Michigan school shooting: Suspect’s parents charged with manslaughter | Michigan

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The Michigan attorney general’s office said on Friday that manslaughter charges were brought against the parents of a child accused of killing four students at Oxford High School, after earlier saying their actions “exceeded negligence.”

Jennifer and James Cromple are charged with four counts of manslaughter.

“The parents were the only people in a position to have guns,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen MacDonald said Thursday.

The gun “appears to have been freely available to that individual.”

Ethan Curmbley, 15, was charged as an adult with twenty crimes, including murder, attempted murder and terrorism, in the Tuesday shootings at Oxford High School in Oakland County, about 30 miles north of Detroit.

Four students were killed and seven others were injured. Three of them are in stable condition in hospitals.

According to investigators, Cromble’s father legally purchased the semi-automatic rifle last week.

Parents were called to school a few hours before the shooting after a teacher found a drawing of a pistol, a person bleeding and the words “help me,” MacDonald said at a news conference on Friday morning.

Prosecutors released more details of drawings and writings by the gunman that suggested he might have been planning the shooting.

Authorities earlier said school officials met with him and his parents on the morning of the attack to discuss concerns about his behavior.

“Anyone who had the opportunity to stop this tragedy should have done so,” MacDonald said.

Parents in the United States are rarely charged for school shootings involving their children, even with most minors obtaining guns from the home of a parent or relative, according to experts.

“Ownership of a gun is a right, but with that right comes a great responsibility,” MacDonald said.

There is no law in Michigan that requires gun owners to keep guns in a closed place out of the reach of children. However, MacDonald suggested there was more to build the case.

“All I can say at this point is that these actions on behalf of my father and mother are beyond negligence,” she told local broadcaster WJR-AM.

“Obviously we are prosecuting the shooter to the max… There are other individuals who must be held accountable.”

Sheriff Mike Bouchard revealed, Wednesday, that parents met school officials about their son’s behavior in class, a few hours before the shooting.

MacDonald said information about what upset the school “will likely emerge soon”.

Police said Crombley stayed at school on Tuesday and later came out of the bathroom with a pistol shooting students in the hallway.

Tim Thrun, president of Oxford Community Schools, said the secondary school looked like a “war zone” and would not be ready for weeks. But he repeatedly praised the students and staff for how they responded to the violence.

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