reason for this was failure to pay child support to his ex-wife, with whom he has 18-year-old son Eli, Ethan’s half-brother, reports The Daily Beast.
Michigan (USA): Police arrest parents of the shooter after trying to escape
+++ Update, 9.35 a.m.: The US police report the arrest of the parents of the Oxford gunman. As reported by CNN, among others, the couple was hiding in an industrial building in downtown Detroit. The authorities became aware of the building from the parents’ vehicle that was parked in front of it.
A lawyer for the parents had in the meantime contacted the police. According to him, the two had left the city “for their own safety” and were not on the run.
USA: Parents of the shooter on the run – FBI initiates a manhunt
+++ Update, 9.10 a.m.: The parents of the 15-year-old gunman from Oxford are still on the run. According to the US news broadcaster CNN, they switched off their cell phones and withdrew $ 4,000 from an ATM in Rochester Hills, Michigan. Since then, there has been no trace of either of them. The police and the FBI have already started a manhunt.
Rochester Hills, Michigan, is about 25 kilometers from Oxford. There, the couple’s 15-year-old son shot four classmates in a school on Tuesday. The boy is in police custody. He is charged with four murders. His parents were also sued for negligent homicide.
USA: Oxford gunman’s parents evade arrest
First report: Michigan – The 15-year-old boy shot four people at a school. The act had shaken the USA * and the world. Shortly after the boy was arrested, US authorities also brought charges against the parents. The judiciary is accusing Jennifer and James Crumbley of negligent homicide on four counts. The responsible prosecutor Karen McDonald announced on Friday. But the parents evaded arrest and are currently on the run from the police.
As far as we know, it was the boy’s father who bought the murder weapon with him four days before the rampage. The mother of the perpetrator is said to have described the weapon, a semi-automatic pistol, on online platforms as a “Christmas present” for her son, as prosecutor McDonald said.
Michigan: Parents of the Oxford gunman on the run
Now he and his wife have gone into hiding. The whereabouts of the Michigan gunman’s parents are unknown. In addition to the local police, the FBI is involved in the search for the two people. “We’ll have her in custody soon,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said, according to AFP. “You cannot shirk your responsibility in this tragedy.”
The couple’s 15-year-old son opened fire on his classmates at his school in the small town of Oxford, north of Detroit, on Tuesday. He killed four young people between the ages of 14 and 17 and injured seven other people. After the attack, the boy was arrested without resistance and was subsequently charged, among other things, with quadruple murder and terrorism. According to adult criminal law, the teenager should be tried. He faces life imprisonment.
Michigan rampage: Parents ignored numerous clues
According to the state of the investigation, there had already been several suspicious signs in the boy’s behavior. For example, the 15-year-old was invited to a conversation with his parents by the school administration because drawings with violent fantasies had been discovered on his desk. “The thoughts don’t stop. Help me, ”read next to a picture of a pistol. In addition, Crumbley had drawn a cartridge and a corpse, along with the message: “My life is useless”.
The conversation took place on the day of the rampage. However, the parents refused to bring their son home. The 15-year-old then returned to class. He later took out the pistol he had hidden in his backpack in the school toilet and opened fire. According to the police, the 15-year-old had recorded a video on his cell phone the evening before the crime, which announced the attack for the next day.
Charges brought against parents of Oxford gunman
“The idea of parents reading these words and knowing at the same time that their son had access to a lethal weapon that they gave him is outrageous and I think it’s criminal,” said District Attorney McDonald. She also accused the parents of not checking that the teenager had the gun with him.
According to the prosecutor, the charges against James and Jennifer Crumbley are intended to “hold those who contributed to this tragedy accountable and to send a message to gun owners that they have a responsibility.” (dil / afp)
