The US police have arrested the fugitive parents of the 15-year-old, who is said to have shot and killed four people at a school in the state of Michigan.

They were found in nearby Detroit after a day-long manhunt, the Oakland sheriff's office said on Saturday.

James and Jennifer C. were discovered on the first floor of a factory building in Detroit and arrested without incident, said Detroit Police Chief James White.

The parents are charged with quadruple manslaughter.

Two lawyers representing the couple said they had left the city for their own safety and returned voluntarily.

The police started a large manhunt a few hours after the indictment was announced on Friday.

Security deposit of $ 500,000

James, 45, and Jennifer C., 43, pleaded not guilty in court on Saturday.

One of their lawyers said that they were just as "shocked" by the events as anyone else.

The judge responsible set the bail at the request of the prosecutor at $ 500,000 each (around 450,000 euros).

In the event of a release, the parents would have to wear a GPS monitor at all times and meet other requirements, it said.

The defense had suggested a maximum bail of $ 100,000.

Prosecutor Karen McDonald, however, called for bail to be set as high as possible, given the gravity of the allegations, the burden of proof and the alleged risk of escape.

The act of the son traumatized the whole community.

"These two individuals could have prevented it," said McDonald.

McDonald said on Friday that the parents bought the murder weapon, gave their underage son access to the gun and ignored warnings.

Charges against the parents of a perpetrator in such an act of violence in schools are very rare, but in this case the facts are "outrageous," she said.

Bought gun from father just days earlier

According to police, the 15-year-old killed four students on Tuesday with the weapon that his father had bought days earlier. He also injured six students and a teacher. The prosecution assumes an intentional act. The tenth grader is charged, among other things, with fatal terrorism and quadruple homicide. Regarding the terrorist charge, McDonald said that a fatal act against a group of people in Michigan was a prerequisite for this.

McDonald said father James bought the gun on November 26 in the presence of the son. The son posted a photo of it on social media the same day with the comment "Got my new beauty today," said McDonald. In his high school in Oxford, north of the metropolis of Detroit, the son was caught by a teacher while he was looking for ammunition on the Internet. The school informed the mother by phone and email, but received no answer, said McDonald. The mother wrote the following SMS to the son: “LOL - I'm not mad. You have to learn not to get caught. "

On the morning of the crime, a teacher found a drawing on the later shooter that she found so disturbing that she took a photo of it. According to the prosecutor, a drawing of the weapon could be seen on it. It also said: “The thoughts don't want to stop. Help me. ”Next to the drawing of a sphere there were the words“ blood everywhere ”, elsewhere it said:“ the world is dead ”. The parents were then immediately summoned to the school. The son changed the drawing before meeting the parents. In the meeting, the parents did not ask the son if he had his gun with him, McDonald said.

“The idea that a parent would read these words and know that their son had access to a deadly weapon that they (the parents) gave him is inconceivable.

And I think it's criminal, ”McDonald told journalists.

The parents refused to take their son home, so he went back to the classroom.

They wouldn't have searched his backpack for the gun either.

When it became known that someone at the school was shooting at people, the mother wrote her son a message saying, “Don't do it”.

Fatal incidents continue to occur in the United States because shooters open fire in schools.

Gun laws in the United States vary from state to state, but firearms such as pistols and assault rifles are usually relatively easy to come by.

Stricter gun laws usually fail because of the Republicans in Congress and the powerful gun lobby.

US President Joe Biden has announced measures to curb armed violence, but so far without concrete results.