How Jennifer and James Crumbley spent hours on the run
An expert has revealed why alleged school shooter Ethan Crumbley may turn on his parents, who have been charged over the massacre.
Alleged school shooter Ethan Crumbley could get a lighter sentence if he blames his parents for giving him the gun used in the shooting, said an expert.
Lawyer Matthew Barhoma, founder of Barhoma Law, PC, told The Sun, Ethan’s parents and “anyone else in a position to help” could have addressed the “deeper rooted issues” in the teen’s life.
Ethan’s parents, Jennifer and James, have also been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
“It’s very unfortunate to see yet another school shooting. However, this one cuts deeper as it appears to have been so preventable,” he said. “First, you have exchanges between Ethan and his mother, where she is texting him, ‘Ethan. Don’t do it.’ Moreover, the father called 911 suspecting his son to be the shooter.”
Given the Crumbleys’ possible knowledge, Mr Barhoma believes the prosecution may even amend the charges to include a higher level of culpability after the couple went on the run for 11 hours.
“If there is evidence that they had a deeper level of knowledge, you may even see them become more aiders and abetters than mere individuals with a duty to act with an omission of intervention.“ he said. “After all, he is a 15-year-old child. Usually, no one exerts a greater influence on a child’s life than their parents,” he said.
Mr Barhoma added that Ethan’s best possible defence is to “claim delusion or insanity for the upbringing his parents gave him.“
Parents went ‘on the run’ after shooting
On Friday afternoon, local time, Jennifer and James Crumbley reportedly withdrew $4000 from an ATM and turned off their phones.
The Michigan couple were captured early on Saturday in the basement of a building in Detroit, less than half a mile from the Canadian borde, and charged with four counts each of involuntary manslaughter over the killings allegedly carried out by their 15-year-old son, Ethan, at Detroit’s Oxford High School.
Since the shooting on Tuesday — the deadliest to occur at a US school this year — details steadily emerged suggesting the Crumbleys’ culpability, with Oakland County prosecutor Karen D McDonald stating they had not only allowed their son access to a handgun, but ignored glaring warnings that he was on the brink of violence.
According to their lawyers, the Crumbleys were forced to leave town for “their own safety”. They were not fleeing from authorities, and intended to voluntarily return.
“Last night and throughout the day, we were in contact with our clients — they were scared, they were terrified, they were not at home, they were figuring out what to do, getting finances in order,” their lawyer, Shannon Smith, said during the couple’s arraignment.
“This case is absolutely the saddest, most tragic, worst case imaginable, there is absolutely no doubt. But our clients were absolutely going to turn themselves in — it was just a matter of logistics and all the prosecution had to do was communicate with me about it, and we tried multiple times.”
Their other lawyer, Mariell Lehman, insisted neither of the Crumbleys is “a flight risk” or “danger to the community”.
“There’s no risk that they’re going to flee prosecution. They were never fleeing prosecution,” she added.
Law enforcement officials, however, were not convinced. The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office confirmed authorities were searching for the parents, releasing wanted posters and offering a reward of $US10,000 ($A14,000) for information leading to the “fugitives’” arrest.
“If they think they are going to get away, they are not,” Sheriff Michael Bouchard told CNN, who, asked if the Crumbleys were “missing now”, replied, “Correct”.
“The action of fleeing and ignoring their lawyer certainly adds weight to the charges. They cannot run from their part in this tragedy,” he added in a statement.
“We have our Fugitive Apprehension Team, the FBI and the US Marshals Service and others actively looking for them and have every expectation we’ll have them in custody soon.”
“So the Crumbleys are missing now?â€
— Acyn (@Acyn) December 3, 2021
“Correct†pic.twitter.com/fbFTocjReM
After an hours-long manhunt, police found the couple inside a Detroit warehouse in the early hours of Saturday morning, local time, after receiving a tip-off from a member of the public who’d spotted the black 2021 Kia Seltos SUV they were believed to be driving outside.
“The owner of the building arrived and saw the car in the back parking lot, knew it didn’t belong there and went to investigate,” Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe told local paper, The Detroit Free Press.
After checking the vehicle’s license plate against information put out by law enforcement and discovering it was the same car, the building’s owner called police.
The Crumbleys were arrested at about 1.45am and taken to Oakland County Jail. Detroit Police Chief James White said they “appeared to be hiding inside the building” but were unarmed and did not resist when officers found them.
There were no signs that the couple wanted to be found, he added, saying it wasn’t “indicative of turning themselves in”, despite their lawyers repeated insistence that was the plan.
The warehouse was about 80 kilometres from the Crumbleys’ home, near the United States’ northern border with Canada.
Chief White said the couple were “aided” in getting access to the building, and charges may be filed as a result. One official told CNN the Detroit Police Department has identified a person of interest who was seen on surveillance footage guiding the Crumbleys as they parked their car in the back of the building.
“We believe they were assisted in that location to get there, to get in. And we‘re gathering that information and we’re going to have the totality of that done fairly soon,” Mr Bouchard said.
“Given that they were hiding in a warehouse in Detroit, it certainly raises my eyebrows.”
During the arraignment, Ms McDonald echoed the sentiment, doubling down on officials’ scepticism that the Crumbleys — who have pleaded not guilty to all charges — were planning on turning themselves in to authorities.
“This is a very serious, horrible, terrible murder and shooting, and it has affected the entire community, and these two individuals could have stopped it … These are not people that we can be assured will return to court on their own,” she said.
“I can’t imagine why they were surprised. The whole country knew that these charges were coming.
“To suggest that anyone is somehow using this incident to create press, there’s a lot of attention here — because four children were murdered and seven others were injured. And that is on the mind of every single person in this country.”
In a press conference after the arraignment, Mr Bouchard said the entire Crumbley family are now in the same jail.
“They are segregated, each individually in isolation. We have advanced watch on them,” he said.
– with Sam Clench
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