James Crumbley stored 2 firearms in gun safe with default code of ‘0-0-0,’ detective testifies
Originally Published: 12 MAR 24 11:37 ET Updated: 12 MAR 24 11:48 ET By Nicki Brown and Eric Levenson, CNN
(CNN) — James Crumbley, the father of the teenager who fatally shot four students at a Michigan high school in 2021, stored two firearms in his home in a gun case locked with the default combination “0-0-0,” a detective testified at his manslaughter trial Tuesday.
Adam Stoyek, a detective with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, spoke with James Crumbley on November 30, 2021, the day of the mass shooting, as investigators searched the family’s home. Sitting in the back of a police vehicle, Crumbley told Stoyek two firearms – a .22-caliber Derringer and a .22-caliber KelTec – were locked in a gun case in a bedroom dresser, according to video of their conversation.
The combination to unlock the case was “0-0-0-0,” Crumbley said, although Stoyek later discovered the safe only had three numbers.
“I’m completely open, and I want you guys to do what you have to do,” Crumbley said, according to the video.
Under the gun case, investigators found two magazines, a holster and a box of .22 caliber ammunition, Stoyek testified.
The testimony comes as prosecutors sought to show James Crumbley acted with “gross negligence” and did not properly secure the family’s firearms. His then-15-year-old son, Ethan, was able to access a SIG Sauer 9mm handgun his father bought for him on Black Friday and used the firearm in the shooting at Oxford High School, killing four students and wounded six students and a teacher.
James Crumbley has pleaded not guilty to four counts of involuntary manslaughter and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. His wife, Jennifer Crumbley, was convicted of the same charges last month.
Ethan was sentenced last year to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to terrorism causing death, four counts of murder and 19 other related charges. He did not testify in his mother’s trial, as his attorneys had said he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right to silence if called.
The case against James Crumbley, like the one against his wife, is set to test the limits of who is responsible for a mass shooting. Prosecutors aiming to expand the scope of blame in mass shootings have used an unusual and novel legal strategy by arguing the shooter’s parents are responsible for the deaths because they got him a gun and disregarded signs of his mental health issues.
Parents have previously faced liability for their child’s actions, such as with neglect or firearms charges. Yet Jennifer Crumbley’s case was the first time a parent of a school shooter was held directly responsible for the killings.
In cross-examination Tuesday, Stoyek acknowledged that James Crumbley had been “cooperative” in describing where in the house the two firearms were stored. Yet the questioning still left unanswered questions about how Ethan gained access to the SIG Sauer 9mm firearm, which had been purchased four days before the shooting.
When investigators searched the master bedroom, an open gun box was sitting on the bed next to an empty box of 9mm ammunition, Stoyek testified.
“Did James ever once tell you that the SIG Sauer 9mm used to commit the Oxford high school shooting was ever locked up?” Oakland County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Marc Keast asked.
“He did not,” Stoyek said.
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