Tag: mass shootings

No, Imprisoning a School Shooter’s Parents Isn’t Justice

A jury on Thursday convicted a Michigan man of four counts of involuntary manslaughter for failing to stop his son from killing four of his peers in November 2021, putting an end to a closely watched prosecution that broke new ground in its attempt to punish the parents of a child who committed a school shooting.

James Crumbley faces up to 60 years in prison, as does his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, who was found guilty of the same charges last month. Prosecutors posited the two bore responsibility for allegedly ignoring signs that their son, Ethan Crumbley, was depressed, and for gifting him the gun he ultimately used to execute Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Justin Shilling, and Hana St. Juliana at Oxford High School.

It may be hard to find sympathy for the Crumbleys, who have, unsurprisingly, been a magnet for backlash. It’s plausible they were negligent parents. But it can simultaneously be true that punishing them criminally for that sets a very troubling precedent, no matter how much you dislike them.

The prosecution’s argument hinged on a few key points: Ethan Crumbley had mental health issues, which the government said his parents did not do enough to address—a point they emphasized more during Jennifer Crumbley’s proceeding. During James Crumbley’s trial, the government zeroed in on the gun he purchased for his son as an early Christmas present: He was allegedly careless, prosecutors said, with how he stored the weapon, creating a perfect storm that cleared the way for Ethan to carry out that shooting about two and a half years ago.

But, no matter how ruinous their parenting, the case against the Crumbleys in some sense hinged on what the government wanted the law to say—not on what it actually said. As I wrote last month:

Despite the fraught subject matter, and the absolute tragedy of those deaths, Michigan law still appeared inept to apply to the Crumbley parents. Michigan lawmakers have had the opportunity to pass “child access prevention” legislation authorizing criminal charges against adults “who intentionally or carelessly give minors unsupervised access to guns,” noted Reason‘s Jacob Sullum in 2021, but they have on multiple occasions rejected the idea. And while the state has since enacted a “secure storage” law pertaining to safely securing firearms, it was not on the books at the time of the murders.

It may shock some consciences that the Crumbleys enjoyed going to the gun range as a family activity. I can understand the queasy gut reaction—it’s not my idea of a good time, either. But how someone feels about guns generally or politically shouldn’t factor into whether or not a parent is criminally responsible for their child’s actions.

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Joe Biden Thinks He Can Rewrite the Constitution After Urging Congress to Ban “Assault Weapons” in Wake of Chiefs Super Bowl Parade Shooting

In a recent statement following a devastating shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade, President Joe Biden has called on Congress to enact stricter gun control measures.

Kansas City was struck by violence on Wednesday when a shooter opened fire amidst the festivities, resulting in at least 29 individuals receiving medical attention.

Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves confirmed 22 people were shot, with one succumbing to her injuries. Hospitals told CNN that 19 of the 29 patients are being treated for gunshot wounds.

Three individuals have been detained in relation to the shooting incident.

Joe Biden quickly seized the opportunity to politicize the tragic event.

In a statement, Biden urged Congress to ban “assault weapons, to limit high-capacity magazines, strengthen background checks, keep guns out of the hands of those who have no business owning them or handling them.”

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Houston PD Criticized For Agonizing Over Church Shooter’s Correct Pronouns

The Houston Police Department received criticism for agonizing over the culprit’s correct pronouns after an attempted mass shooting inside Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church.

Authorities identified the shooter as Genesse Ivonne Moreno, who previously used the name Jeffrey Escalante Moreno.

Moreno, who it was initially suspected could have been transgender, was accompanied by a 7-year-old child for whom she was the biological mother.

The child and another 57-year-old man were the only people injured in the shooting, which was quickly stopped by armed off-duty police officers who killed the suspect.

During a press conference, Houston PD announced, “She’d utilized both male and female names, but through all of our investigation to this point, talking with individuals, interviews, documents, Houston Police Department reports she has been identified this entire time as female – she her – and so we are identifying her as Genesse Moreno – hispanic female.”

Elon Musk responded, accusing the police of having “Seriously messed up priorities.”

