The mother of a Michigan school shooter testified in her own defense Thursday, denying guilt for the murders of four
students while apparently wishing her son had “killed us instead.”
“I don’t want to say that I’m a victim because I don’t want to disrespect those families who are truly the victims in
this,” Jennifer Crumbley told the jury. “But we did lose a lot.”
“You lost everything,” attorney Shannon Smith explained.
“We did,” Crumbley said at the end of an afternoon of testimony in which she disputed responsibility for her son
Ethan Crumbley’s gun and denied neglecting his mental health.
Jennifer Crumbley, 45, and her husband James, 47, are accused of keeping a pistol in the house and failing to handle
their son’s mental health needs. They are the first parents in the United States to face charges in a major school
massacre caused by their child.
On November 30, 2021, Ethan Crumbley drew a firearm from his rucksack and shot 11 individuals, four of whom died.
The attack occurred a few hours after school officials summoned his parents for a meeting to discuss a violent picture
on a math assignment. The Crumbleys refused to take him home, and the shooting began.
“As a parent, you spend your whole life trying to protect your child from other dangers,” Jennifer Crumbley told the
jurors. “You never thought you’d have to keep your child from hurting someone else. That is what blew my mind.
“I’ve asked myself if I would have done things differently. I would not have. “I wish he had killed us instead,” she
stated.
Crumbley took the stand after days of ugly testimony about her meeting at the school, an adulterous affair, her
genuine concern for her horses’ well-being following the tragedy, and the emptying of a $3,000 bank account in her
son’s name.
She stated that she played no role in purchasing or storing the weapon used by her son.
“I just didn’t feel right being in control of that. It was his thing,” Jennifer Crumbley said of her husband, turning to
face the jurors.
