Jennifer Crumbley, the Michigan mother accused of involuntary manslaughter when she failed to inform her 15-year-old son’s high school that the family possessed guns shortly before he went to campus and fatally shot four students and injured six, including a teacher, was found guilty of all charges on Tuesday afternoon.
The verdict marked the first time a school shooter’s parent has been convicted of homicide in connection with the underlying violence. It came after jurors on Monday began deliberations in a case that could shape the future criminal liability of parents of underage mass shooters.
The maximum penalty for involuntary manslaughter under Michigan law is 15 years in prison.
Crumbley was accused by prosecutors of gross negligence for failing to tell Oxford high school officials that the family had guns, including a 9mm handgun that was used by her son, Ethan Crumbley, at a shooting range just a few days earlier.
The school’s inquiry came after it became concerned about a macabre drawing of a gun, bullet and wounded man, accompanied by disturbing phrases, on a math assignment. “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me. The world is dead. My life is useless,” the 15-year-old had written.
But during a 12-minute meeting with school officials, Crumbley, 45, and her husband James, 47, who is scheduled for trial in March, had not informed the school of the weapon at home and Ethan was allowed to stay in school.
Later that day, 30 November 2021, the teenager pulled the gun and 50 rounds of ammunition from his backpack and opened fire.
“He literally drew a picture of what he was going to do. It says, ‘Help me,’” the prosecutor Karen McDonald told the court during closing arguments on Friday, alleging that his mother knew that the gun in the boy’s drawing was identical to the new one at home.
“She knew it wasn’t stored properly,” McDonald added. “She knew that he was proficient with the gun. She knew he had access to ammunition.”
Investigators later found a text message in which Crumbley implored her son “don’t do it”, that was sent about an hour after the shootings started. Her lawyer said it was a message referring to the possibility he might kill himself.
In addition to knowledge of the gun, the Crumbleys are accused of ignoring their son’s mental health.
Prosecutors pointed to a journal found in their son’s backpack in which he had written that his parents ignored his pleas for help. They also presented evidence that Crumbley had group sex parties at hotels with a firefighter chief who was having an extramarital affair with her instead of addressing her son’s mental health.
“I have zero help for my mental problems and it’s causing me to shoot up the … school,” the boy wrote.
Ethan, now 17, pleaded guilty to murder and terrorism in 2022, acknowledging he had “knowingly, willfully and deliberately” chosen to shoot other students. He is now serving a life sentence.
The parents of the shooter have been in jail for more than two years, unable to post $500,000 bond while awaiting trial. Soon after charges against them were announced, they fled their home with $6,000 in cash and were arrested 13 hours later at an acquaintance’s art studio in Detroit.
At trial, Jennifer Crumbley’s defense attorney Shannon Smith had told jurors that a conviction would have a chilling effect on unwitting parents whose children break the law, that Ethan Crumbley was a “skilled manipulator”, and the mass shooting which the teenager carried out was not foreseeable.
“Unfortunately this is a case where the prosecution made a charging decision way too fast,” Smith argued. “It was motivated by obvious reasons, for political gain and done for media attention.”
During the trial, the court heard from Brian Meloche, the firefighter chief, that Crumbley was worried that her son was “going to do something dumb”.
The judge overseeing the case initially ruled that Crumbley’s affair would be kept out of the case. But during the trial, she dropped the objection.
Her attorney told the court that Crumbley “had an affair” but it did not mean she was responsible for the killings by her son.
“Lots of people have affairs,” the attorney said. “Doesn’t mean you know your kid’s a school shooter. Doesn’t mean you know your child is going to kill people.”