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Shooter at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church Stopped by Good Guy with Gun

A shooter at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, was reportedly stopped by a Harris County Sheriff’s deputy working security at the church Sunday morning.

Update: Around 4 p.m. Central Time ABC News reported that Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez “corrected an earlier statement claiming it was a sheriff’s deputy that fired the shot.” Gonzalez now says the shooter was stopped when “other agencies fired.”

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez responded to news of the shooting with an X post saying, “It is believed that a possible shooter is down, shot by one of our deputy’s on-scene. I’m enroute to the scene.”

Click2Houston reported the shooter allegedly opened fire in the church lobby. The outlet noted that witnesses indicated “the shooter was possibly a female.”

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Disturbing ‘Columbine’ Inspired Plot Uncovered in Student’s Manifesto at Chippewa Falls School District — Targets Included Christians, Jocks, and Preppy Girls — School District Silent for Over Three Months

A disturbing plot inspired by the infamous Columbine High School massacre, which resulted in 13 deaths and 20 others being injured before turning their guns on themselves and committing suicide, was uncovered at Chippewa Middle School.

An exclusive report, obtained by Steven Crowder’s Louder with Crowder’s MugClub Undercover unit, which previously disclosed the manifesto of Nashville school transgender shooter Audrey Hale, reveals that the school district did not disclose information for more than three months regarding a student’s manifesto that described a “terrorist” threat against their peers.”

The threat targeted specific groups, including Christians, “jocks,” and “preppy” girls.

The discovery was made possible through the vigilance of school administration and the utilization of the “Aristotle alert system,” a digital monitoring tool designed to flag concerning content typed into school Chromebooks.

The investigation began at approximately 12:30 PM when Officer Downey was alerted by Dean of Students, Corey Hahn, about multiple Aristotle alerts linked to a single user’s account. These alerts were triggered by searches for content ranging from the Columbine High School massacre to instructions on manufacturing explosives.

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Mom’s Manslaughter Conviction for Her Son’s School Shooting Sets a Dangerous Precedent

A jury on Tuesday convicted a Michigan woman on four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the mass shooting her son executed at Oxford High School in November 2021. But while the defendant, Jennifer Crumbley, and her husband, James Crumbley, have been the subject of widespread scorn, her novel prosecution and his upcoming trial have raised questions about how far the state can reach to hold parents accountable for the actions of their children and what kind of precedent that sets.

Here, the prosecution posited the Crumbleys bore criminal responsibility for the murders committed by their son, Ethan, because they allegedly disregarded signs he was depressed and gifted him a gun for Christmas. But the evidence presented at trial painted a more complicated narrative. In some sense, the overall case seemed to hinge on what prosecutors wished the law said, not on what it actually says.

James Crumbley’s trial is set for March; Jennifer Crumbley’s sentencing will take place in April. They both face up to 60 years in prison.

Core to the state’s case during Jennifer Crumbley’s proceeding was the notion that Ethan had shown himself to be emotionally disturbed, and, instead of intervening, she left him to his own devices. Much was made of her extramarital affair and her devotion to her equestrian hobby; prosecutors wanted the jury to believe, one assumes, that she was more interested in riding horses and having sex with a man who wasn’t her husband than she was in parenting her child.

But while she very well may have been a flawed parent—few serious people would argue adultery is a stand-up choice—testimony at trial made it far from clear that her son’s murderous streak was predictable, much less that she “willfully disregard[ed]” it and could have prevented it via “ordinary care,” the standard required by Michigan statute. 

The state said Ethan told his mom via text that their house might be haunted; she testified he thought he was joking. More damning was a journal entry furnished by prosecutors where Ethan drew pictures of guns and wrote that “my parents won’t listen to me about help or a therapist.” Jennifer Crumbley, however, countered she was surprised to hear that, as she claims Ethan had not told her about a desire for therapy, and that she did not read his diary entries.

