That drawing prompted a meeting with the boy’s parents, but prosecutors said they refused to take their son home and did not ask him about the gun, search his backpack, or inform the school that they had purchased one for him.īut prosecutors noted that when news of the shooting broke a few hours later, the suspect’s parents were quick to believe it was their son. The next day, another teacher found a drawing of a gun on the suspect’s desks with images of a gun, a person who was shot, a laughing emoji, along with the words “Blood everywhere” and “The thoughts won’t stop. School officials called his parents, who did not respond, but his mother later texted her son: “LOL I’m not mad at you. They noted that after the gun was purchased, authorities at Oxford raised concerns about the teenager’s behavior twice.Īccording to prosecutors, the day before the shooting, a teacher saw him searching for ammunition on his phone. Prosecutors also noted that there were a number of incredibly alarming warning signs that the suspects parents ignored. Lawyers for the parents have disputed that claim, asserting that the gun was, in fact, locked. McDonald said the kid “had total access to this weapon” which was kept “unlocked in a drawer” in his parent’s bedroom. On Friday, prosecutors in Michigan took the rare step of charging the parents of the 15-year-old accused of carrying out a mass shooting at Oxford High School with four counts of involuntary manslaughter each - one for every student killed in the attack.ĭuring a press conference, Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald argued that the boy’s parents were culpable in the most deadly school shooting this year because they allowed their son access to the murder weapon and actively ignored obvious warnings that he was considering violence.Īt the briefing, prosecutors said that the suspect’s father had purchased the weapon four days before the shooting as an early Christmas gift for the teen. The parents of a suspected school shooter who left four dead and seven others injured in Oxford, Michigan, last week pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges Saturday following an overnight manhunt. The couple was held on $500,000 bonds each after they failed to appear for their arraignment Friday, prompting an overnight manhunt.