Michigan Killing | The shooter’s parents plead not guilty

(Washington) Parents of the teenager who killed four students at a Michigan high school pleaded not guilty on Saturday to manslaughter for letting their son use a gift gun, with a judge setting their bail at $ 1 million. dollars.

During the reading of the indictment on Saturday morning, James and Jennifer Crumbley, detained since the day before, pleaded not guilty to the four charges which target them, and for which they risk each time up to 15 years from prison.

The parents were arrested Friday after an active search by the police and the FBI. They were finally located in an industrial building in Detroit, about sixty kilometers from the scene of the shooting, not far from where their car had been spotted earlier.

“The court is worried about the risk of flight” of the defendants, declared Saturday the judge Julie Nicholson, by fixing their bond at 500,000 dollars each. “These charges are very serious, there is no doubt about it,” she said.

The couple had withdrawn on Friday morning $ 4,000, but his lawyers repeated Saturday that he was not on the run. “Our clients were going to surrender well, it was just a logistical problem,” said lawyer Shannon Smith.

Ethan Crumbley, 15, killed four students in cold blood and injured six others as well as a teacher on Tuesday at school in Oxford, a small town north of Detroit.

He was charged with “terrorist act” and “assassinations”. The teenager risks life imprisonment because he is being prosecuted as an adult. He pleads not guilty, but has chosen to remain silent, and is being held in solitary confinement in the county jail in Pontiac.

Christmas gift

On the occasion of the big Black Friday promotions, James Crumbley had purchased a Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol as an early Christmas present for his son.

The teenager then posted images of the weapon on social networks, calling it “beauty”.

Police said he had recorded a video the day before the shooting on his cell phone announcing his intention to use his gun at school, without posting it on the internet.

That same day, both parents learned that their son was looking for ammunition on his phone at school, according to local prosecutor Karen McDonald. The mother then sent him a message: “I’m not mad, next time don’t get caught.”

The next morning, Ethan Crumbley was summoned with his parents by the school administration for drawings of a gun and a bloody body.

Two hours after the meeting, he had come out of the bathroom, gun in hand, methodically progressing through the halls of the school, shooting at students and at the doors of the classrooms where the students had barricaded themselves. He fired at least 30 bullets.

According to the police, he had aimed at random, without choosing previously identified victims.

“Instead of revealing to the school that he had full access to this weapon”, the parents “decided not to bring their son home, they decided not to tell anyone that he could be dangerous” , said the prosecutor on Saturday.

” Do not do it ”

Shootings are a recurring scourge in the United States, where the right to own guns is constitutionally guaranteed. But lawsuits against relatives of their perpetrators are extremely rare.

“These indictments are a message so that people understand that from the moment they hold a weapon, they are responsible for it,” said the prosecutor, announcing the proceedings against the parents.

The teenager “entered the school and pulled the trigger”, but “other people contributed to this event and I intend to hold them accountable,” she added.

The parents’ lawyers, on the contrary, asserted that the teenager did not have free access to the weapon.

“Our clients will fight these charges,” said Shannon Smith. “Our customers are just as devastated as everyone else. ”

On the news of a school shooting, Jennifer Crumbley had sent a message to her son, writing “Ethan, do not do it”. His father then reported to the police the disappearance of the pistol from the drawer where it was stored.

The tragedy created an atmosphere of psychosis in Michigan, where authorities were “inundated” with messages of threats against schools.