A teenage boy opened fire on a suburban street — k!lling five people
Austin David Thompson’s victims included his own brother when, armed with a shotgun and handgun, he went on a shocking rampage near his home.
The 15-year-old boy was eventually arrested in a shed following a lengthy stand-off with police.
But the defendant’s lawyers have claimed the youngster “cannot explain why he committed this shooting” due to a brain injury he himself sustained in the ordeal in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Nevertheless, Thompson has admitted five counts of first-degree mu.rder, two counts of attempted first-degree mu.rder, two counts of assault with a de.adly weapon and one count of assault of an officer with a gun.
He will be sentenced on February 2 but, due to his age at the time of the attack, he cannot receive the de.ath penalty.
But Robert Steele, fiancé of one of the victims at the time of her de.ath, told reporters after the hearing that sentencing Thompson to life in prison without parole is the right thing to do. Mr Steele said: “That’s justice. He took five people’s lives, he tried to take two others.”
Thompson, had been poised to go on trial next month but entered the guilty pleas today. His attorneys wrote that avoiding a trial would “save the community and the victims from as much additional infliction of trauma as possible.”
The court heard how Thompson first shot then repeatedly stabbed his brother James, whose body was found in the family’s home in the Hedingham community of Raleigh.
Mr Latour said Thompson, armed with a shotgun and handgun, next shot multiple neighbours, killing Nicole Connors, 52, and then off-duty Raleigh police Officer Gabriel Torres, 29. Another neighbour who was wounded survived.
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It’s crazy
oh no!