The parents of a 15-year-old who shot dead four students at a US high school with a gun bought by his father have been arrested after being charged with involuntary manslaughter, according to US media reports.
The whereabouts of James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of shooting suspect Ethan Crumbley, had remained unknown for much of Friday, prompting authorities in Oakland County, Michigan to consider them fugitives.
But police found them in an industrial building in Detroit -- 40 miles from the scene of the shooting in Oxford -- a block away from where their suspected vehicle had been found, Detroit police spokesperson Rudy Harper told CNN.
The Crumbleys' lawyers Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman had previously told AFP that after leaving town on the night of the shooting "for their own safety," the parents would be "returning to the area to be arraigned."
Yet local law enforcement officials told CNN the parents withdrew $4,000 from a money machine near Oxford on Friday and turned their phones off, heightening the mystery over their disappearance.
Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald, in a rare move by law enforcement, had announced that each of the parents faces four counts of involuntary manslaughter.
"These charges are intended to hold the individuals who contributed to this tragedy accountable and also send the message that gun owners have a responsibility," McDonald said at a press conference.
"While the shooter was the one who entered the high school and pulled the trigger, there are other individuals who contributed to the events on November 30."
As the manhunt escalated, US Marshals on Friday issued $10,000 rewards for information leading to the arrest of either parent and County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said the pair "cannot run from their part in this tragedy."
