The
parents
of the
accused
Oxford
High
School
shooter
who
prompted
a
multi-agency
manhunt
were
apprehended
by
authorities
early
Saturday
morning
on
Detroit's
east
side.
(Oakland
County
Jail mug
shots)
Authorities
in
Michigan
are
speaking
after
James
and
Jennifer
Crumbley
were
arrested
and
charged
with
four
counts
of
involuntary
manslaughter.
Bond set
at
combined
$1M
after
Oxford,
MI
parents
enter
pleas
By
COREY
WILLIAMS
and
ED WHITE
apnews.com
PONTIAC,
Mich. -
A judge
imposed
a
combined
$1
million
bond
Saturday
for the
parents
of the
Michigan
teen
charged
with
killing
four
students
at
Oxford
High
School,
hours
after
police
said
they
were
caught
hiding
in a
Detroit
commercial
building.
James
and
Jennifer
Crumbley
entered
not
guilty
pleas to
each of
the four
involuntary
manslaughter
counts
against
them
during a
hearing
held on
Zoom.
Judge
Julie
Nicholson
assigned
bond of
$500,000
apiece
to each
of the
parents
and
placed
other
requirements
such as
GPS
monitoring,
agreeing
with
prosecutors
that
they
posed a
flight
risk.
Defense
attorneys
for the
Crumbleys
said
they
never
intended
to flee
and
planned
to turn
themselves
in on
Saturday
morning.
They
accused
prosecutors
of
“cherry
picking”
facts to
publicly
release
and said
their
clients
were
terrified
and only
wanted
time to
make
arrangements.
“Our
clients
are just
as
devastated
as
everyone
else,”
attorney
Shannon
Smith
said.
James
and
Jennifer
Crumbley,
the
parents
of the
teen
charged
in the
Oxford
High
School
shooting,
were
located
and
arrested
early
Saturday
in
Detroit
after a
citizen
saw
their
vehicle
and
called
police.
(detnews.com
photo)
But
Oakland
County
Prosecutor
Karen
McDonald
said the
couple
took
$4,000
out of
an ATM
not far
from law
enforcement
or court
locations
they
could
have
reported
to,
suggesting
they
could
not be
trusted
to
appear
for
future
court
hearings.
“These
are not
people
we can
be sure
will
return
to court
on their
own,”
she
said.
McDonald’s
office
filed
involuntary
manslaughter
charges
against
the
Crumbleys
on
Friday,
accusing
them of
failing
to
intervene
on the
day of
the
tragedy
despite
being
confronted
with a
drawing
and
chilling
message
— “blood
everywhere”
— that
was
found at
the
boy’s
desk.
The
Crumbleys
committed
“egregious”
acts,
from
buying a
gun on
Black
Friday
and
making
it
available
to Ethan
Crumbley
to
resisting
his
removal
from
school
when
they
were
summoned
a few
hours
before
the
shooting,
Oakland
County
prosecutor
Karen
McDonald
said.
Authorities
had been
looking
for the
couple
since
Friday
afternoon.
Late
Friday,
U.S.
Marshals
announced
a reward
of up to
$10,000
each for
information
leading
to their
arrests.
The
Crumbleys’
attorney,
Shannon
Smith,
said
Friday
that the
pair had
left
town
earlier
in the
week
“for
their
own
safety”
and
would be
returning
to
Oxford
to face
charges.
But
Detroit
Police
Chief
James E.
White
seemed
to
dismiss
the
possibility
that was
their
intention.
“This
isn’t
indicative
of
turning
yourself
in —
hiding
in a
warehouse,”
White
said.
White
said the
couple
“were
aided in
getting
into the
building,”
and that
a person
who
helped
them may
also
face
charges.
A
Detroit
business
owner
spotted
a car
tied to
the
Crumbleys
in his
parking
lot late
Friday,
Oakland
County
Undersheriff
Michael
McCabe
said in
a
statement.
A woman
seen
near the
vehicle
ran away
when the
business
owner
called
911,
McCabe
said.
The
couple
was
later
located
and
arrested
by
Detroit
police.
He
added
that the
parents
appeared
to be
“distressed”
when
they
were
captured.
“Head
down...
just
very
upset,”
he said
of one
of the
parents.
The
couple
was
expected
to be
booked
into the
Oakland
County
Jail,
McCabe
said.
On
Friday,
McDonald
offered
the most
precise
account
so far
of the
events
that led
to the
shooting
at
Oxford
High
School,
roughly
30 miles
(50
kilometers)
north of
Detroit.
