PONTIAC, Mich. -- A Michigan prosecutor has filed charges against the parents of the 15-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting high school classmates this week, a rare move that she said was justified by the "egregious" facts of the case.
James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of shooting suspect Ethan Crumbley, each face four counts of involuntary manslaughter, Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald announced Friday. She said the Crumbleys bought a semi-automatic handgun as a gift for their son, who used it to kill four Oxford High School students and wound seven people Tuesday in the deadliest school shooting in more than three years.
"While the shooter was the one who entered the high school and pulled the trigger, there were other individuals who contributed to the events," McDonald said.
"I expect parents and everyone to have humanity and to step in and stop a potential tragedy," she said. "The conclusion I draw is that there was absolute reason to believe this individual was dangerous and disturbed."
Oakland County authorities said they are searching for the Crumbleys. Sheriff Mike Bouchard said their attorney, Shannon Smith, had agreed to arrange their arrest if charges were filed but hadn't been able to reach them.
Smith said the Crumbleys weren't on the run and had left town earlier in the week "for their own safety."
"They are returning to the area to be arraigned," he told The Associated Press.
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The decision to file charges against the parents comes after investigators say they identified multiple failures to act on Ethan Crumbley's increasingly troubling behavior. Authorities said James Crumbley bought the 9mm Sig Sauer SP 2022 pistol on Nov. 26, and an employee of Acme Shooting Goods in Oxford, Mich., confirmed that Ethan accompanied his father in the store, McDonald said.
The details she described from the forthcoming criminal complaint against the parents reveal that the Crumbleys bought the gun for their son, then failed to secure it, leaving it in an unlocked drawer of their bedroom.
Jennifer Crumbley and her son referred to the new gun in social media posts that McDonald cited. Ethan posted a photo of it to his Instagram page, writing a caption interspersed with heart emoji that read, "just got my new beauty today, Sig Sauer nine millimeter. Any questions I will answer."
Jennifer Crumbley wrote a post of her own on social media: "Mom and son day testing out his new Christmas present." McDonald told The Washington Post that the post was a reference to a visit the two made to a gun range.
Officials at Oxford High first raised concerns about Ethan's behavior Monday, when a teacher noticed him using his cellphone to search for information on ammunition, according to reports. Jennifer Crumbley did not respond when the school contacted her via voicemail about her son's "inappropriate" search, McDonald said.
Instead, she exchanged a text message with her son that read, "LOL I'm not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught."
The school's concerns grew more acute the morning of the shooting. The Crumbleys had been summoned to a meeting by school administrators after a teacher found a troubling note in Ethan's desk, McDonald said. It contained a drawing of a semi-automatic handgun pointing at the words "The thoughts won't stop. Help me."
Another section of the note had a drawing of a bullet with the words, "blood everywhere." There was also a drawing of a bloody figure with two gunshot wounds, McDonald said, and another drawing of a laughing emoji.
The teen also wrote, "My life is useless," and "The world is dead," according to the prosecutor.
Ethan altered the note, McDonald said, scratching out the most disturbing parts by the time the meeting with his parents began shortly after 10 a.m. Tuesday.
'unconscionable'
McDonald said the teen took his backpack to the counselor's office to meet with his parents and noted that at no point did his parents ask about the gun. McDonald said neither the Crumbleys nor school officials searched the backpack.
The parents were told to get their child into counseling within 48 hours, McDonald said. The Crumbleys "resisted the idea of their son leaving the school at that time," she said. Instead, Ethan returned to class.
"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.
Less than three hours later, the first 911 calls poured in about shots fired at the school.
"Ethan, don't do it," Jennifer Crumbley texted to her son when news of the active shooting went public, McDonald said. Moments after the text, McDonald said James Crumbley drove home to check on his son's gun. When he found it missing, he called 911 and said his son might be the shooter, according to reports.
David Chipman, a veteran Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent who was once nominated to lead the agency, said if prosecutors find evidence that the shooter's parents acted unlawfully, the criminal justice system has a duty to act.
"As gun owners, we have a responsibility that when we acquire firearms, we don't put our neighbors, and in particular their children, at risk," Chipman said. "If a parent provided their car to an unlicensed teen for a night of drunken joyriding, no one would be shocked if a prosecutor sought to hold the adults accountable."