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Biden Capitalizes On Uvalde Massacre Report With Ludicrous Gun-Control Plan

Almost two years after a shooter murdered 21 people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the Department of Justice released a 575-page report on Thursday. The document confirmed what we already knew from Texas’ report last July. The police made serious mistakes and shouldn’t have waited outside the classroom. There is one big difference between the two reports. The Justice Department report starts its executive summary by emphasizing that the attack used “an AR-15 style assault rifle.”

But what can we do when the police don’t save the day?

Mass Murderers Pick Soft Targets

With guns being banned at the Uvalde school, there was little prospect of teachers or staff fighting back. Had the school allowed guns, the shooter might not have attacked at all. After reading the Nashville Covenant School murderer’s manifesto last year, Nashville Police Chief John Drake revealed: “There was another location that was mentioned, but because of a threat assessment by the suspect of too much security, they decided not to.”

The killer considered two public schools but passed on them because “the security was too great to do what she wanted to do,” according to Nashville City Council member Robert Swope.

Twenty states already allow teachers to carry concealed handguns. In Utah and New Hampshire, any teacher with a concealed handgun permit can carry. In other states, it is up to school boards or superintendents to decide. And there have been no shootings in schools with armed teachers.

The reports focus on the failure of police. It is understandable that police are fearful of running toward an attacker. Teachers in the classroom, however, have no choice but to defend their lives and the lives of their students.

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Iowa school shooter at Perry High School confirmed by police to be student Dylan Butler, tied to ‘genderfluid’ and ‘transitioning’ social media posts

The suspect behind the Perry High School shooting has been reportedly identified as senior Dylan Butler, local outlet WHO 13 reports. Police confirmed the shooter’s identity. While several were injured, one boy, a 6th grader, was killed. The shooting took place in the morning prior to the start of the school day during a breakfast program.

The Thursday morning shooting in the Iowa school around 25 miles northwest of Des Moines, Iowa saw three people injured, including school principal Dan Marburger who was rushed into surgery. The only reported death is that of the shooter, who appeared to have died as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Butler allegedly had a TikTok account where he went by the username “tooktoomuch.” The student’s last post was him inside a bathroom stall with a duffel bag on the ground next to him. The still video featured the words “now we wait” with a song called “Stray Bullets” playing. Police are investigating these assets.

The account, which has since been wiped by TikTok, featured an anime girl as the avatar, with the biography only featuring the gay pride flag and identifying as a “dj.”

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UNLV gunman ID’d as Anthony Polito, 67, professor who failed to get job at school

The madman who slaughtered three people in a mass shooting at the University of Nevada Las Vegas on Wednesday was a professor who failed to secure a job at the school and claimed to have solved the mystery of the Zodiac Killer and missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

Anthony Polito, 67, had unsuccessfully applied for a professorship at UNLV before he unleashed his deadly rampage on the campus just before noon, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Polito was armed with a handgun during his massacre and was killed following a shootout with two police detectives, the outlet reported.

The shooting began around 11:45 a.m. on the fourth floor of Beam Hall, UNLV’s business school, near the student union building.

Police found three people dead when they arrived.

A fourth person was taken to an area hospital, where they were listed in critical but stable condition.

Four others were hospitalized after suffering panic attacks and two officers were treated for minor injuries suffered while clearing buildings, LVMPD police said.

Polito’s LinkedIn account states he was a “semi-retired university professor” based in Las Vegas and attended undergraduate at Radford University in Virginia, where he graduated with a double major in mathematics and statistics before he earned his master’s degree at Duke University and completed his doctorate of philosophy at the University of Georgia.

He served as an associate professor for 15½ years at East Carolina University from August 2001 to January 2017.

During that time, he also ran a personal website about his life, in which he posted a 15-page theory claiming he decoded the messages left by the Zodiac Killer, who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s.

“Just so you won’t initially write off my solution as that of a total crackpot, let me first say that I have been a member of MENSA for 35 years, I hold a double undergraduate degree in Mathematics & Statistics (two skills closely associated with successful cryptographers) … and I hold a masters degree and a doctoral degree from top-tier universities as well,” Polito wrote in the introduction.

“So I am not a dumb guy!”

He further claimed to have solved the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 and figured out the true meaning of Leonardo DiCaprio’s 2010 film “Inception.”

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