Ethan
Crumbley,
15,
emerged
from a
bathroom
with a
gun,
shooting
students
in the
hallway,
investigators
said.
He’s
charged
as an
adult
with
murder,
terrorism
and
other
crimes.
Under
Michigan
law, the
involuntary
manslaughter
charge
filed
against
the
parents
can be
pursued
if
authorities
believe
someone
contributed
to a
situation
where
there
was a
high
chance
of harm
or
death.
Parents
in the
U.S. are
rarely
charged
in
school
shootings
involving
their
children,
even as
most
minors
get guns
from a
parent
or
relative’s
house,
according
to
experts.
School
officials
became
concerned
about
the
younger
Crumbley
on
Monday,
a day
before
the
shooting,
when a
teacher
saw him
searching
for
ammunition
on his
phone,
McDonald
said.
Jennifer
Crumbley
was
contacted
and
subsequently
told her
son in a
text
message:
“Lol.
I’m not
mad at
you. You
have to
learn
not to
get
caught,”
according
to the
prosecutor.
On
Tuesday,
a
teacher
found a
note on
Ethan’s
desk and
took a
photo.
It was a
drawing
of a gun
pointing
at the
words,
“The
thoughts
won’t
stop.
Help
me,”
McDonald
said.
There
also was
a
drawing
of a
bullet,
she
said,
with
words
above
it:
“Blood
everywhere.”
Between
the gun
and the
bullet
was a
person
who
appeared
to have
been
shot
twice
and is
bleeding.
He also
wrote,
“My life
is
useless”
and “The
world is
dead,”
according
to the
prosecutor.
The
school
quickly
had a
meeting
with
Ethan
and his
parents,
who were
told to
get him
into
counseling
within
48
hours,
McDonald
said.
The
Crumbleys
failed
to ask
their
son
about
the gun
or check
his
backpack
and
“resisted
the idea
of their
son
leaving
the
school
at that
time,”
McDonald
said.
Instead,
the teen
returned
to class
and the
shooting
subsequently
occurred.
“The
notion
that a
parent
could
read
those
words
and also
know
that
their
son had
access
to a
deadly
weapon
that
they
gave him
is
unconscionable
— it’s
criminal,”
the
prosecutor
said.
Jennifer
Crumbley
texted
her son
after
the
shooting,
saying,
“Ethan,
don’t do
it,”
McDonald
said.
James
Crumbley
called
911 to
say that
a gun
was
missing
from
their
home and
that
Ethan
might be
the
shooter.
The gun
had been
kept in
an
unlocked
drawer
in the
parents’
bedroom,
McDonald
said.
The
Crumbleys’
attorneys
said
Saturday
that the
weapon
was kept
locked
but
didn’t
provide
more
information
during
the
couple’s
court
appearance.
Ethan
accompanied
his
father
for the
gun
purchase
on Nov.
26 and
posted
photos
of the
firearm
on
social
media,
saying,
“Just
got my
new
beauty
today,”
McDonald
said.
Over
the long
Thanksgiving
weekend,
Jennifer
Crumbley
wrote on
social
media
that it
is a
“mom and
son day
testing
out his
new
Christmas
present,”
the
prosecutor
said.
Asked at
a news
conference
if the
father
could be
charged
for
purchasing
the gun
for the
son,
McDonald
said
that
would be
the
decision
of
federal
authorities.
In a
video
message
to the
community
Thursday,
the head
of
Oxford
Community
Schools
said the
high
school
looks
like a
“war
zone”
and
won’t be
ready
for
weeks.
Superintendent
Tim
Throne
repeatedly
complimented
students
and
staff
for how
they
responded
to the
violence.
He
also
acknowledged
the
meeting
of
Crumbley,
the
parents
and
school
officials.
Throne
offered
no
details
but
summed
it up by
saying,
“No
discipline
was
warranted.”
McDonald
was
asked
about
the
decision
to keep
Crumbley
in
school.
“Of
course,
he
shouldn’t
have
gone
back to
that
classroom.
... I
believe
that is
a
universal
position.
I’m not
going to
chastise
or
attack,
but
yeah,”
she
said.
Asked if
school
officials
may
potentially
be
charged,
McDonald
said:
“The
investigation’s
ongoing.”
___
White
reported
from
Detroit.
Associated
Press
journalist
Mike
Householder
in
Detroit
and
David
Eggert
in
Lansing,
Mich.,
also
contributed
to this
report.