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04 December 2021

Parents of teenager charged with killing four students in school shooting deny involuntary manslaughter

04 December 2021

The parents of a teenager charged with killing four students at a Michigan high school have pleaded not guilty to four counts of involuntary manslaughter.

A judge imposed a combined one million dollar (£754,000) bond for James and Jennifer Crumbley, hours after police said they had been caught hiding in a commercial building in Detroit.

The pair entered not guilty pleas to each of the four involuntary manslaughter counts against them during a hearing held on Zoom.

Judge Julie Nicholson assigned a bond of 500,000 dollars (£377,000) apiece to each of the parents and placed other requirements on them such as GPS monitoring, agreeing with prosecutors that they posed a flight risk.

A prosecutor had filed charges against the parents on Friday, accusing them of failing to intervene on the day of the shooting in Oxford High School in Michigan despite being confronted with a drawing and a chilling message – “blood everywhere” – found at their son Ethan Crumbley’s school desk.

The parents committed “egregious” acts, from buying a gun on Black Friday and making it available to Ethan Crumbley, to resisting his removal from school when they were summoned a few hours before the shooting, Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald said.

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