PONTIAC, Mich. (NewsNation) — An attorney representing families in a civil lawsuit against a Michigan family told “NewsNation Live” that a 2021 school shooting that left four students dead was “preventable.”
“It’s just a tragic series of horrible events that led to all of this that was preventable,” said Ven Johnson.
Jennifer Crumbley, 45, is charged with involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors say she and her husband were grossly negligent and could have prevented the four deaths if they had tended to their son’s mental health. They’re also accused of making a gun accessible at home before the shooting at Oxford High School.
Jennifer Crumbley and James Crumbley are accused of failing to address then-15-year-old Ethan Crumbley’s mental health needs and making a gun accessible to their son at home.
Shannon Smith, Jennifer Crumbley’s attorney, told jurors her client knew very little about the family’s guns and it was James Crumbley who was responsible for storing the family’s guns secretly.
The prosecution alleges the Crumbleys ignored their son’s pleas for help and refused to take him home on Nov. 30, 2021, the day of the shooting, despite the discovery of a troubling math sheet with drawings of guns, deceased victims, and distressing words.
Johnson said that math sheet should have prompted immediate action by the Crumbley parents.
“If you don’t know a mental health professional, take you kid to the emergency room; get a psychiatric intervention and see what’s going on with your kid,” Johnson said.
James Crumbley, 47, will stand trial in March. The couple are the first parents in the U.S. to be charged in a school shooting committed by their child. Ethan, now 17, is serving a life sentence.