DETROIT (AP) 鈥� Two parents charged with their son in a failed to get their $500,000 bond reduced Friday, as prosecutors offered new allegations about the teen's hallucinations, passion for guns and boasts about violence.
James and Jennifer Crumbley, who are charged with involuntary manslaughter in the Oxford High School shooting, ignored numerous warning signs about Ethan Crumbley and instead bought him a gun that was used to kill four students and injure others on Nov. 30, assistant prosecutor Marc Keast told a judge.
In August, Ethan made a video with a different gun and told a friend in a message that it was 鈥渢ime to shoot up the school 鈥� jk, jk, jk,鈥� Keast said, apparently a reference to 鈥渏ust kidding.鈥�
The 15-year-old was fascinated with Nazi propaganda, even keeping a Nazi coin in plain view in his bedroom and drawing Nazi symbols in a notebook that was also used to make family grocery lists, Keast said.
Earlier in 2021, Ethan told his mother in text messages that he thought 鈥渢here was a demon or a ghost or someone else inside the home,鈥� the prosecutor said. 鈥淭hese weren鈥檛 one-time messages. He would repeatedly text what he was perceiving to his mother, who sometimes would not respond for hours."
Keast said the parents failed to intervene. He also said Ethan started seeing online ads about mental health after regularly searching for information about school shootings and guns.
鈥淭hey did not schedule therapy,鈥� Keast said. 鈥淒id not investigate what might be in his room, on his phone or on his (internet) browsers.鈥�
The parents are accused of making a gun accessible to Ethan and breaching their responsibility by refusing to remove him from school two hours before the shooting when counselors confronted them with his distressing drawings of violence.
鈥淎re we done here?鈥� Keast quoted Jennifer Crumbley as telling school officials.
Ethan Crumbley is with murder and other crimes.
The elder Crumbleys at times shook their heads in disagreement as Keast spoke during a court hearing held over Zoom. Judge Julie Nicholson refused to lower their bond to $100,000, and seemed mostly swayed by arguments that the pair might flee Michigan if released from jail.
The couple had more than $6,000 in cash and numerous phones and credit cards miles away in a Detroit art studio on Dec. 4, hours after charges against them were announced, Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald said.
Their attorneys insist the Crumbleys didn't know that a school shooting was in the works and didn't make the gun easy to find at home.
Defense lawyer Mariell Lehman said Ethan's journal, which was seized by police, says 鈥渉e has to find where his dad hid the firearm.鈥�
鈥淭his statement in Ethan Crumbley's own words is contrary to the false and misleading assertions that have been made by the prosecution,鈥� Lehman said in court Friday.
Earlier, at a separate court appearance, the teen and his lawyers waived a key evidentiary hearing and moved his case directly to a trial court. Ethan is being held in jail without bond.
Defense attorney Paulette Loftin later told WWJ-AM that a plea deal was a 鈥渄efinite possibility,鈥� though 鈥渋t鈥檚 too early to jump to that phase.鈥�
Oxford High students are expected to return to school next week for the first time since the shooting but at a different building. The high school, roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Detroit, could reopen during the week of Jan. 23.
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Ed White, The Associated Press
