After a shooting killed four people on Tuesday in a high school in Michigan (northern United States), the parents of the teenager who opened fire were charged, Friday, December 3, with manslaughter, a Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald announced.
The young student, aged 15, “Is the one who entered high school and pulled the trigger”, most “Other people contributed to this event, and I intend to hold them accountable”, she said, announcing the lawsuits against both parents.
Shootings remain a recurring scourge in the United States, a country where the right to own guns is constitutionally guaranteed. But lawsuits against relatives of their perpetrators are extremely rare. “I expect parents and everyone to show humanity and act to stop a potential tragedy”, explained Mme McDonald.
Parents summoned to high school two hours before the shooting
The teenager’s father had notably bought the semi-automatic pistol used by his son a few days earlier. After the purchase, the teenager practiced shooting and posted images of the gun on social media, clearly stating that it was his. The day of the shooting, the student was summoned with his parents by the school administration, after writing a message about suicide and death: “Help me, my life is useless, the world is dead, blood everywhere. “
“To think that a parent could read these words knowing that their son had access to a lethal weapon he had given him is incomprehensible, and I think it is a crime”, said the prosecutor. She also blames the parents for not asking their son if he had his gun on him that day, or where it was, when the gun was in his backpack and he was allowed to go. go back to class.
Two hours after this meeting, he opened fire when he got out of the toilets, methodically progressing in the halls of the school and in particular pulling on the doors of the classes where the students had barricaded themselves. He fired at least thirty bullets. Upon news of a high school shooting, the teenager’s mother texted him, writing ” Do not do it “.
The local prosecutor had mentioned earlier this week a “Mountain of evidence online, on video or on social networks” showing that it was not “From an impulsive act”, but of an act “Totally premeditated”.
The teenager remains silent
Police also recovered from the accused’s cell phone a video recorded on Monday in which he announced his intention to shoot students the next day, a plan he had also recorded in a diary found in his backpack.
Four high school students in this small Michigan town died, and six others were injured, along with a teacher. The shooter was arrested at the scene. He was indicted for “Terrorist act” and “Assassinations”. He risks life imprisonment because he is being prosecuted as if he were of legal age.
His motive remains a mystery because he has not explained himself since his arrest and has chosen to remain silent during his appearance. He pleaded not guilty on Wednesday, through his lawyer. He has since been incarcerated in Pontiac prison, and held in solitary confinement.
Since the tragedy, Michigan authorities have been ” flooded “ messages of threats against schools in this state, creating a climate of psychosis within the population. More than sixty schools have been closed statewide due to “Threatening behavior”, according to Oakland County Police, adding that most of the threats were bogus.
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