(WWJ) - 'Law & Order' producers and writers appear to have taken inspiration straight from Michigan headlines as the newest episode will center around circumstances eerily similar to last year's Oxford school shooting.
The episode, named "Legacy," will focus on suspects in the shooting of a headmaster at a private school, an episode description states. As the main characters, Bernard and Cosgrove, work to break down the case, they have to decided who is more guilty, "the shooter or the enabler?'
"Knowing his son had emotional issues, he gave his son a weapon?" said Sam Waterston's character D.A. Jack McCoy in the promo for the episode.
The plot, as gathered by TV promos and episode summaries, appears to ask the question of whether the parent of the alleged shooter — who provided his son a gun — is just as guilty of the crime.
Over footage of disturbing drawings made by the teen involved in the shooting within the TV show, Waterston states, "I want to charge his father for murder."
"We need to send a message," Hugh Dancy's character, assistant district attorney Nathan Price, declared immediately after.
Text on the episode promo reads "ripped from the headlines," and for residents in Michigan, the case outlined in "Legacy" mirrors the circumstances surrounding alleged Oxford shooter and his parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley.
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Both parents were arrested and charged with four counts each of involuntary manslaughter in connection to the Nov. 30 fatal shooting at Oxford High School that was allegedly carried out by their son, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley.
Ten students and a teacher were shot before Crumbley surrendered to Oakland County sheriff's deputies; four students died as a result of their injuries.
It's alleged by prosecutors that James Crumbley bought the gun used in the slayings as an early Christmas present for his teenage son. Officials said the 9mm pistol was not kept locked up, and was readily accessible to the teen, who was allegedly told in a text by his mom not to get caught when searching on his phone for ammunition.
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The drawings featured in the "Law & Order" promo appear to be exact copies of the sketches made by Ethan Crumbley. The disturbing sketches that were allegedly drawn prior to the deadly shooting were released to the public for the first time on Dec. 23, 2021.
Featured on a marked-up math worksheet are the phrases "My life is useless," "Blood everywhere," and "The thoughts won't stop, help me." There are also sketches of a gun, a bullet, and a person who appears to be shot and bleeding.
"Law & Order" is a long-running TV program on NBC that ran for two decades after it first aired in 1990. The show went on a 10 year hiatus before it was revived in February 2022 for a 21st season.
The Emmy Award winning program focuses on cases in the New York City area and “the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders," according to TV Insider.
"Law & Order" is famous for ripping details from real-life cases and incorporating them into the fictionalized situations in many of its episodes.
The program has previously aired episodes similar to the death of Anna Nicole Smith, Michael Jackson's child sexual abuse accusations, and the high-profile murder of child beauty queen, JonBenet Ramsey.
"Legacy" will air at 8 p.m. Thursday evening on NBC.