Emily Race
The First Charges
Gun ownership and gun reform are central points of contention in today’s political landscape. The number of gun-violence related incidents in K-12 schools has been steadily rising since 2021, peaking at 349 last year.[1] So far in 2024, there have been 237 shootings at K-12 schools.[2] Amid the immediate sorrow and grief following these events, there seems to always be a conversation around the role of the child’s environment in motivating their actions; specifically, whether their home lives may have pushed them to the point of violence.
James and Jennifer Crumbley, parents of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley, were each found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year.[3] The November 2021 shooting resulted in the death of four students, with seven additional Oxford High School students and faculty sustaining injuries.[4] Ethan himself was found guilty of four counts of murder and twenty additional felony charges, including terrorism causing death.[5] He was sentenced at the end of 2023 to life in prison without the possibility of parole, which he has since appealed.[6]
The charges against the Crumbleys were not rooted in theories that they were accomplices to the shooting or that they had explicit knowledge of their son’s plans.[7] Rather, the prosecution argued that the Crumbleys failed to intervene in their son’s struggles to such a degree that it rose to a level of guilt under Michigan law.[8]
There were a number of unique, incriminating facts indicating gross negligence on the part of the Crumbleys. Mr. Crumbley purchased the weapon used in the tragic shooting just three days prior.[9] Despite the gun being sold with a trigger lock,[10] he failed to properly secure and store it where Ethan did not have access to it.[11] Ethan had been dealing with paranoia and delusions, and had made his parents aware of these struggles via text messages spanning back several months.[12] The morning prior to the shooting, Ethan was seen by a teacher looking at ammunition for the handgun his father had just purchased for him.[13] School officials met with Ethan and notified Jennifer via voicemail, but he was permitted to return to class.[14]
The following day, the Crumbleys were called once again to discuss a “troubling picture” drawn by Ethan on a math test, including the words “Help me” and drawings of handguns and people with bullet wounds.[15] This time, however, school officials had grown so concerned that they asked the Crumbleys to come to the school and discuss Ethan’s mental health.[16] Despite growing concern from school officials and requests to remove Ethan from school for the day, Mr. Crumbley stated he and his wife had to “go to work,” and left.[17] Mere hours later, Ethan began shooting.[18]
Involuntary manslaughter is not codified in Michigan, but the common law definition provides that “if [a homicide] was committed with a lesser mens rea of gross negligence … it is not murder, but only involuntary manslaughter.”[19] The initial felony complaints alleged that the Crumbleys had committed a “grossly negligent failure … to exercise reasonable care to control [their] minor child so as to prevent him from intentionally harming others …”.[20] The prosecution argued the causal role that the Crumbleys played in the injury of the shooting’s victims was twofold: the factual but-for causation[21] resulting from their decision to leave Ethan in school the day of the shooting, and the proximate causation resulting from their failing to provide support to Ethan.[22]
Georgia Follows Suit
The charges filed against the Crumbleys were the first of their kind in the United States,[23] but they were not the last. Similar circumstances in Barrow County, Georgia prompted authorities to charge the father of a 14-year-old gunman in recent weeks.[24] Colt Gray opened fire in Apalachee High School the morning of September 4, 2024, killing four people and wounding nine others in a matter of minutes.[25] By September 5, his father, Colin Gray, had been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children.[26]
Georgia law states that second-degree murder occurs when a person “causes the death of another human being” while “in the commission of cruelty to children in the second degree.”[27] Cruelty to children in the second degree is found when a parent of a child under age 18 “causes a child under the age of 18 cruel or excessive physical or mental pain” with “criminal negligence.”[28] Efforts to establish a causal link between Colin’s actions and the resulting shooting will likely follow the framework seen in the Crumbleys’ case. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation stated on September 5 that Colin “knowingly allowed” his son to have access to the firearm used in the shooting,[29] a fact which proved central to establishing guilt in the Crumbleys’ case.
Alternate Theories of Guilt
These charges being brought against parents is a decision whose impact has not become clear just yet. It brings about questions of whether other adults involved in a child’s life, including coaches, counselors, and other immediate family members, may be charged with similar crimes in the future. The logic behind these convictions has been rooted in the idea that people with concrete knowledge of the capabilities of a potential school shooter failed to either notify those who could prevent it, or take preemptive measures to mitigate the risk.[30] However, as some experts have pointed out, the facts in these cases provided ample evidence for elevated charges; it is unlikely that this will always be the case in the future.[31]
Many have argued that parents of school shooters should be held responsible under another theory – child neglect.[32] The nature vs nurture debate is inherently woven into any discussion of parental responsibility, and the parents of school shooters are no exception.[33] Multiple school officials noted the Crumbleys withdrawn demeanor when interacting with their son, even pointing out that neither parent “greet[ed], touch[ed], or hug[ged]” him when they were called into the school the morning of the shooting.[34] While this singular instance cannot certainly be indicative of a neglectful home life, it was abnormal enough to catch their attention.
