Oxford school shooter Ethan Crumbley’s dad James is to blame for ‘preventable nightmare’ by buying son gun he used to kill four classmates, trial hears: Mom previously convicted of involuntary manslaughter

The father of Oxford school shooter Ethan Crumbley is responsible for a “preventable and foreseeable” shooting incident that left four students dead, a lawsuit has heard.

James Crumbley, 47, is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for each teen killed by his son at Oxford High School in 2021.

Ethan Crumbley, then 15 years old, opened fire at the school in Oxford, Michigan, killing Hana St. Juliana, Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre and Justin Shilling.

His father is accused of failing to safely store a gun and ammunition at home and ignoring Ethan’s mental health needs.

On Thursday, Assistant Prosecutor Marc Keast said in court that Crumbley was in the best position to prevent the shooting.

Keast said: “What happened in that school was truly a nightmare come to life. But it didn’t have to be that way. That nightmare was preventable and foreseeable.’

Crumbley, father of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, leaves the Oakland County Circuit Court courtroom during a recess on the first day of his trial

Assistant Prosecutor Marc Keast said Crumbley would have been in the best position to prevent the shooting

Keast added, “You will learn that those children would still be alive today if James Crumbley took one of the tragically small and easy opportunities presented to him to prevent his son from committing murder.”

According to CBSDefense attorney Mariell Lehman said the prosecution would try to prove Crumbley knew what was going on with his son, but claimed that was not true.

She said: “Ladies and gentlemen, James Crumbley did not know his son had access to that firearm.

“Please follow the law. And I have confidence in it; we are confident that if you do that and follow the law, you will find James Crumbley not guilty.”

In their opening statements, the prosecution spoke to the court for 23 minutes, while the defense took only six minutes to present their arguments, according to a reporter.

James 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.

Defense attorney Mariell Lehman said the prosecution would try to prove Crumbley knew what was going on with his son, but claimed that was not true.

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

On Thursday, the prosecutor presented a photo of 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

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 Crumbleys did not take Ethan home, nor did the school staff, who believed him to be suicidal, require it. But no one checked the boy’s backpack for a gun, and the shooting happened that afternoon.

Defense attorneys maintain that the parents could not have foreseen the shooting and did not commit a crime.

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.

Jennifer Crumbley is taken into custody after a guilty verdict was read on Tuesday, February 6, 2024

On the morning of November 30, 2021, school staff became concerned about a violent drawing of a gun, bullet and wounded man, accompanied by desperate phrases, on Ethan Crumbley’s math assignment.

His parents were called to school for a meeting, but they did not take the boy home.

A few hours later, Ethan pulled a gun from his backpack and shot ten students and a teacher. No one had checked the backpack.

The gun was the Sig Sauer 9mm that his father had purchased from him four days earlier. His mother had taken her son to a shooting range that same weekend.

After the shooting, a search of the teen’s home revealed that his room was cluttered, with paper targets from a shooting range on the wall.

An empty bottle of whiskey sat on a table next to his bed. At the time of the attack, he was six years younger than the U.S. legal drinking age.

The safe that contained his Sig Sauer pistol was empty on his parents’ bed.

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

In a separate safe were two other weapons that could be unlocked with the code 0-0-0.

During Jennifer Crumbley’s trial, the court heard she was more interested in an extramarital affair, her horses and a night out on the town than spending time with her son.

Crumbley’s secret lover, local fire chief Brian Meloche, 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.

Crumbley’s chilling diary entries include drawings of a gun held to a girl’s head

Jurors in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Jennifer Crumbley were shown disturbing drawings of her son, a mass shooter

“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.