Parents of US school shooting suspect charged with involuntary manslaughter
3 December 2021, 17:43 | Updated: 4 December 2021, 01:11
The parents of a teenager suspected of killing four students and wounding seven others in a school shooting have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
James and Jennifer Crumbley were each charged with four counts of the charge.
A fugitive warrant has since been issued for the pair who are said to have gone missing.
Authorities say their 15-year-old son Ethan of opening fire at a school in Michigan on Tuesday, in which four people died.
Three of the victims at Oxford High School – about 30 miles north of Detroit - died on Tuesday while a fourth died in hospital on Wednesday.
Read more: Three students killed and six injured in US high school shooting
Seven students and a teacher were also shot before Crumbley surrendered to police. He has been charged with two dozen crimes as an adult, including murder, attempted murder and terrorism.
The semi-automatic gun used in the shooting had been bought legally by Crumbley's father last week, investigators said.
"The parents were the only individuals in the position to know the access to weapons," said Oakland County porsecutor Karen McDonald.
She said it "seems to have been just freely available to that individual" and that the parents' actions went "far beyond negligence".
