The father of Oxford school shooter Ethan Crumbley has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after supplying the gun used in the shooting to his son.
A jury convicted James Crumbley of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the fatal 2021 shooting after 10 hours of deliberation.
Crumbley, 47, joins his wife Jennifer Crumbley, who was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter on Feb. 6.
The two are the first parents in the US to be held responsible for a child carrying out a mass attack on a school.
Their son Ethan, then 15 years old, opened fire at the school in Oxford, Michigan, killing Hana St. Juliana, Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre and Justin Shilling.
Crumbley, seen here, joins his wife Jennifer Crumbley, who was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter on February 6
His son Ethan, then 15 years old, opened fire at the school in Oxford, Michigan, killing Hana St. Juliana, Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre and Justin Shilling.
Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty to his crimes and is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole after killing four classmates during the 2021 Oxford High School shooting
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.
Crumbley faced four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for each of the victims at Oxford High School in the 2021 shootings. On Wednesday, jurors began deliberating.
“This is a very egregious and rare, rare set of facts,” District Attorney Karen McDonald of Oakland County, Michigan, told the jury during closing arguments on Wednesday.
McDonald said Crumbley ignored signs that his son was deeply disturbed, did not give him the help he needed and did not safely store the firearm in the family home.
McDonald also presented the jury with texts Ethan Crumbley had sent to a friend and diary entries he had written in the months leading up to the shooting.
In it, he talked about wanting medical help and hearing voices, but he was afraid his parents would be “pissed off.”
According to a text message to a friend, Ethan once asked Crumbley to take him to the doctor, but his father “gave me some pills and told me to suck them down.”
Defense attorney Mariell Lehman argued that James Crumbley could not possibly have foreseen that his son would commit a mass shooting.
“James had no idea his son was going through a hard time,” Lehman told jurors during her closing arguments, saying no evidence was presented that James knew the contents of his son’s text messages or diary.
In court, the prosecutor presented a photo showing James, left, with his son Ethan at a shooting range
Justin Shilling, 17, (left) and Tate Myre, 16, (right) were two of the four students killed in the senseless shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan
Madisyn Baldwin, 17, (left) and Hana St Juliana, 14, (right) died during the 2021 shooting at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit
Crumbley, accompanied by Ethan, purchased a Sig Sauer 9mm pistol over Thanksgiving weekend in 2021.
The boy called it his ‘new beauty’ on social media. His mother described the gun as a Christmas present and took him to a shooting range.
Four days after the purchase, the parents went to Oxford High to discuss a violent picture their son had drawn during a math assignment.
Here is the drawing including sentences that said: ‘The thoughts will not stop. Help me.’ There was a gun on the paper that looked like the Sig Sauer.
The Crumbley’s didn’t take him home, and the school staff, who thought he was suicidal, didn’t demand it either.
But no one checked the boy’s backpack for a gun, and the shooting happened that afternoon.
During the trial, prosecutors showed that the gun, a newly acquired Sig Sauer 9mm, was not safely secured in Crumbley’s home.
On the morning of the school shooting, teachers became concerned after finding alarming drawings and writings on his homework, seen here
He had kept the guns in a drawer under the island of his kitchen, and kept both a Derringer and a KelTech in the box, secured with only a ‘000’ code.
He had kept the guns in a drawer under the island of his kitchen, and kept both a Derringer and a KelTech in the box, secured with only a ‘000’ code.
ATF Special Agent Brett Brandon testified that when he inspected Ethan’s 9mm, he found “no evidence that a cable lock had ever been installed on that firearm.”
The cable lock was found in the gun case, still in its original packaging, despite Brandon noting that it would have taken about 10 seconds to secure.
In a dramatic move, the prosecutor demonstrated how to use a cable to lock the gun used in the shooting.
Jennifer Crumbley was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter on February 6, making her the first parent in the US to be held responsible for a child carrying out a mass attack on a school.
Prosecutors said Jennifer Crumbley was more interested in pursuing an extramarital affair with a local firefighter than caring for her son.
After the murders, she texted her lover Brian Meloche that the shooting “could have been prevented” and that the school should not have allowed him to return to class.
The weapon used in the shooting was a Sig Sauer 9mm that his father had purchased from him four days earlier, seen here
Crumbley’s parents, James and Jennifer, were both charged in connection with the shooting
Crumbley’s secret lover claimed she wanted to meet the morning of the shooting, saying they had been meeting regularly in a parking lot across from her work.
Crumbley told her lover that she had “failed miserably” as a parent after her son was arrested for the murders.
Her son Ethan addressed a packed courtroom after being sentenced to life in prison.
He said, ‘What I did. My actions were the result of what I chose to do. I couldn’t stop myself, I don’t take anything away from anyone who could have stopped me.
‘They didn’t know and I didn’t tell them what I was planning to do, so they’re not to blame for what I did.
‘I’m a very bad person. I did horrible things that no one should ever do, I lied. I hurt a lot of people, that’s what I did.
“Whatever sentence it is, I intend to get better. I will change, maybe it’s not visible now, but I’m trying.
“All I want is for the people I hurt to have a definitive sense of guilt that justice was served in some capacity.
“Any punishment they ask for, I ask you to impose on me, I want them to be happy and feel safe. I don’t want them to worry another day. I am really sorry. I can’t give it back.’
In a diary, the shooter wrote about his desire to see students suffer and the likelihood that he would spend his life in prison.
On the eve of the shooting, he made a video stating what he would do the next day.
Jennifer Crumbley will be sentenced April 9 and faces up to 60 years in prison.