Mother first to be convicted over school shooting carried out by teenage son

A woman has become the first parent to be convicted over a school shooting committed by her son – after a jury found her guilty of failing to stop him carrying out the attack.

Jennifer Crumbley was accused of being negligent in allowing her son, who is now 17, access to a gun and ignoring warning signs that he might be considering the shooting.

Ethan Crumbley opened fire at Oxford High School in Michigan on November 30, 2021, killing four classmates and injuring seven others. He is now serving life in prison.

His mother was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, each carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years. Ethan’s father James, who, like Ms Crumbley, has been held in jail for two years before the trial, will be tried separately.

Prosecutors claimed her son had wanted mental health help and complained of hallucinations, but said his parents did not get him treatment.

This is despite Ms Crumbley raising fears that Ethan might “do something dumb” in private messages sent to a man with whom she was having an affair. On the morning of the attack, Ethan’s parents had cut short a meeting at school about a disturbing drawing he had made, due to work commitments. They also did not take him home and he was sent back to class by school staff, without his backpack, which contained a gun, being checked.

His parents had bought the gun he used just days before the killings. They had also tried to dodge police questioning, hiding out in an industrial building in Detroit, where they were eventually tracked down after a tip-off from a member of the public.

The judge, speaking to jurors, said this was probably “the hardest thing you’ve ever done”.

Family members of the victims welcomed the verdict, which experts have warned could pave the way for similar cases in future.

“The People spoke!” Buck Myre, the father of Tate Myre, a 16-year-old killed in the shooting, said.

“You can agree or disagree with the people, but this is how the system is supposed to work.”

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killed and seven injured in shooting