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 complimented students and staff members for how they responded to the violence.
He also acknowledged the meeting with Ethan, his parents and school officials. Throne offered no details, but said, "No discipline was warranted."
McDonald was asked about the decision to keep Ethan 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 might be charged, she said: "The investigation's ongoing."
But, "looking at that drawing, it's impossible not to conclude that there was a reason to believe he was going to hurt somebody," McDonald said. She noted that the gun-shop owner is not under investigation because the elder Crumbley purchased the gun legally. In Michigan, children can be at gun stores and shooting ranges if supervised by parents.
McDonald on Friday rejected the idea that she was trying to set a new standard for prosecuting mass shootings and said she has "tremendous compassion and empathy" for parents whose children have struggles that may precede an incident such as this.
"I am by no means saying that an active-shooter situation should always result in a criminal prosecution against parents," she said. "But the facts of this case are so egregious."
NO ONE HOME
The Crumbleys have shared little with investigators or the public, declining to let investigators question their son when he was detained, according to sources.
The family's house has been vacant in recent days. Neighbors, relatives and former employers have declined to discuss the family or have not responded to requests for comment.
YouTube videos posted by a chipper, 10-year-old Ethan Crumbley in 2016 showed the family vacationing in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where the family strolled next to Lake Superior and visited a bear zoo. Other videos posted on Facebook by James Crumbley, which have since been taken down, showed him pranking his wife by pretending to have gotten an electric shock, and both parents daring Ethan to eat a dollop of horseradish.
The posts give no indication of political activities, although in 2016, Jennifer Crumbley posted on her blog an admiring open letter to former President Donald Trump, who had just been elected.
She described herself as a Realtor and "the opposite of your typical 'republican'" -- a pro-choice feminist who supported the LGBT community and did not believe in God. She also thanked Trump for "allowing my right to bear arms," which she said allowed her to "be protected if I show a home to someone with bad intentions."
Elsewhere, she described herself as an animal lover and runner; complained to a local newspaper about potholes; and created a Pinterest board with ideas for decorating Ethan's room. A state website indicates that her real estate license lapsed in 2018.
The Crumbleys made a brief virtual appearance at their son's arraignment Wednesday as he faced 24 charges: one count of terrorism causing death, four counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of assault with intent to commit murder and 12 counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. They appeared side-by-side briefly before turning off their cameras for the remainder of the hearing.
McDonald and the sheriff, speaking at a news conference Thursday, reiterated their commitment to strict enforcement of gun laws.
"Responsible gun owners have a right to possess a gun, but with it comes responsibility," McDonald said, "and making it accessible and not securing it and allowing it in the hands of somebody that show signs that they may hurt somebody is not OK."
In Michigan, gun owners are not required to lock up their weapons or keep them away from children, according to the San Francisco-based Giffords Law Center. Even in the 30 states that have passed some form of a child-access protection law, researchers say, the laws are often not enforced and the penalties are weak.
Charging parents of juvenile shooters is uncommon, with just four reported instances in which the adult owners of the weapons were criminally punished because they failed to lock firearms that were fired by a child, according to an analysis by The Washington Post.
Information for this article was contributed by Karin Brulliard, Kim Bellware, Paulina Firozi, Meryl Kornfield, Griff Witte, John Woodrow Cox and Mark Berman of The Washington Post; and by Corey Williams, Ed White, Mike Householder and David Eggert of The Associated Press.
Deputies with the Oakland County sheriff’s office keep watch Friday in Oxford, Mich., outside the residence of James and Jennifer Crumbley, parents of Ethan Crumbley. The Crumbleys are facing charges, along with their son, in the fatal shooting at Ethan’s high school last week. Authorities were searching for the parents to arrest them. Their attorney said they had left town “for their own safety.” (AP/The Flint Journal/Jake May)
James and Jennifer Crumbley are shown Wednesday during the video arraignment of their son, Ethan, in Rochester Hills, Mich. Authorities said Jennifer Crumbley and her son appeared to brag in social media posts about the gun James Crumbley bought for Ethan on Nov. 26. (AP)
The booking photo of Ethan Crumbley, 15, was released by the Oakland County, Mich., sheriff’s office. (AP/Oakland County sheriff’s office)