'When a child commits a mass shooting, are parents to blame?'
A troubled past
Before the Oxford shooting, Kayla LeMieux had not thought about Ethan Crumbley since he was a nine-year-old boy living across the street from her in nearby Lake Orion, Michigan.
Ms LeMieux worked with Ethan's mother, Jennifer, at a restaurant in 2015 and was close with the Crumbley family after they moved into a nearby apartment in Lake Orion before settling in Oxford.
She said Mr and Mrs Crumbley would frequently leave Ethan home alone when he was nine for hours while they would go into town to drink.
During this time, Ethan would sometimes wander over to her house, where her interactions with him proved troubling, she said.
"He was very monotone, very distant, manipulative. He lied a lot," Ms LeMieux said.
She recalled one time when she watched him take a bird's nest down from a tree and then stomp on it.
The behaviour raised alarm bells for Ms LeMieux and her boyfriend.
"We would say, 'He's going to kill someone one day,'" she said.
In court, Ethan Crumbley's attorneys have painted a similar picture of the boy's childhood, calling a psychological expert who said he was a "feral child" who was neglected by his parents and suffered from mental illness.
Ms LeMieux said Mr and Ms Crumbley's parenting eventually led her to call Child Protective Services.
"Ethan was so neglected. He was just a baby. I was worried for him. That's not a way for a kid to grow up," she said.
The conviction of a Michigan mother for her son's school shooting could have far-reaching implications.
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