The teenager accused in a 2022 deadly shooting in the Hedingham neighborhood in Raleigh will stand trial in February 2026.
Austin Thompson, who is in custody in a juvenile facility an hour from Raleigh in Cumberland County, appeared in court for the first time on Friday.
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You could hear a pin drop in the courtroom as the families of his victims waited to see him, more than two years after the shooting spree in east Raleigh.
He was dressed in street clothes -- slacks, a shirt and sweater, but wore shackles on his legs. On his head and face were visible injuries from a self-inflicted gunshot police say happened as they tried to arrest him on Oct. 13, 2022.
"I can't believe that was the same guy that I used to see walking around my neighborhood," said Tracey Howard.
Authorities believe Thompson killed Howard's wife, Nicole Conners and her dog on their front porch in October of 2022.
Thompson, who is now 17, had a tentative trial date set for Sept. 22, 2025.
In December, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told WRAL News there is a chance the trial could be delayed past September if the defense and court deem it necessary.
Attorneys representing Thompson asked to delay his trial to 2026, citing a brain injury and the large amount of evidence connected to the case.
"Mr. Thompson, when it happened he suffered serious gunshot wound that split his skull. He lost parts of his brain," public defender Deonte Thomas told Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul C. Ridgeway on Friday.
The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Patrick Latour, requested the trial date not be moved.
"It will be three years. It's time to get this rolling," Howard said.
Ridgeway decided to grant the defense's request to move the trial, settling on Feb. 2, 2026.
Five people were killed in the Oct. 13, 2022, rampage that started at Thompson's home on Sahalee Way and preceded through the Hedingham neighborhood to the Neuse River Greenway.
Law enforcement arrested then-15-year-old Thompson in a shed close to 6 miles away from his own home. The teenager was found with a gunshot wound to his head.
"His functioning is not what it was then," his attorney said.
They say they need more time to speak with Thompson, his doctors and go through the volumes of evidence.
A search warrant in the case revealed that SBI agents found a shotgun, $772 in cash, multiple pistols, "projectiles," knives, rifles, rifle magazines, shell casings, ammunition rounds and bullets with Thompson in the shed at the time of his arrest.
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 9mm handgun in a box near his nightstand. The box, which was not locked, contained a full magazine.
A judge has ruled the teenager should be tried as an adult. He will 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.
Also in the courtroom on Friday, were the families of Mary Marshall and the friends of Marcille "Lynn" Gardner, a special education teacher, who lived in the Hedingham neighborhood, and was injured in the shooting.
When the judge granted the extension, pushing the trial to 2026, family members were visibly upset.
"We need to get this over with. We need closure," Howard said.
Marshall's mother, Ginny Marshall, said, "I want to have this be done and be behind us, and start picking up our lives and moving on."
The five people killed in the Hedingham shooting included:
- James Thompson, 16, brother of the suspect
- Officer Gabriel Torres, 29, who was on his way to work at the Raleigh Police Department
- Nicole Connors, 52, who was shot on her front porch with her dog
- Susan Karnatz, 49, who was running on the Neuse River Greenway
- Mary Marshall, 34, who was shot on the Neuse River Greenway
Thompson also allegedly shot and injured two people:
- Raleigh police officer Casey Clark was injured during the search for the shooter
- Marcille "Lynn" Gardner, a special education teacher, who lived in the Hedingham neighborhood