A study performed by the Journal of Pediatric Health Care found that 72% of school shooters experienced one or more adverse childhood experience.[35] Adverse childhood experiences include mental and physical neglect, mental illness in one or more household members, addiction or alcoholism of a household member, and bullying.[36]
What This Means for North Carolina
North Carolina has recently had the opportunity to prosecute the parent of a mass shooter, but did not file charges for manslaughter or murder.[37] A 15-year-old Raleigh, North Carolina resident killed five in a neighborhood shooting on October 12, 2022.[38] His father, Alan Thompson, was charged with storing a firearm in a manner accessible to a minor, and was sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation just last week.[39] The prosecution admitted to watching the progression of the cases in both Michigan and Georgia, but this case was not comparable.[40] There were no warning signs from the child that something like this could occur, unlike the previous cases.[41]
The elevation from charges of negligence or child endangerment to ones of involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder brought against parents of school shooters reflects the growing impatience of the American people. Perhaps charging parents to such an extreme degree will help to increase vigilance when it comes to their children’s mental and behavioral health.[42] The rise in both instances of violence and lives lost each year due to school shootings[43] is ringing alarm bells in courtrooms across the country, and it is only a matter of time before North Carolina could be forced to weigh in.
[1] David Riedman, Number of Shootings at Schools From 1966-2024, K-12 School Shooting Database. https://k12ssdb.org/all-shootings (last visited Sept. 22, 2024).
[2] Id.
[3] Quinn Klinefelter, James Crumbley, Father of School Shooter, Found Guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter, NPR (Mar. 14, 2024, 9:15 PM) https://www.npr.org/2024/03/14/1238641709/james-crumbley-guilty-oxford-school-shooting-involuntary-manslaughter.
[4] Id.
[5] Cassidy Johncox, Oxford High School Shooter Pleads Guilty to 24 Felony Charges, Click On Detroit (Oct. 24, 2022) https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2022/10/24/oxford-high-school-shooter-pleads-guilty-to-24-felony-charges/.
[6] DeJanay Booth-Singleton, Oxford High School Shooter Appeals Life Sentence; Attorney Argues New Evidence Doesn’t Support It, CBS News Detroit (June 7, 2024 7:03 PM) https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/oxford-high-school-shooter-appeals-life-sentence/.
[7] People v. Crumbley, 346 Mich. App. 144, 171, 175 (2023).
[8] Id at 175.
[9] Id at 154.
[10] Id.
[11] Klinefelter, supra note 3.
[12] People v. Crumbley, 346 Mich. App. 144, 151-52 (2023).
[13] Id at 155.
[14] Id.
[15] Klinefelter, supra note 3.
[16] People v. Crumbley, 346 Mich. App. 144, 159 (2023).
[17] Klinefelter, supra note 3.
[18] Id.
[19] People v. Holtschlag, 684 N.W.2d 730, 742 (2004).
[20] People v. Crumbley, 346 Mich. App. 144, 163-64 (2023).
[21] Id at 171.
[22] Id at 172-73.
[23] Id at 173.
[24] Emily Cochrane and Jacey Fortin, Father of Accused Georgia Shooter Charged with Two Counts of Second-Degree Murder, The New York Times (Sept. 5, 2024) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/05/us/georgia-school-shooting-colt-gray-father.html.
[25] Press Release, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, GBI Investigates School Shooting in Barrow County (Sept. 6, 2024) (on file with author) https://gbi.georgia.gov/press-releases/2024-09-06/gbi-investigates-school-shooting-barrow-county.
[26] Id.
[27] Ga. Stat. § 16-5-1 (2014).
[28] Ga. Stat. § 16-5-70 (2024).
[29] Press Release, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, GBI Investigates School Shooting in Barrow County (Sept. 6, 2024) (on file with author) https://gbi.georgia.gov/press-releases/2024-09-06/gbi-investigates-school-shooting-barrow-county.
[30] People v. Crumbley, 346 Mich. App. 144, 164 (2023).
[31] See Stephanie Desmon, What The Conviction of A Parent of A School Shooter Could Mean, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Mar. 1, 2024) https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2024/the-conviction-of-a-parent-of-a-school-shooter-and-gun-violence-laws.
[32] See April Rubin, Prosecutors Use Existing Laws in New Ways to Hold School Shooter Parents Accountable, Axios (Sept. 10, 2024) https://www.axios.com/2024/09/10/parents-school-shooting-charges-accountability-georgia-michigan.
[33] Id.
[34] People v. Crumbley, 346 Mich. App. 144, 160 (2023).
[35] Elizabeth Burgess Dowdell, et al., School Shooters: Patterns of Adverse Childhood Experiences, Bullying, and Social Media, 36 J. Pediatric Health Care 339, 341 (2022).
[36] Id at 340.
[37] Father of Accused Hedingham Mass Shooting Suspect Pleads Guilty to Gun Storage Charge, ABC 11 (Sept. 25, 2024) https://abc11.com/post/mass-shooting-hedingham-raleigh-alan-thompson-guilty-weapon-charge-son-austin/15353829/.
[38] Raleigh Shooting, WUNC North Carolina Public Radio https://www.wunc.org/raleigh-shooting (last visited Sept. 30, 2024.
[39] Father of Accused Hedingham Mass Shooting Suspect Pleads Guilty to Gun Storage Charge, ABC 11 (Sept. 25, 2024) https://abc11.com/post/mass-shooting-hedingham-raleigh-alan-thompson-guilty-weapon-charge-son-austin/15353829/.
[40] Id.
[41] Id.
[42] Desmon, supra note 31.
[43] David Riedman, Number of Shootings at Schools From 1966-2024, K-12 School Shooting Database. https://k12ssdb.org/all-shootings (last visited Sept. 22, 2024).
