In 2021, Ethan Crumbley exited the bathroom at school, pulled a gun from his backpack, and killed four students.
A Michigan jury has found the mother of a 2021 school shooter guilty of manslaughter, the first case to ask whether she was responsible for the killings of four students in 2021. He was found guilty at trial.
Prosecutors said Tuesday that Jennifer Crumbley owned guns in her family, including the 9mm handgun her son Ethan used in the Nov. 30 attack at Oxford High School. The company announced that it was negligent for not informing the company.
Crumbley, 45, was charged with four counts of manslaughter, one for each victim. Her husband James, 47, is scheduled to go to trial next month.
Oakland County prosecutors argued at trial that the mother negligently stored the gun and ammunition, even though she did not pull the trigger, and therefore should be held criminally responsible for the death.
They said she and her husband knew Ethan was in a “downward spiral” mentally and posed a danger to others, but allowed him to obtain the fateful pistol.
She added that Crumbley had a duty under Michigan law to ensure that her then-15-year-old son did not harm others.
But Crumbley's attorney, Shannon Smith, said she was not responsible for purchasing or storing the gun her son used, and that she did not believe that her son would have harmed his classmates or foresaw a crime. He claimed there was no sign of it happening.
Crumbley testified for the defense at trial, saying her husband was responsible for keeping firearms safe at home and that her son was worried about going to college.
During Smith's closing argument, she asked the jury of six men and six women, including gun owners, to acquit her client because her son's crime was “unforeseeable.”
“Can all parents really be responsible for everything their children do?” Smith asked.
shooting at school
On the morning of the school shooting, Ethan's drawings of guns, bullets, and wounded people are accompanied by the words “There's blood everywhere,” “My life is useless,” and “I can't stop thinking, Help me.” Concerned that the text had been written, officials met with the Crumbleys for a math assignment.
Prosecutors said Ethan's parents were told that he needed counseling and that they needed to take him home, but the couple resisted taking him, searched his bag and found a gun. He said he never asked about it.
However, Jennifer disputed this explanation, telling jurors that they had mutually agreed that Ethan could remain at school that day and that he posed no danger to other students. .
Hours later, Ethan came out of the bathroom, pulled a gun from his backpack, and shot and killed 10 students and a teacher, killing four students.
The gun used was a Sig Sauer 9mm that his father, James, had purchased just four days earlier. Jennifer also took his son to the shooting range that weekend.
Ethan, now 17, is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to murder and “terrorism.”