Art studio owners says he didn't know Michigan school shooting suspect's parents stayed overnight
The artist said through a lawyer that he had a "friendly relationship" with the parents and didn't know about the charges against them.
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- The owner of an art gallery says he didn't realize the parents of the Michigan school shooting suspect were staying there overnight.
- Andrzej Sikora's attorney told the AP that he didn't realize when he saw the parents Friday morning that they had been charged.
- James and Jennifer Crumbley were arrested Saturday morning on involuntary manslaughter charges after failing to appear for their court date.
The Michigan-based artist who owned the Detroit studio where the parents of the Oxford High School shooting suspect were found said he didn't know the couple had stayed overnight in his apartment, the Associated Press reported.
Andrzej Sikora said through a lawyer that he had a "friendly relationship" with James and Jennifer Crumbley, but didn't realize that the couple was wanted when they arrived at his studio in downtown Detroit.
"There was a lot of confusion and the Crumbleys went to him for safety," Sikora's attorney Clarance Dass told the AP. "He didn't know about the charges. They were there in the daytime. He left in the early evening. He didn't even know they were still there."
The couple's son, a 15-year-old student at the school, is the sole suspect in the deadly shooting at Oxford High School, which left four students dead and several other people injured.
The teen has been charged with murder and terrorism.
James and Jennifer Crumbley were each charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter Friday morning in connection with the shooting. Authorities said the Crumbleys bought the gun used in the shooting for their son as an apparent Christmas present and met with school officials on the morning of the shooting, but didn't pull the teen out of school.
After the charges were announced, the Crumbleys did not show up to court, though police said that their attorney promised that if they were to be charged, the couple would turn themselves in immediately. Authorities quickly organized a manhunt and, after hours of searching, the couple was found and arrested early Saturday morning in Sikora's studio in Detroit.
The pair are now being held on $500,000 bail each and are on suicide watch while in jail, a local sheriff said.
Sikora has not been charged, but Detroit Police Chief James White acknowledged that whoever helped the Crumbleys enter the downtown building could "absolutely" be facing charges. Sikora is due to meet with investigators on Monday afternoon.
Dass could not be reached for comment by Insider.