Prosecutors say they've gathered additional evidence against the parents of school shooter Ethan Crumbley who have been charged for their alleged involvement in his actions, the Detroit Free Press reported.
The prosecution says the new evidence shows the Crumbleys, who became the first parents of a school shooter in the U.S. to be charged, were grossly negligent in the hours, days and months before their son killed four students and injured seven others at a Michigan high school in 2021 with a gun his parents bought him as a present.
Jennifer Crumbley said in an interview after the shooting that she didn't really pay attention to drawings that her son made the morning before the shooting, showing a gun, a bleeding body, and the words, “The thoughts won’t stop, help me.”
When the school summoned her to discuss the drawings, she said she “didn’t even look at them closely.”
Prosecutors also say that, when the couple fled their home the night of the shooting, James Crumbley took the receipt for the murder weapon they gifted their son with them -- an action that prosecutors say showed “consciousness of guilt.” They also provided Facebook messages between the two that showed they were well aware of their son's mental distress.
Prosecutors argue that the Crumbleys were perfectly capable of preventing their son from carrying out the shooting but instead enabled him.
“Moreover, there is additional evidence regarding defendants’ knowledge of their son’s proficiency with firearms,” prosecutors argued in their filing to the Supreme Court.
The Crumbleys have been in custody for over 18 months on involuntary manslaughter charges and are trying to avoid a trial, arguing they have been wrongfully charged.
Ethan, who was 15 at the time, pleaded guilty to murder charges.
Read the full report at the Detroit Free Press.
