Raleigh mass shooter sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole :: WRAL.com

The Raleigh mass shooting of October 2022 gained some finality for victims and their families on Friday morning as a judge sentenced Austin Thompson to life in prison without the possibility of parole on five counts of murder. 

Here’s for a running log of Friday’s proceedings:

For the attempted first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury on Lynn Gardner, Thompson is additionally sentenced to a minimum of 157 months. 

For the attempted first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and assault on a law enforcement officer, he is also sentenced to another minimum of 157 months. 

• 9:51 a.m.: Ridgeway says the court does not support the defense’s argument that the acne medicine caused dissociation at the time of the crime.
• 9:48 a.m.: After Ridgeway recounts the facts of the shooting, he says, “This lengthy period of premeditation and deliberation, paired with malice, are compelling findings that support the conclusion or a conclusion that Austin Thompson is one of the rare juvenile defenders whose crime is irreparable corruption.”
• 9:40 a.m.: Ridgeway recounts the timeline of the shooting based on the evidence presented in court. He says, “It’s hard to conceive of a greater display of pure malice than the conduct of the defendant in indiscriminate targeting and brutal killing of five homicide victims.”
• 9:31 a.m.: Ridgeway takes a moment to recount the statements and memories about the victims from the shooting.
• 9:30 a.m.: Thompson’s defense reiterates to Judge Paul Ridgeway that a sentence of life without parole would be “unconstitutional.”
• 9:25 a.m.: Austin Thompson’s parents are seen sitting in the stands, waiting for their son to arrive. Also seen in the stands are Jasmin Torres, the widow of the killed Raleigh police officer Gabriel Torres, Ginny Marshall, the mother of Mary Marshall, Rob Steele, Mary Marshall’s fiancée and Tom Karnatz, the widow of Sue Karnatz.

Closing arguments wrapped up in the sentencing hearing on Thursday afternoon.

Thompson has pleaded guilty to all charges in a mass shooting in Raleigh on Oct. 13, 2022. Seven people were shot and five of them died, including a Raleigh police officer and James Thompson, the brother of the shooter.

Judge Paul Ridgeway is expected to tell Thompson, now 18 years old, whether or not he’ll spend the rest of his life in prison with the possibility of parole. The decision comes after nearly two weeks of proceedings and dozens of hours of testimony at Wake County court. 

In January, Thompson entered a guilty plea to five counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and one count of assault with a firearm on law enforcement officer.

On Thursday, Thompson’s own defense attorney said this shooting was “without a doubt, one of the worst crimes that Wake County has ever seen.”

But her team’s argument is that Thompson is now a different person, physically, neurocognitively and psychologically, than he was since the shooting, noting he “has every marker and every sign to be rehabilitated…That’s Austin 2.0.”

Thompson, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life with the
possibility of parole after 25 years. The maximum possible sentence for
Thompson would be five life sentences plus an additional 1,634 months in
prison.