The then-15-year-old boy who gunned down his older brother, a cop and three others in a shocking 2022 North Carolina killing spree will plead guilty on Wednesday — while blaming a brain injury suffered during his capture for his failure to explain why he did it, his attorneys said.
Austin Thompson, who is now 18, will avoid standing trial for the senseless massacre in Raleigh, sending the case straight to sentencing, his attorneys said in a Tuesday court filing obtained by the Raleigh News & Observer.
They cited a brain injury he suffered from getting shot in the head during his capture, which officials said was self-inflicted when he was cornered in woodland after a shootout with cops.
“While the serious brain injury he suffered has made it such that Austin cannot explain why he committed this shooting, he has always accepted that he did this,” the plea states.
“He recognizes with deep pain he has caused the victims’ families as well as his own family.”
Thompson “decided he wishes to save the community and the victims from as much additional infliction of trauma as possible,” the plea continues.
“Austin understands he can never change what happened, but he hopes that pleading as charged and moving into a sentencing hearing only will allow for the victims, the community and his family to be spared a trial and he hopes that the material presented at the sentencing hearing brings as much peace and closure as possible,” his attorneys wrote.
Thompson was just 15 years old when he went on the deadly shooting spree in Raleigh’s residential Hedingham neighborhood in Oct. 2022, killing five people, one dog and wounding two others.
He shot and stabbed his 16-year-old older brother, James Roger Thompson, at their home before he opened fire 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 nearby Neuse River Greenway trail, identified as Mary Marshall, 34, and Susan Karnatz, 49.
His motive remains unknown.
Following a roughly 90-minute manhunt, dramatic bodycam video revealed the moments K-9 officers track Thompson down in a barn in a wooded area, where he exchanged gunfire with police, shooting an officer in the leg.
Hours later, cops breached the building and found Thompson with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, officials said. He was wearing camouflage and in possession of a handgun, a large knife and a backpack filled with several types of shotgun ammunition, police said.
In 2024, Thompson’s father pleaded guilty to improperly storing the handgun and was sentenced to probation.
As a result of the traumatic brain injury, Thompson, now 18, suffers from seizures. Just last week his attorneys had asked for accommodations during his trial after he had his first seizure in two years while in prison on Jan. 10, according to court filings.
“Given that the results of recent testing were very positive, there is concern that the stress of the upcoming trial contributed to this event,” his attorneys wrote. “Additionally, detention staff informed the team that there is an increased risk of recurrence in the month following a seizure.”
Thompson was charged as an adult on five counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of assault of an officer with a gun.
He is expected to plead guilty to all charges on Wednesday in North Carolina Superior Court, after which a judge will schedule a sentencing date.