Judge declines to lower bond amount for parents of Michigan school shooter
A judge on Tuesday declined to reduce the bond amount for the parents of Ethan Crumbley, the 15-year-old accused of fatally shooting four classmates inside his Michigan high school.
Oakland County Circuit Judge Cheryl Matthews, in rejecting the motion, cited the behavior of James and Jennifer Crumbley prior to their arrests late last year. The pair seemingly fled the day before they were charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the deadly gunfire inside Oxford High School, allegedly unleashed by their son on Nov. 30, 2021.
Justin Shilling, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17, were killed. Another seven people, including a teacher, were wounded.
James and Jennifer Crumbley were taken into custody days later on Dec. 3, 2021, when authorities found them hiding out in the basement of an art warehouse in Detroit. They are accused of failing to intervene before the massacre, despite being called into the school for a sit-down with administrators regarding their son’s classroom behavior.
A teacher reported Ethan to the principal after discovering a doodle of a gun, a person bleeding and words, “help me” scrawled all over his math homework. It also included a rendering of a bullet alongside the words “blood everywhere.” His parents still declined to take him home, and hours later, he opened fire in the halls of his school.
The Crumbleys are also accused of failing to secure the firearm used in the attack — a 9mm semiautomatic handgun — which they bought for their son on Black Friday. Authorities now believe he had the weapon in his backpack during the behavioral meeting.
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The couple have been behind bars since their arrest and have been unable to come up with $500,000 required to secure their release. In arguing for a lower bond amount of $100,000, their lawyers said the couple could not have anticipated the mass shooting and that they always intended to cooperate with investigators.
“The Crumbleys were absolutely shocked parents who had no reason to foresee what would happen,” defense attorneys Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman wrote.
Matthews quickly waved off the claim.
“The defendants indicate they were devastated when they heard about the alleged actions of their son, felt unsafe in their home, felt hounded by the press and found it necessary to leave,” Matthews said. “The chronology of events that occurred subsequent to the defendants leaving their home is not consistent with cooperation with law enforcement.”
Ethan, who turns 16 next week, has been charged as an adult with two dozen crimes — including murder, attempted murder and terrorism causing death.
With News Wire Services
