The Raleigh mass shooting of October 2022 will gain some finality for victims and their families on Friday morning as a judge is expected to reach a decision on Austin Thompson’s sentencing.
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 for 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 deadly weapon with intent to kill and one count of assault with firearm on law enforcement officer.
On Thursday, the prosecution said the shooting was “one of the deadliest spree shootings in this state.” Thompson’s defense closed its arguments by saying he is 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.
Court is scheduled to begin around 9:30 a.m.
Check back here for a running log of Friday’s proceedings.