A 16-year-old was shot dead after he killed three students and a teacher at a school in Bend, Ore. But the gun he used belonged to his mother, extending the case’s legal shadow.
Oregon has no criminal laws specifically holding parents accountable for children using their weapons, as states such as California and Florida do. But charging parents under general homicide laws has become one of the latest fronts as a country ravaged by recurring gun violence in schools searches for accountability.
Parents had previously been convicted of reckless conduct and child neglect after their children committed mass shootings. But two years ago, a mother and father became the first in the country to be convicted of deaths their child caused in a mass shooting.
In 2024, the parents of a child in Michigan who killed four students were each sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison for manslaughter. It was a landmark case, as two separate juries found that they had missed enough warning signs and allowed their child access to a gun.
That, the juries found, made them legally responsible for the shooting. Many wondered if it would lead to similar cases.
Some experts said that the case was so unusual that prosecutors’ success could be hard to replicate. But this year, a father in Georgia was convicted of murder and involuntary manslaughter after his teenage son shot four people at his high school. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
In Bend this week, the killer used a Maverick 88, a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, according to a law enforcement official granted anonymity to discuss details of the case. The gun, the official said, had belonged to his mother, Shauntai May Nickerson.
Ms. Nickerson said in a brief interview Friday that she could not talk about how her 16-year-old son had obtained the gun. “If I could have prevented this, I would have,” she said.
Oregon does forbid parents from allowing children access to guns. The state is one of 26 that require secure storage to keep firearms out of the hands of children.
In 2021, Oregon required gun owners to secure weapons either with a lock or by keeping them in a locked container or room. Violations can result in civil penalties of up to $2,000.
