A makeshift memorial sits outside Oxford High School on Wednesday, a day after four students were shot dead and seven wounded in Oxford, Mich.
Image by Scott Olson / Getty
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Image by Scott Olson / Getty
A makeshift memorial sits outside Oxford High School on Wednesday, a day after four students were shot dead and seven wounded in Oxford, Mich.
Image by Scott Olson / Getty
The parents of a teenager accused of killing four students and wounding seven others at a Michigan high school this week may face charges on their own.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said she is reviewing charges against the parents of 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, the suspect in Tuesday’s mass shooting at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit.
Prosecutors allege the 9mm pistol Crumbley used in the shooting was purchased by his father days before the massacre.
“We know that owning a gun means properly securing it and locking it and keeping ammunition separate and out of reach of other individuals, especially minors,” McDonald said at a press conference on Wednesday, according to Detroit Free Press.
“We have to hold individuals accountable for not doing it,” she said.
McDonald’s did not elaborate on the exact nature of the charges being considered against the parents.
Meanwhile, the suspect was charged as an adult and faces dozens of charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder and one count of terrorism.
That last fee – according to Michigan’s Anti-Terrorism Regulation 2002 – was also unexpected, and McDonald’s admitted it too, saying it was “not a typical, usual fee.”
“What about all the kids running, screaming, hiding under the desks? What about all the kids at home right now, unable to eat or sleep and can’t imagine a world where they could step by step foot back. that school? So are the victims, their families and the community,” McDonald said. “The terrorism charge reflects that.”
Based on Related press, anti-terrorism laws have been used before in the state – in 2012, against a man who shot from his car while passing vehicles along Michigan interstate, and in 2005, against against a teenager who plotted a school shooting.
Authorities said Wednesday that the suspect’s parents were summoned to the school to discuss the behavior issue with their son on the morning of the shooting.
Authorities did not provide a possible motive, but McDonald’s said there was a “mountain of digital evidence” against Crumbley suggesting that the massacre was pre-planned.
“This is not just an impulsive act,” she said.
Assistant prosecutor Marc Keast said the suspect “deliberately carried a handgun that day with the intention of killing as many students as possible.”
Lieutenant Tim Willis of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said investigators found a video recorded the night before the shooting in which the suspect talked about killing a classmate.
