Parents of school gunman jailed for at least 10 years

Teenager serving life term killed four students with weapon he had been given for Christmas

The parents of a teenager who carried out a deadly school shooting in the US state of Michigan have been sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison in an unprecedented and closely watched case.

Jennifer Crumbley and her husband James – who bought their son the gun as a Christmas present – were the first parents of a school shooter to be convicted of manslaughter in the United States for the actions of their child.

Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews sentenced them to 10 to 15 years in prison each with credit for the 28 months they have already spent behind bars.

Their son Ethan, who is now 17, is serving a life sentence for the November 30, 2021 shooting which left four students dead and seven other people injured at Oxford High School, 70km north of Detroit.

“These convictions are not about poor parenting,” Matthews said at an emotional hearing in Pontiac, Michigan, attended by relatives of the victims. “These convictions confirm repeated acts, or lack of acts, that could have halted an oncoming runaway train.”

The judge admonished James Crumbley for allowing “unfettered access” to guns and ammunition in the family home and told Jennifer Crumbley her attitude towards her son was “dispassionate and apathetic”.

Addressing the Crumbleys in court before sentencing, Nicole Beausoleil, mother of Madisyn Baldwin, 17, one of the slain students, said: “Not only did your son kill my daughter but you both did as well.”

“The blood of our children is on your hands,” said Craig Shilling, father of Justin Shilling, 17.

Before the judge pronounced the sentence, the Crumbleys addressed the families of the victims and the court.

“I stand today not to ask for your forgiveness as I know it may be beyond reach but to express my sincerest apologies for the pain that has been caused,” Jennifer Crumbley, 46, said.

“I will be in my own internal prison for the rest of my life.”

James Crumbley, 47, told the families he was “sorry for your loss as a result of what my son did”.

“I cannot express how much I wish that I had known what was going on with him or what was going to happen, because I absolutely would have done a lot of things differently,” he said.

The Crumbleys were summoned to the school on the day of the shooting itself after a teacher became alarmed by a violent drawing she found on Ethan’s desk.

They were shown the drawing and advised they needed to get the boy into counselling. The parents allegedly resisted taking their son home and he returned to class.

He later entered a bathroom, emerged with the gun, which had been concealed in his backpack, and fired more than 30 shots.