Parents of US school shooter to stand trial for negligent behaviour towards gun safety

The parents of a teenager who carried out a school shooting in November 2021 in the US city of Michigan will have to face a trial on involuntary manslaughter charges after losing an appeal as prosecutors are attempting to shift some of the responsibility on the perpetrator’s family.

As reported by CBS Detroit, parents James and Jennifer Crumbley are accused of keeping a gun accessible to their son Ethan Crumbley and for ignoring his mental health needs. The involvement of family members happens rarely in the long history of US school shootings.

Their son killed four students as well as wounding six others and a teacher at Oxford High, north of Detroit. The parents were being held in custody shortly after the shooting as they were unable to afford the $500,000 bond while their son is being kept at the same jail, awaiting sentencing.

The parents' attorneys argue that the school shooting could not have been predicted by the parents and ask for the charges against them to be minimized to involuntary manslaughter, carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years.