Austin Thompson, 18, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for shooting and killing five people in a Raleigh neighborhood in October 2022.
Thompson, who was 15 at the time of the attack, was charged and sentenced as an adult.
The sentence follows Thompson’s decision in January to plead guilty to murder and other charges related to the killing spree. Victims of the shooting included a Raleigh police officer and Thompson’s own brother.
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The shooting occurred in October 2022 in Thompson’s Raleigh neighborhood. Thompson was set to stand trial in state court, but his attorney announced he would plead guilty to all charges against him. The guilty plea follows months of pretrial motions filed by his legal team seeking to restrict certain testimony and evidence.
Thompson’s attorneys wrote that the decision to avoid a trial was to “avoid as much additional trauma to the community and victims as possible.”
