Mother of School Shooter Found Guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter

Imagine you are found guilty for an act you did not even commit. This just happened to Jennifer Crumbley, mother of Ethan Crumbley who killed our students at his high school in 2021. This case became a historic landmark case, capturing the attention of the entire nation.

BREAKING: A Michigan jury has found Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the Oxford High School shooter, guilty of all four counts of involuntary manslaughter. pic.twitter.com/8MqB0SW3Uh

— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 6, 2024

Jennifer was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the connection to the deaths of four students at Oxford High School.

ABC News has more on the victims of the event:

Crumbley was found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting, one for each victim: Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Justin Shilling, 17; and Hana St. Juliana, 14.

The jury was in deliberation for eleven long hours, and the official sentencing will be on April 9th.

This case is one of the most rare cases of parents who are being charged in connection with a shooting carried out by their children.

NBC News has more on the jury’s decision and the sentencing:

Now, she faces up to 15 years in prison per count and remains held on bond. She will be sentenced April 9.

“It was very difficult,” a member of the jury said after the verdict. “Lives hung in the balance, and we took that very seriously.”

The juror said the decision hinged in large part on who was the last adult to handle the weapon.

“The thing that really hammered it home was that she was the last adult with the gun,” the juror said.

The trial, which opened Jan. 25 in an Oakland County courtroom, hit at themes of good parenting and gun safety, and it has come at a consequential moment in the U.S. when a drumbeat of school shootings have roiled communities like Uvalde, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; and Perry, Iowa.

In an effort to determine to what extent a parent should be held accountable for the actions of their child, jurors in Oakland County examined more than 400 pieces of evidence, including text messages and photos from Crumbley’s cellphone, and dramatic video of the shooting spree, which left many in the courtroom visibly shaken.

This historic and unprecedented verdict has stirred up some mixed emotions on X.

An example of some things parents are worried about with the Jennifer Crumbley verdict.

Got this text this morning. pic.twitter.com/YLTJtp1Hgh

— iCkEdMeL ☀🔎🔥 (@iCkEdMeL) February 7, 2024

I have to tell you, the Jennifer Crumbley verdict has absolutely made my week! I feel so encouraged by this! Finally, there is accountability for this mass shooting. I know I’m not alone in this, but I have been literally crying, begging for gun reform and safety. This is the… pic.twitter.com/peneGaIOdw

—  Let it Ride 🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@kathrynresists) February 7, 2024

The right outcome. She ignored the warning signs and allowed her son continued gun access: Jennifer Crumbley, mother of Ethan Crumbley, found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in son’s school shooting https://t.co/9gUmRvNTcm via @nbcnews

— Frank Figliuzzi (@FrankFigliuzzi1) February 6, 2024

Fox News has more on the timeline of events for the incident:

Prosecutors suggested Jennifer could have stopped the shooting before it happened when she arrived at Oxford High on the morning of Nov. 30, 2021, to meet with school counselors after Ethan was caught scrawling disturbing notes in class.

“You could have been with him,” Oakland County assistant prosecutorMarc Keast said Friday.

Instead of taking their son home, prosecutors said, Jennifer and her husband left him at school and went about their day. Ethan later took a gun from his backpack and shot a total of 11 people, four of whom died.

Prosecutors also said Ethan Crumbley made a 19-minute video the day before the shooting describing what he was going to do in school the next day.

After the shooting, the Crumbleys allegedly fled Oxford and went to Detroit following some initial questioning from police. U.S. Marshals eventually apprehended them days later on Dec. 4, 2021.

Jennifer’s husband, James, is set for trial on Tuesday, March 5th, 2024.