OXFORD, Mich. (WXYZ) — Parents of the victims in the Oxford High School shooting hope the guilty verdict for Jennifer Crumbley, the shooter’s mother, helps change how incidents are handled moving forward.
After 11 hours of deliberations, Crumbley was found guilty Tuesday on four counts of involuntary manslaughter after her son shot and killed four of his classmates over two years ago. Those four counts are for the four lives lost in November 2021.
Tate Myre, Madisyn Baldwin, Hana St. Juliana and Justin Shilling had their lives callously taken by Crumbley’s son, who was 15 years old at the time.
The fathers of Tate, Justin and Hana spoke following the verdict.
“Me and my wife were watching it together and the first thing that popped in my head was the people spoke,” Tate’s father Buck Myre said.
The trial focused on Crumbley’s role and whether she ignored major signs that her son needed help with his mental health. Another focus was on how Crumbley and her husband purchased a gun for their son. She was at a shooting range with him four days before the tragedy.
“They looked at the way that this family treated firearms and introduced firearms into that type of stimulation, and they realized that that’s just not acceptable,” Hana’s dad Steve St. Juliana said.
The jury foreperson after the trial told 7 Action News that the shooting range trip played a major role in the guilty verdict.
“The thing that really hammered it home is that she was the last adult with the gun,” the foreperson said.
After Crumbley was taken away in handcuffs, prosecutors embraced the victims’ families, who have been through a lot.
“Gross negligence is not acceptable in society and the results of this moving forward I hope resonates in the minds of everybody for a long time and I just hope that it creates some type of a change as it pertains to school shootings, these mass shootings and shootings in general,” Craig Shilling, the father of Justin said.
During this difficult time, the fathers are leaning on one another.
“For me, this whole justice word is interesting to me. Our kids are never coming home, so there’s no justice that we’re going to feel OK with, right,” Buck Myre said.
They hope the shooter’s father, James Crumbley, and the school district are also held accountable.
“We are looking for more accountability, specifically around the school and school officials because without the accountability, nothing changes,” Steve St. Juliana said.
Jennifer Crumbley faces up to 15 years in prison. She is set to be sentenced on April 9.
James Crumbley’s trial begins in March.
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