Second historic ruling in the United States in a case that could mark a before and after in the trials against school gunmen. A Michigan jury found James Crumbley, the father of a teenager who killed four students at Oxford High School in the same state, guilty of involuntary manslaughter on Thursday.
The guilty plea comes weeks after his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, became the first mother in the country to stand trial for a shooting committed by her son, Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 at the time and is currently He is serving a life sentence.
The two parents were accused of allowing their son to have access to the weapon with which he committed the crime, a pistol that the father had purchased just four days before the shooting.
In addition, the parents have been accused of having ignored their son's mental health problems, which were evident, for example, in a drawing he made of a gun and a wounded man with phrases such as: "Thoughts cannot be stop. Help me. My life has no meaning."
In the shooting that occurred on November 30, 2021 at a high school in the municipality of Oxford (Michigan), four students were killed and six other students and a teacher were injured.
The teenager pleaded guilty to one crime of terrorism, four counts of murder and 19 other charges related to the massacre. At his trial, he testified that the gun was not locked when he put it in his backpack before going to school.
