CONVICTED. The parents of a 15-year-old student of Oxford High School, who pleaded guilty to mass shootings in school on November 30, 2021, were sentenced to 15 years of jail time on April 9, 2024, for involuntary manslaughter. Jennifer and James Crumbley were sentenced to 10 and 15 years of prison time, respectively, for four counts of manslaughter after they failed to secure the handgun used by their son, Ethan, to commit the crime. (Anadolu)
HOUSTON, United States – The first parents ever to be charged for their child's mass shooting were sentenced Tuesday in the US state of Michigan to a decade of prison time.
Jennifer and James Crumbley, whose son, Ethan, then 15 years old, murdered four students on Nov. 30, 2021 at Oxford High School, were sentenced 10 to 15 years, respectively, according to media outlets. They will receive credit for more than two years already served.
Both were convicted of involuntary manslaughter in separate trials weeks earlier, making them the first-ever parents to be held accountable for their child’s actions in a deadly school shooting.
Judge Cheryl Matthews said the decision should serve as a deterrent to other parents to try to stop school shootings.
"Opportunity knocked over and over again, louder and louder, and was ignored," she said. "No one answered and these two people should have and sure didn’t."
"These convictions confirm repeated acts or lack of acts that could have halted an oncoming runaway train," she added.
James Crumbley addressed the courtroom with a statement apologizing to the victims of his son's violent rampage.
"I want to say I can't imagine the pain and agony ... for the families that have lost their children and what they are experiencing and what they are going through," he said.
"As a parent, our biggest fear is losing our child or our children, and to lose a child is unimaginable. My heart is really broken for everybody involved,” he added. (Anadolu)
