Parents of Michigan classroom shooter are jailed for 10-15 years

The mother and father of a Michigan teen who shot and killed four classmates were each sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison yesterday after a jury convicted them of manslaughter in a rare case of parents being held responsible in a school shooting.

Jennifer and James Crumbley, Ethan Crumbley’s parents, were sentenced immediately after several parents of the victims gave emotional impact statements in an Oakland County courtroom.

“Not only did your son kill my daughter, but you both did as well,” Nicole Beausoleil, the mother of Madisyn Baldwin (17), told the court as she wept. James Crumbley sat impassively while his wife Jennifer hung her head.

Ethan Crumbley was 15 at the time of the shooting at Oxford High School in 2021. He pleaded guilty in 2022 to four counts of first-degree murder and other charges, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole in December.

In remarks to the court before sentencing, Jennifer Crumbley (46) said she expressed her “deepest sorrow” and said she had had no inkling her son was capable of killing.

“My husband and I used to say we have the perfect kid. I truly believed that,” she said. “I didn’t have a reason to do anything different. This is not something I foresaw.

Her 47-year-old husband said: “I am sorry for your loss as a result of what my son did. My heart pours out to every single one of you.”

Prosecutors in the trials of both parents said the accused were criminally negligent for providing a gun for their child as a Christmas present and for ignoring signs his mental health had deteriorated and that he was potentially violent.

The parents’ defence teams argued, among other points, that it was impossible for the mother and the father to envision their son would carry out a mass shooting.

The United States, a country with persistent gun violence, has experienced a series of school shootings over the years, often carried out by current or former students.

There was little precedent for the criminal charges faced by the Crumbleys, the first parents charged with manslaughter in a school shooting carried out by one of their children.

Experts and gun safety advocates have said their trials were an important step in holding gun-owning parents more accountable for school violence carried out by children.

James Crumbley bought the 9mm semi-automatic handgun as a Christmas present for Ethan four days before the November 30, 2021, shooting.