Later that day, on Nov. 30, 2021, the 15-year-old pulled a handgun from his backpack and began shooting at the school. Ethan, now 17, is serving a life sentence for murder and other crimes.
Before sentencing, family members of the students killed in the shooting asked a judge to sentence the parents to 10 years, condemning them as failures whose selfishness led to four deaths and a community tragedy.
“The blood of our children is on your hands, too,” said Craig Shilling, wearing a hoodie with the image of son Justin Shilling on his chest.
Nicole Beausoleil, the mother of Madisyn Baldwin, recalled simple things she enjoyed doing for her daughter, such as scheduling an oil change for her car or helping choose senior year classes.
“While you were purchasing a gun for your son and leaving it unlocked, I was helping her finish her college essays,” Beausoleil told James and Jennifer Crumbley.
Five deputies in the courtroom stood watch over the Crumbleys and more lined the walls. They are the first parents convicted in a U.S. mass school shooting.
Prosecutors said “tragically simple actions” by both parents could have stopped the catastrophe.
The couple had separate trials in Oakland County court, 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Detroit. Jurors heard how the teen had drawn a gun, a bullet and a gunshot victim on a math assignment, accompanied by grim phrases, “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me. My life is useless. Blood everywhere.”
Ethan told a counselor he was sad — a grandmother had died, and his only friend suddenly had moved away — but said the drawing only reflected his interest in creating video games.
The Crumbleys attended a meeting at the school that lasted less than 15 minutes. They did not mention that the gun resembled one James Crumbley, 47, had purchased just four days earlier — a Sig Sauer 9 mm that Ethan had described on social media as his “beauty.”
His parents declined to take him home, choosing instead to return to…
Read the full article here
