Detroit police identify person of interest who aided Crumbleys in hiding during manhunt

During this morning’s arraignment for James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of the Michigan school shooting suspect, an attorney told the court she repeatedly tried to get in contact with the Oakland County prosecutor and that her clients weren’t evading law enforcement and were planning to turn themselves in.

“Last night and throughout the day, we were in contact with our clients — they were scared, they were terrified, they were not at home, they were figuring out what to do, getting finances in order,” attorney Shannon Smith said.

The Crumbleys, who were charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter over the shooting their 15-year-old son Ethan is accused of carrying out at Oxford High School, were found early this morning in a building in Detroit and arrested after police conducted a manhunt following the couple’s failure to appear for a Friday arraignment.

“Our plan was to drive to the Novi district court this morning, because arraignments were supposed to start at 8:30 [a.m. ET] for any county arraignment, and we had plans to meet them at 7:30, to text the Fugitive Apprehension Team to get to the court by 8:30 so they could be arraigned first thing. Those were plans we made and solidified, and we did not announce it because unlike the prosecution, we weren’t attempting to make this a media spectacle,” Smith said.

“This case is absolutely the saddest, most tragic, worst case imaginable, there is absolutely no doubt. But our clients were absolutely going to turn themselves in – it was just a matter of logistics and all the prosecution had to do was communicate with me about it, and we tried multiple times,” Smith added.

Defense attorney Mariell Lehman said that the couple is “absolutely taking this case seriously.”

“They are devastated by the events in the Oxford incident. This is not something that’s being taken lightly by them or us,” Lehman said during the arraignment.

“Mr. Crumbley, as with Mrs. Crumbley, is not a flight risk, he is not a danger to the community. There’s no risk that they’re going to flee prosecution. They were never fleeing prosecution,” she added.

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