The then-15-year-old boy who gunned down his older brother, a cop and three others in a stunning 2022 North Carolina killing spree will plead responsible on Wednesday — whereas blaming a mind harm suffered throughout his seize for his failure to clarify why he did it, his attorneys mentioned.
Austin Thompson, who’s now 18, will keep away from standing trial for the mindless bloodbath in Raleigh, sending the case straight to sentencing, his attorneys mentioned in a Tuesday court docket submitting obtained by the Raleigh Information & Observer.
They cited a mind harm he suffered from getting shot within the head throughout his seize, which officers mentioned was self-inflicted when he was cornered in woodland after a shootout with cops.
“Whereas the intense mind harm he suffered has made it such that Austin can not clarify why he dedicated this taking pictures, he has all the time accepted that he did this,” the plea states.
“He acknowledges with deep ache he has prompted the victims’ households in addition to his circle of relatives.”
Thompson “determined he needs to save lots of the neighborhood and the victims from as a lot extra infliction of trauma as attainable,” the plea continues.
“Austin understands he can by no means change what occurred, however he hopes that pleading as charged and shifting right into a sentencing listening to solely will enable for the victims, the neighborhood and his household to be spared a trial and he hopes that the fabric introduced on the sentencing listening to brings as a lot peace and closure as attainable,” his attorneys wrote.
Thompson was simply 15 years previous when he went on the lethal taking pictures spree in Raleigh’s residential Hedingham neighborhood in Oct. 2022, killing 5 individuals, one canine and wounding two others.
He shot and stabbed his 16-year-old older brother, James Roger Thompson, at their residence earlier than he opened fireplace on his neighbors, killing off-duty Raleigh police officer Gabriel Torres, 29, and Nicole Connors, 52.
He then later fatally shot two others on the close by Neuse River Greenway path, recognized as Mary Marshall, 34, and Susan Karnatz, 49.
His motive stays unknown.
Following a roughly 90-minute manhunt, dramatic bodycam video revealed the moments Okay-9 officers observe Thompson down in a barn in a wooded space, the place he exchanged gunfire with police, taking pictures an officer within the leg.
Hours later, cops breached the constructing and located Thompson with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the top, officers mentioned. He was carrying camouflage and in possession of a handgun, a big knife and a backpack full of a number of sorts of shotgun ammunition, police mentioned.
In 2024, Thompson’s father pleaded responsible to improperly storing the handgun and was sentenced to probation.
On account of the traumatic mind harm, Thompson, now 18, suffers from seizures. Simply final week his attorneys had requested for lodging throughout his trial after he had his first seizure in two years whereas in jail on Jan. 10, in accordance with court docket filings.
“On condition that the outcomes of latest testing had been very constructive, there’s concern that the stress of the upcoming trial contributed to this occasion,” his attorneys wrote. “Moreover, detention employees knowledgeable the workforce that there’s an elevated threat of recurrence within the month following a seizure.”
Thompson was charged as an grownup on 5 counts of homicide, two counts of tried homicide, two counts of assault with a lethal weapon and one rely of assault of an officer with a gun.
He’s anticipated to plead responsible to all fees on Wednesday in North Carolina Superior Courtroom, after which a decide will schedule a sentencing date.
