Mother of Michigan school shooter denies any responsibility but wishes son had ‘killed us instead’

PONTIAC, Mich. (news agencies) — The mother of a Michigan school shooter testified in her own defense Thursday, denying any responsibility for the deaths of four students but also wishing her son would have “killed us instead.”

“I don’t want to say that I’m a victim because I don’t want to disrespect those families that truly are the victims on this,” Jennifer Crumbley told the jury. “But we did lose a lot.”

“You lost everything,” attorney Shannon Smith said.

“We did,” Crumbley replied at the end of an afternoon of testimony in which she rejected blame for the gun used by her son Ethan Crumbley and denied claims that she ignored his mental health.

Jennifer Crumbley, 45, and husband James, 47, are accused of making a gun accessible at home and not addressing their son’s mental care. They are the first parents in the U.S. to be charged in a mass school shooting committed by their child.

Ethan Crumbley pulled a handgun from his backpack and shot 11 people on Nov. 30, 2021, killing four.

The attack came a few hours after school staff summoned his parents to a meeting to discuss a violent drawing on a math assignment. The Crumbleys declined to take him home, and the shooting ensued.

“As a parent you spend your whole life trying to protect your child from other dangers,” Jennifer Crumbley told the jury. “You never would think you have to protect your child from harming someone else. That’s what blew my mind.”