The parents of the teen who killed six people in a shooting spree in Michigan last September have pleaded not guilty to six charges of involuntary manslaughter and assault with intent to murder.
It was in fact police who brought the charges against the two. The two parents reportedly argued with their teen over the shooting and police were called. The parents told the officers what had happened and both were arrested, according to the Daily Mail.
The shooting rampage took place on a busy urban street in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Sept. 20, 2017. Law enforcement officers learned that the suspect was going to borrow a neighbor’s son’s vehicle but when police arrived they were met with loud music and an arguing teenager, the Kalamazoo Gazette reported.
According to police, a struggle ensued and Crumbley grabbed a rifle, pointed it at the officer and fired. Police fire back, killing Crumbley and wounding two others. Authorities quickly arrested his parents after he was declared dead at the scene.
However, it was the mother who officials said was actually the shooter. Two of Crumbley’s cousins — Justin Airey and Sergio Akuna — were among the six people killed.
During a preliminary examination hearing, authorities detailed how the mother was in the apartment when her son shot at a police officer and fatally wounded the officer’s partner, who was holding her son down when he shot, according to the Daily Mail.
Six charges were brought against the mother, including six counts of involuntary manslaughter. At the end of the hearing, she pleaded not guilty to all six charges.
Court documents indicate that three of the six charges against the mother were not initially filed as the murder charges against Crumbley were upgraded to murder upon his death, according to the Daily Mail.
The mother’s lawyer asked during the hearing to reduce the charges because, in his opinion, the mother was in the apartment when the shooting occurred.
“This is a mother, just like my mother and his mother, who is having to fight a battle with the state,” he said. “She had nothing to do with this. The prosecution in this case has nothing to do with the duties of an appointed prosecutor to uphold the law.”
According to Kalamazoo County Assistant Prosecutor Tom Forse, the mother was involved in a domestic argument with her son, who had a history of violence. The mother was “shocked and traumatized” when she heard that her son had shot and killed two cousins, Forse added.
It is unclear if police brought additional charges against the mother in relation to the police’s decision not to pursue the murder charge against Crumbley.
Law enforcement said Crumbley, who was 18 years old at the time of the shooting, had previous violent criminal acts on his record.
His father, John Crumbley, declined to answer reporters’ questions after the hearing, the Daily Mail reported.
John Crumbley is a board member of Michigan’s Minority Law Enforcement Association, according to the organization’s website.
Lt. Sean Leech, head of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, said the teens enjoyed video games and streaming on YouTube, when not playing sports or hunting.
In June 2016, they showed up at Crumbley’s job, Leech said, and asked to use the phone to play video games. Police discovered that the teenagers were linked to online gaming sites such as League of Legends and Ninja.
On the day of the shooting, police said the teens had smoked a synthetic hallucinogen, LSD, before leaving Crumbley’s house in a Nissan Sentra. They reportedly got onto the highway and drove to Seelye Street where Crumbley’s shooting spree began.
“It is a miracle no one else was hurt,” Leech said.
A grand jury is expected to consider the charges later this month.
When it comes to prosecution of cases involving mentally ill and troubled teens, Michigan is the 10th most lenient state in the country, according to a January 2017 report from the liberal advocacy group Children Now. The group found that teenagers were put on trial in Michigan courts in more than 1,000 instances in 2011 and that the odds of their conviction were 42 percent higher than average.
The likelihood of prison time for juvenile defendants dropped almost 50 percent in the same period, with 15-year-olds and 17-year-olds sentenced to prison while adults were only sentenced in cases involving violence.
Sources: Daily Mail, Children Now / Featured Image: Pixabay / Embedded Images: Kalamazoo Gazette, Niko Daniels via Daily Mail