Michigan, prosecutor Karen McDonald on Saturday highlighted text messages and a social media post from James and Jennifer Crumbley to their son, suspected Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, during their arraignment hearing.
via: CNN
The parents of the teen accused in this week’s deadly Michigan high school shooting pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges Saturday morning, hours after police said they arrested them in a Detroit warehouse following an hours-long search.
A judge in Michigan’s Oakland County set bond at $500,000 each for James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of Oxford High School shooting suspect Ethan Crumbley.
The detained couple, sitting alone in separate rooms, made their arraignment appearance by video conference with the judge, their attorneys and the county prosecutor.
Both spoke little beyond saying they understood each charge, and pleaded “not guilty” to each.
During the arraignment, their attorneys stressed their clients had fully intended to turn themselves in Saturday morning, and denied prosecutors’ assertion that their son had unrestricted access to the gun he’s accused of using.
Overnight, police said they found the couple on the first floor of an industrial or commercial building in Detroit — some 40 miles south of the Oxford area where they live — after someone tipped police Friday night that their vehicle was nearby.
“They appeared to be hiding in the building,” Detroit Police Chief James White said during a news conference early Saturday. They were “very distressed” after they were detained, the chief said.
James and Jennifer Crumbley’s arrests came roughly a half day after they were charged Friday with four counts of involuntary manslaughter over Tuesday’s shooting, in which authorities say their 15-year-old son Ethan killed four schoolmates and injured seven other people.
Law enforcement considered the couple fugitives after they missed their arraignment that was scheduled for Friday afternoon. They were being held Saturday morning at the Oakland County Jail, where their son is also held.
One of the couple’s attorneys had earlier stated that the Crumbleys had left town for their own safety and intended to turn themselves in voluntarily. On Saturday morning, their attorneys Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman issued a statement saying they “understand that our clients were apprehended last night, although we fully intended to turn them in first thing this morning for arraignment, contrary to the misinformation that has been rampant in the media.”
White, the police chief, said he didn’t know the Crumbley’s intentions, but that “this isn’t indicative of turning themselves in, hiding in a warehouse.”
White added someone let the couple into the building, and that person could face charges.
Prosecutors on Friday announced the couple were being charged in connection with the shooting for numerous reasons — including allegations that they recently bought the gun for their son, and did not remove him from school despite being told hours before the killings of a concerning drawing the teen was accused of making.
Ethan Crumbley was charged Wednesday as an adult with terrorism, murder and other counts in the shooting, which killed four students and injured seven other people.
The shooting — the deadliest at a US K-12 campus since 2018 and the 32nd such attack since August 1 — claimed the lives of Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17.
