Prosecutors alleged Thursday that the parents of Oxford High School shooting suspect Ethan Crumbley exposed him to a toxic and chaotic home environment before he allegedly opened fire at the school.
The lawyers argued in court documents filed Thursday that Jennifer and James Crumbley did very little to assist their son while he “was deteriorating before their eyes” and exposed him to “toxic conflict,” according to CNN.
Prosecutors are asking that evidence of this environment as well as allegations of an extramarital affair be considered in their trial, according to the outlet. However, the Cumbleys’ lawyers have argued that the evidence is “extraneous.”
“What the evidence will actually show is that these defendants exposed their son to years of chaotic, toxic conflict, which is a well-known risk factor for entering the pathway to violence,” the court documents say, the network noted.
“The investigation paints a clear picture of parents who were not just in constant conflict, or who just exposed their son to conflict, but who actively inserted him into their conflict,” the court documents say.
Jennifer and James Crumbley were charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the Michigan shooting. They were charged after prosecutors alleged that they had bought a firearm for their son and ignored warning signs that he was going to become violent.
Ethan Crumbley allegedly shot and killed four students and injured others during a school shooting in November.
An excerpt from the alleged shooter’s journal referenced in the filing showed that Ethan spoke about how his parents “hate each other” and how he had “zero help for my mental problems and it’s causing me to shoot up the f—— school,” CNN noted.
The court filing depicts a turbulent household where Ethan Crumbley was often left to himself while his parents allegedly drank or fought, noting Jennifer and James Crumbley were “routinely intoxicated.”
“Their son was deteriorating before their eyes; he went through stretches of sleeping only a few hours per night — staying up very late at night while defendants drank, argued and slept only a few feet away in a bedroom that shared a wall with the shooter’s room,” the filing alleges, according to CNN.
The court documents also allege that Ethan Crumbley was often asked to get involved in the personal problems of his parents, including being asked to look into whether one was being faithful to to the other.
The Hill has reached out to one of the parents’ attorneys for comment.