Jennifer and James Crumbley, the parents of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley, were each sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for failing to take preventative measures that could have averted the 2021 school shooting. They are the first parents in the U.S. to be convicted in a mass school shooting case. The couple was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors presented evidence of an unsecured gun at home and indifference towards their son’s mental health.

Ethan Crumbley had drawn dark images of a gun, a bullet, and a wounded man on a math assignment, accompanied by despondent phrases. Despite this, his parents did not take him home from school. Later that day, Ethan pulled a handgun from his backpack and began shooting at the school, killing four students and wounding seven others. He is now serving a life sentence for murder and other crimes.

During the sentencing, family members of the students killed in the shooting condemned the Crumbleys as failures whose negligence led to the tragedy. The prosecution argued that “tragically simple actions” by the parents could have prevented the catastrophe. The Crumbleys had separate trials in Oakland County court, where jurors heard about Ethan’s disturbing drawings and his parents’ failure to mention that the gun he used resembled one James Crumbley had purchased just four days earlier.