The parents of a teenager who shot and killed four Oxford, Michigan, high school students in November 2021 have been sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison each.
The parents, who will not be named per Daily Wire policy, were convicted earlier this year of involuntary manslaughter for failing to prevent their son’s shooting, ABC News reported. They are the first parents in U.S. history to be convicted and sentenced for crimes related to a mass shooting carried out by their child.
Their child, who was 15 years old when he shot and killed Oxford High School students Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17, was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to the murders.
At Tuesday’s sentencing, families of the victims spoke about their loved ones, with Baldwin’s mother, Nicole Beausoleil, praising her daughter before condemning the shooter’s parents.
“When you knew the gun was missing, you called the police knowing it was your son who took it. I was having family call every hospital describing what (Madisyn) looked like,” Beausoleil said, according to CNN. “When you texted ‘[shooter] don’t do it,’ I was texting Madisyn, ‘I love you please call mom.’”
The shooter’s mother has maintained that her text to her son was an attempt to keep him from committing suicide after the attack.
Shilling’s father, Craig, said that he lives with “pain, anger, heartache, regret, anxiety, stress” every day as a result of the shooter’s actions.
“Literally every single aspect of my life has been affected by this tragedy,” he said, adding, “The blood of our children is on your hands.”
Shilling’s mother, Jill Soave, suggested the parents could have prevented the shooting.
“If only they had done something, your honor, anything, to shift the course of events on November 30, then our four angels would be here today,” she said, according to CNN.
“It is devastating and heartbreaking that it doesn’t appear that either of you cherished or even wanted your son. But I wholeheartedly wanted and cherished mine,” she added. “You have failed your son, and you have failed us all.”
Prosecutors had asked for 10 to 15 years in state prison for each parent in separate sentencing memos, saying they showed a “chilling lack of remorse” toward their son’s actions. The shooter’s father went so far as to threaten the prosecutor in multiple jail calls, saying in one, “There will be retribution, believe me.”
Defense attorneys had requested much lighter sentences of less than five years each while asking for credit for time served. The mother’s attorney asked the judge to credit her client with the 27 months she has already served and release her to house arrest at the defense attorney’s home.
The defense attorney suggested this would allow the mother “to work remotely and begin to rebuild her life” away from the community, saying that she is “hugely distraught and remorseful” about the shooting.
The father’s defense attorney claimed his client has “expressed significant remorse” for the shooting and asked that he be released based on time served, or for him to be sentenced to 43 months in prison but credited for the 27 months he has already served. The father’s defense attorney also suggested a maximum period of probation.
Ultimately, the judge agreed with the prosecution and sentenced the parents to 10 to 15 years.
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