Ethan Crumbley: Charges may be brought against person who helped Oxford school shooting suspect’s parents flee
Jennifer and James Crumbley were assisted in their purported attempts to flee from law enforcement by an unidentified individual, says sheriff
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Charges may be filed against a person suspected of helping the alleged Michigan school shooter’s parents purportedly try to escape from law enforcement, it has been revealed.
In a press conference on Saturday afternoon, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said that James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, appear to have been aided in hiding from authorities inside an art studio in Detroit.
Sheriff Bouchard said the couple were “assisted” in entering the warehouse at 1111 Bellevue Street after they appeared to go on the run on Friday after being charged in connection to Tuesday’s high school massacre.
Authorities swooped on the building following a tip-off from a witness and the fugitives were arrested in the early hours of Saturday morning without incident.
The individual believed to have helped them, who has not been named, may now face charges of either aiding and abetting or obstruction of justice, the sheriff said.
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“We believe they were assisted in that location to get there, to get in and we are gathering that information and we will have the totality of that done fairly soon and present it to our prosecutor for potential charges for either aiding and abetting or obstruction of justice,” he said.
The sheriff said any charges will be determined by the Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald at “some point in the near future”.
The sheriff would also not rule out the possibility that additional charges will be filed against the suspected shooter’s parents following their purported attempt to evade justice.
The teenager is accused of shooting dead four of his fellow students – Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; and Justin Shilling, 17 – and wounding one teacher and six other students in a shooting rampage at Oxford High School in Michigan on Tuesday.
He was arrested at the scene and has been charged as an adult with 24 counts including one terrorism charge and four counts of first-degree murder.
A motive for the attack is still unclear.
He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges and is being held without bond in the same jail now also home to his parents.