Parents of a teenager who killed four students at a northern high school pleaded not guilty on Saturday to manslaughter for letting their son use a gift gun, with a judge setting their bail at one million of dollars.
During the reading of the indictment on Saturday morning, James and Jennifer Crumbley, detained since the day before, pleaded not guilty to the charges which target them, four manslaughter for which they risk up to 15 years in prison.
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Deadly high school shooting in the United States
While in the United States, shootings involving a teenager have become tragically familiar, it is very rare that parents are prosecuted.
Wanted by the police and the FBI, the Crumbley couple were arrested Friday in an industrial building in Detroit, about sixty kilometers north of the scene of the shooting.
Parents' lawyers have assured that they intended to surrender but County Sheriff Michael Bouchard thinks on the contrary that they were on the run and "were in hiding".
"They weren't trying to get to this stage" and, "clearly, someone helped them find this place and make it available to them," he said during a press briefing on Saturday afternoon.
Citing charges "very very serious" and a risk of flight, Judge Julie Nicholson set their bond at $ 500,000 each.
The young shooter charged with "terrorist act" and "assassinations"
Four 14 to 17-year-old students were killed at high school in Oxford, a small town north of Detroit, on Tuesday, and six were injured including a teacher.
The perpetrator of the shooting, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, has been charged with "terrorist act" and "murder".
According to the sheriff, the three family members are being held in the county jail, with no possibility of communicating with each other.
On the occasion of the major “Black Friday” promotions, James Crumbley had gone with his son to buy him a Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol as an anticipated Christmas present.
The teenager then bragged about it by posting images of the weapon on social networks, calling it "beauty".
According to the police, he had recorded a video the day before the shooting on his mobile phone in which he announced his intention to use his weapon in high school, without distributing it on the internet.
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That same day, both parents learned that their son was shopping for ammunition online at school, according to local prosecutor Karen McDonald.
The mother then sent her a message: "I'm not mad, next time don't get caught."
The next morning, Ethan Crumbley was summoned with his parents by the school administration for drawings of a gun and a bloody body.
Two hours after the meeting, he came out of the bathroom, gun in hand, methodically progressing through the halls of the school, shooting at high school students and at the doors of the classrooms where the students had barricaded themselves.
He fired at least 30 bullets.
According to the police, he opened fire at random, without choosing previously identified victims.
"Ethan, don't do it"
"Instead of revealing to the school that he had full access to this weapon", the parents "decided not to bring their son home, they decided not to tell anyone that he could be dangerous" , said the prosecutor on Saturday.
"These indictments are a message so that people understand that from the moment they hold a weapon, they are responsible for it," said the prosecutor, announcing the lawsuits against the parents.
The teenager "entered high school and pulled the trigger" but "other people contributed to this event and I intend to hold them accountable," she added.
The parents of the alleged Michigan school shooter were taken into custody early Saturday morning in Detroit after the pair went missing, police said.
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Lawyers for the parents claimed that it was wrong to say that the teenager had free access to a gun.
“Our clients will fight these charges,” said Shannon Smith.
“Our customers are just as devastated as everyone else.
Upon the news of a high school shooting, Jennifer Crumbley had sent a message to her son, writing "Ethan, do not do it".
His father then reported to the police the disappearance of the pistol from the drawer where it was stored.
The tragedy created an atmosphere of psychosis in Michigan, where authorities were "inundated" with messages of threats against schools.
