UPDATE: Parents of Michigan boy charged, missing ahead of court appearance
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) – The parents of a teen accused of killing four students at a Michigan high school have been charged with involuntary manslaughter. Authorities also say they did not appear to court Friday afternoon, when they were scheduled to surrender.
A lawyer says the parents charged left town for their own safety but are returning to face arraignment. Shannon Smith spoke after authorities said they were searching for Jennifer and James Crumbley. They are the parents of Ethan Crumbley, who is charged with murder and terrorism in the deaths of four students at Oxford High School on Tuesday. Crumbley’s parents were charged Friday.
A prosecutor says they gave their son access to a gun and didn’t intervene despite problems at school that day. Smith says the parents have not fled from authorities. She didn’t say when they would appear in court.
Earlier Friday afternoon, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department says they were looking for the parents, and issued a "be on the lookout."
A prosecutor described chilling moments that day when a teacher found a drawing of a gun, a person bleeding and the words “blood everywhere” at the boy’s desk.
Prosecutor Karen McDonald says Jennifer and James Crumbley committed “egregious” acts, from buying the gun for Ethan Crumbley and failing to intervene when they were summoned to the school and confronted with the drawing. Police say he returned to class and later emerged from a bathroom with a gun, firing at students in the hallway.
On Wednesday, McDonald said a gun “seems to have been just freely available” to Ethan Crumbley.
The 15-year-old Crumbley has been charged as an adult with two dozen crimes, including murder and terrorism for a shooting Tuesday at Oxford High School in Oakland County, Michigan. The prosecutor says there are others “who should be held accountable."
Investigators say the semi-automatic gun was purchased by Crumbley’s father last week.
Crumbley has been denied bail and was moved to jail after being charged in the Michigan school shooting. Authorities on Wednesday revealed that his parents were summoned to discuss his behavior just a few hours before the bloodshed Tuesday.