UPDATE:
A tip has led police to James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of high school shooting suspect Ethan Crumbley. All three are now in police custody.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
James and Jennifer Crumbley may be the first parents of a school shooter ever charged with homicide.
It appears that Michigan prosecutors want to set a precedent for supposedly negligent parents of mass shooters.
At a press conference on Friday, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald leveled serious allegations against the Crumblys. According to McDonald, the couple knew their 15-year-old son, Ethan, represented a danger to the community. And yet, McDonald claimed, they did nothing to prevent his access to firearms.
WATCH:
An attorney for the parents previously said that James and Jennifer would turn themselves in if charged. However, they had not by Friday afternoon. Around that time, The Detroit News reported that both parents had stopped responding to their attorneys. However, lawyers for the couple later said that they had left town for their own safety and were returning for their arraignment.
“On Thursday night, we contacted the Oakland County prosecutor to discuss this matter and to advise her that James and Jennifer Crumbley would be turning themselves in to be arraigned,” Smith and Lehman told The Detroit News mid-afternoon Friday. “Instead of communicating with us, the prosecutor held a press conference to announce charges.
“The Crumbleys left town on the night of the tragic shooting for their own safety. They are returning to the area to be arraigned. They are not fleeing from law enforcement despite recent comments in media reports.”
But by Friday evening, federal marshals said they “have adopted the case of the search for James and Jennifer Crumbley” and would be working in conjunction with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office on the search.
The Crumbleys' case is charged in 52-3 District Court in Rochester Hills, and an arraignment was tentatively set for 4 p.m. Friday. But the court closed late Friday afternoon without any sighting of the Crumbleys.
Bad parenting to be sure, but that’s not illegal. We see bad negligent parents everywhere in our woke culture these days where no one is responsible for anything. School is responsible to some degree for allowing this kid back to the classroom, but that’s not illegal. Negligence on both sides, but this prosecutor is obviously making name for herself by overcharging and reinventing the law that isn’t there.