Mom of School Shooter Sobs at Footage in Court

Jennifer Crumbley, mother of the then-15-year-old who killed four teens and injured seven other people at Michigan's Oxford High School in a November 2021 mass shooting, sobbed in court Thursday at her trial for involuntary manslaughter. USA Today reports Crumbley started "weeping loudly" during testimony from an assistant principal at the school, who recounted running into Ethan Crumbley in the hallway during the shooting and asking if he was OK; she said she couldn't believe he was the gunman. Later, per the newspaper, Crumbley sobbed "inconsolably" as footage of the shooting, including her son walking down a hallway with his gun, was shown. NBC News reports that Crumbley's "audible sobbing drew protest from the prosecutors," who were concerned it could influence the jury.

A heated scene ensued during which Crumbley's lawyer said neither she nor Crumbley had seen the surveillance footage before and yelling, "It's horrific. We're doing our best." The judge agreed that it was horrific and ordered a brief recess, saying everyone needed to "take a deep breath." Crumbley and her husband, who will be tried separately in March, are the first US parents to be charged and tried in a mass school shooting carried out by their child; both have pleaded not guilty. On Thursday, both sides gave opening statements in Crumbley's trial and the first witnesses took the stand, CNN reports. Prosecutors say Crumbley and her husband ignored warning signs of their son's mental health deteriorating, and bought him the gun used in the shooting just four days before the attack. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life. (More school shooting stories.)