Monday marks three years since a mass shooting in the Hedingham neighborhood in east Raleigh.
On Oct. 13, 2022, five people were killed and two others were injured when a teenage gunman opened fire. A trial for the accused shooter, Austin Thompson, is set for Feb. 2, 2026.
Thompson, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, will stand trial as an adult on 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 a law enforcement officer.
Thompson will not face the death penalty if convicted, as federal law prohibits the death penalty for those who are younger than 18 at the time of their crimes.
The 3-year mark conjured memories of all who were killed in the tragedy. An end-of-watch ceremony honored Torres on Monday at the Law Enforcement Training Center in Raleigh. Colleagues said they remembered Torres for his soul, sense of humor and insistence on running extra laps during training.
Hedingham trial set for February 2026
When the case goes to trial in February, Thompson’s defense team will claim that a prescription medicine contributed to the teenager’s actions in October 2022, according to a court filing in his case.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said that the trial is still on track to start in February.
“It has been continued once, and I think both the defense and the prosecution understand that the judge is ready for us to be able to move this forward, to try to bring some closure to the victims’ families and to our community,” Freeman said.
The defense team plans to cite “diminished capacity” and “voluntary intoxication … of a prescribed medication.” Thompson’s defense team has declared the defendant has a brain injury but is competent to stand trial.
Earlier in 2025, Thompson’s defense team asked for more time to prepare for the trial, citing the teenager’s mental state and the vast amount of evidence they need to comb through.
As recently as last month, his defense team said they were still waiting on mental health reports.
Five killed in Hedingham mass shooting
On Oct. 13, 2022, police said Thompson first killed his brother, James Thompson, 16, inside their Hedingham home, then fled through the neighborhood to the nearby Neuse River Greenway, shooting another four people along the way.
Friends Nicole Connors, 52, and Marcille “Lynn” Gardner were shot on Sahalee Way.
Connors died. Gardner survived but spent weeks in the hospital.
Raleigh police officer, Gabriel Torres, 29, was on his way to work when he was shot and killed outside his home on Osprey Cove Drive.
Mary Marshall, 34, and Susan Karnatz, 49, were shot on the greenway and both died from their injuries.
Raleigh police officer Casey Clark was injured during the search for the shooter.
Police found Thompson in a shed close to 6 miles away from his own home. The teenager was found with a gunshot wound to his head.
A previous search warrant revealed what items SBI agents seized from Thompson in the shed where he hid after the shootings. The items include a shotgun, $772 in cash, multiple pistols, “projectiles,” knives, rifles, rifle magazines, shell casings, ammunition rounds and bullets.
Search warrants also listed 11 firearms and 170 boxes of ammunition seized from Thompson’s home.
In September, Alan Thompson, the teenager’s father, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor storing a firearm in a manner accessible to a minor. According to prosecutors, Alan Thompson told police he kept the 9-millimeter handgun in a box near his nightstand. The box, which was not locked, contained a full magazine.
