The parents of a teenager charged with killing four students at a U.S. high school in Michigan were located Saturday and arrested. A judge has imposed a $500,000 bond each for James and Jennifer Crumbley and required GPS monitoring.
The Crumbleys entered not guilty pleas to four manslaughter counts. Police said the couple was found hiding in a commercial building. Attorneys for the Crumbleys said they never intended to flee and planned to turn themselves in on Saturday.
The parents are accused involuntary manslaughter for failing to intervene on the day of the shooting after they were called to the school when a teacher found a graphic drawing and message that the teenager had drawn. The drawing showed a gun pointing to the words: "The thoughts won't stop. Help me", a person who looks to have been shot twice and bleeding, and a drawing of a bullet with the words: "Blood everywhere." The teenager also wrote: "My life is useless" and "The world is dead".
Prosecutors said the school called the parents in and told them to get counseling for their son within 48 hours. The parents failed to check his backpack or ask about guns and resisted the idea of having their son leave the school, prosecutors said. The teenager returned to class and later emerged from a bathroom with a gun, shooting students in a hallway. He is being charged as an adult with murder, terrorism, and other crimes.
The prosecutor said a day before the shooting, a teacher saw the teenager searching for ammunition on his phone. When his mother was told of the incident, Jennifer Crumbley texted her son: “Lol. I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught."
Involuntary manslaughter charges can be filed if authorities believe someone contributed to a situation where there was a high chance of harm or death.
Prosecutors say that the parents knew he had a deadly weapon. The teenager had gone with his father to buy a gun on Black Friday and his mother written on social media that she and her son were testing out his new Christmas present.
After the shooting Jennifer Crumbley texted her son: “Ethan, don’t do it," the prosecutor said.
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