Judge sentences teen to life without parole for fatally shooting 5 in North Carolina

RALEIGH, North Carolina — A judge on Friday sentenced an 18-year-old who admitted killing five people in a mass shooting in North Carolina to life in prison without the possibility of parole, rejecting arguments that he deserved a chance to be released decades from now.

Austin David Thompson was 15 years old during the Oct. 13, 2022, attack that began at his Raleigh home when he repeatedly shot and stabbed his 16-year-old brother, James.

Equipped with firearms and wearing camouflage, Thompson then shot and killed four more people – including an off-duty city police officer – in his neighborhood and along a greenway. He was arrested in a hangar after suffering a gunshot wound to the head.

Thompson pleaded guilty last month to five counts of first-degree murder and five other charges less than two weeks before his scheduled trial.

Thompson, who did not speak in court, was led away in handcuffs after the sentencing. Family members of the shooting victims cried as the sentence was handed down. Thompson’s lawyers announced their intention to appeal the sentence.

Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway had the option of sentencing him to life in prison with the possibility of parole after at least 25 years, but Thompson was not given the death penalty given his age at the time of the crimes.

“It is difficult to conceive of a greater display of malevolence,” Ridgeway said, adding that months of planning and fantasizing by Thompson to carry out the carnage also confirmed that Thompson is the rare juvenile delinquent “whose crimes reflect irreparable corruption.”

During the sentencing hearing that began last week, prosecutors revealed the previously confidential contents of a handwritten note bearing Thompson’s name and the date of the shooting found at his family’s home in the Hedingham subdivision.

The note stated that “the reason I did this is because I hate humans, they are destroying the planet/earth”, adding that he killed James Thompson “because he would get in my way”.

Thompson “can’t tell you why he wrote that note the way he did,” defense attorney Deonte’ Thomas said, emphasizing that he had no history of environmental anger. “And he can’t tell you why he ran through the streets of Hedingham terrorizing people that day.”

But “he’s not beyond redemption, he’s not incorrigible,” Thomas added, asking Ridgeway to give him the opportunity to one day tell parole commissioners that he could “still be a productive person in society.”

Thomas argued that the outburst occurred during a behavioral episode brought on by medication he was taking regularly for acne, which dissociated the youngster from reality. A psychiatrist who interviewed Thompson and a geneticist testified to support the explanation.

Ridgeway ruled that the evidence did not support the conclusion that Thompson’s actions occurred while he was entering a drug-induced altered mental state and genetic abnormality.

Prosecutors rejected the medication argument as weak and pointed to Thompson’s Internet search history on his phone and computer before the attack. They said it included school shootings and was linked to guns, assaults and bomb-making materials.

Nicole Connors, 52; Raleigh police officer Gabriel Torres, 29; Mary Marshall, 34; and Susan Karnatz, 49, were also killed in the rampage. Two other people were injured, including another police officer involved in the search for Thompson.

“In the blink of an eye, everything changed for these people and for those they left behind,” Assistant Wake County Prosecutor Patrick Latour said Thursday, while calling for a sentence without the possibility of parole. “And what changed things wasn’t an acne medication. It was the defendant’s conscious, researched, well-thought-out, planned and decisive actions.”

The judge heard from people like Jasmin Torres, the widow of Gabriel Torres and the mother of their 5-year-old daughter. She asked Ridgeway to sentence Thompson to life without parole, calling him a “monster.”

“None of us, the victim survivors, our families, our friends, our community, should ever have to worry about a future where our barbaric selves are set free,” Torres said last week.

Thompson’s parents said they could not explain why their son committed the violence, calling him a normal, happy kid who did well in school and showed no signs of destruction.

Thompson’s father pleaded guilty to improperly storing his handgun that authorities said was found during his son’s arrest. He received a suspended sentence and probation.

“We both lost our children, one because of the other. We never saw this coming and we still can’t make sense of it,” her mother Elise Thompson said last week, while telling the families of the shooting victims that she “will always be sorry for the pain this has caused you.”