Sentenced to up to 15 years in prison the parents of the Michigan teenager who shot and killed four of his classmates in 2021 and injured seven others as guilty of reckless homicide by leaving the gun to their son. In the images that accompany these lines you can see how James and Jennifer Crumbley, sitting and with a very serious expression, listen to the judge’s decision.

The mother has even claimed to feel “anguish and shame that I carry knowing the damage her son caused” after learning of the sentence, which marks a legal precedent in the United States, since it is the first time in which the Parents or legal guardians of a minor are convicted of a shooting.

The couple was arrested shortly after the shooting and have since remained under arrest on a joint $1 million bond. The state court accused the Crumbleys of having allowed his son to have access to the weapon with which he committed the crime, a pistol that the father had purchased just four days before the shooting.

Furthermore, the parents were accused of having ignored the mental health problems that his son had and that became evidentFor example, in a drawing he made of a gun and a wounded man with phrases like: “Thoughts don’t stop. Help me. My life has no meaning.”

During the hearing this Tuesday, the parents of the minors who died in the shooting scolded the convicted couple. “Literally every aspect of my life has been affected by this tragedy,” said the father of one of the victims, to which he added: “The blood of our children is on their hands.”

During the trial, which has continued for several months, prosecutors argued that The Crumbleys could have prevented the attack but decided “to do nothing.” For their part, the couple’s lawyers pointed out that they were not aware of their son’s mental conditions and that they could not have imagined that he was going to shoot his classmates.

In December of last year, Ethan Crumbley sentenced to life in prison for shooting, pleading guilty to one crime of terrorism, four of murder and 19 other charges related to the massacre. At his trial, he testified that the gun was not locked when he put it in his backpack before going to school.