Feb. 4, 2026: Mother, teachers recall what Raleigh mass shooter was like before shooting

Wednesday is the second day of Austin Thompson's sentencing hearing in Wake County court.

Tuesday featured a heavy day of testimony from sullen family members remembering a harrowing ordeal of loss and chaos in a usually quiet, orderly neighborhood. Raleigh police members shared details into the investigative process and went into how large a response the call garnered.

Last month, Thompson pleaded guilty 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. Five people, including a police officer, died in the Raleigh mass shooting on Oct. 13, 2022 in the city's Hedingham neighborhood when Thompson was 15. 

Here's a running log of Wednesday's proceedings:

• 4:43 p.m.: Court ends for the day. The hearing will resume at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday.
• 4:27 p.m.: Laura Wright, who worked at Knightdale High School, took the stand. Wright said it was common for Austin to lose focus and play computer games during her class. She said she did not see anything that would have led her to believe Austin would be capable of the shootings.
• 4:12 p.m.: Madeline Solock, another teacher who had Austin as a student, described her experience with him. Solock described Austin as quiet and having friends he would talk with. He would sometimes play first-person shooter games on the computer during class.
• Solock said that Austin associated the color red with anger during a discussion about color psychology in class. She agreed it was an appropriate response for the assignment and didn't stand out at the time.
• 4:01 p.m.: Alexandra Bennett, a former teacher at Knightdale High School, takes the stand. Austin and James attended Knightdale High School. Bennett said Austin was shy and reserved his freshman year, but was more comfortable as a sophomore student and participated in class regularly.
• Bennett said she didn't notice any significant personality shifts or anything in Austin's day-to-day behavior that would cause concerns leading up to the day of the shooting.
• 3:47 p.m.: Court takes a brief break.
• 3:43 p.m.: Elise reads her victim impact statement, at one point saying, "As parents, we will never get to witness milestones you and James would have experienced."
• 3:42 p.m.: The prosecution asks Elise if she could think of anything, looking back, that she could've noticed or seen. She responds, "No. I've run through that almost every day since the tragedy. I don't remember seeing any issues at all, or mood swings or anything like that. He was just normal."
• 3:39 p.m.: Elise said when she woke up in the hospital, a detective told her that Austin did this shooting. She said, "You don't think of that, it's your child. They're like, 'Austin did this, he left a note.'"
• 3:37 p.m.: Elise said that when she found James' body, she remembered screaming, "they killed him." She recounts being taken in for medical treatment because she had a panic attack.
• 3:34 p.m.: Elise said that while finding out about the shooting, she could not reach Austin and James. When she finally reached Alan by phone, he said he had a flat tire. She arrived home before he did.
• 3:31 p.m.: Elise said the two brothers were "really good kids." She said, "As far as I knew, they never handed in a late assignment at school."

She said she found out about the shooting on TV while getting her hair done. 

• 3:23 p.m.: Elise Thompson, Austin Thompson's mother, is called to the stand. She said she lived in the Hedingham neighborhood since 1998. Her and her husband, at the time, Alan lived there their entire marriage, which is July of 2004.

She talks about the relationship between brothers Austin and James. Elise said Austin liked video games, fishing, hunting with his dad and going to the grocery store with her because he and his brother liked getting ice cream. 

Austin avoids looking up as his mother takes the stand.

• 3:01 p.m.: Detective Correll with the RPD takes the stand. He's been with the department for 15 years. On the day of the shooting, he was on the homicide unit team one. He reviews photos and evidence that helped determine how the guns found in the shed were used, especially in reference to the self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Crime scene photos from inside the shed show cash in over $700, granola bars, shotgun shells categorized by branding and type of ammo, binoculars and the camo backpack. 

• 2:58 p.m.: The defense begins a brief line of questioning with McDonald.
• 2:36 p.m.: Court returns with David McDonald on the stand. He is a retired sergeant from the RPD. He said he was with the responding officers alongside Clark trying to find the shooter in the woods.

He describes using robots to grab the gun and backpack away from Thompson when officers found him in the woods. They resorted to using robots after he refused to comply with officers' ask to surrender.

• 12:55 p.m.: The court recesses for lunch after the defense asks Clark a few follow-up questions. Court will return at 2:30 p.m.

• 12:50 p.m.: When the video ends, Clark turns to the judge to ask him to give Thompson life in prison without parole. He said, "This is what a 15-year-old could do with minimal life experience and ability."
• 12:28 p.m.: The prosecution shows Clark's body camera footage from when officers were searching for the shooter.
• 12:24 p.m: Clark said that during the search for the shooter, he said he heard a gunshot and felt "a train going through my knee [that] drops me to the ground."

To this day, a gunshot pellet stays lodged in his knee. Clark said that his knee will give out on him without warning. When he's standing or walking, he might drop, and the pain he feels is constant. Clark also said that his wife, who used to be a "happy, go-lucky woman, where she was able to walk on the street unstressed," now evaluates everyone as a threat.

"That was my entire life's goal, was to be on the SWAT team; that was my dream," Clark said. "Walking through the woods used to be enjoyable to me. Now I'm evaluating, looking for a threat."

• 12:11 p.m.: The state calls up Casey Clark to the stand. Clark is currently a realtor in Michigan but at the time of the shooting, he was an officer with the Raleigh Police Department, at that point, for 10 years. He was medically unable to work with the department as of June 2024 after sustaining injuries from being shot in the knee during the shooting.

Clark said he was near the area of the Hedingham neighborhood when the shooting calls came in.

• 11:51 a.m.: Court resumes with Yell's autopsy breakdown of James Thompson. He said he did not find any shotgun wound injuries but did find a gunshot wound "more consistent to a handgun wound to his head, as well as multiple sharp force injuries and stab injuries to the neck."

Yell said that he also found an estimate of 57 stab wounds to James' body, but specified that all these wounds were found primarily around his neck.

Those wounds varied in severity, as some were referred to as "small pokes" whereas others were two inches deep. He also clarified that the number is "at least 57" because some wounds could have overlapped, where he couldn't discern if the wounds were one or multiple at times. 

• 11:37 a.m.: Court is taking a short break. They are expected to return by 11:50 a.m.
• 11:07 a.m.: Dr. Paul Yell is called to the stand. Yell is the associate chief medical examiner at the N.C. Office of Chief Medical Examiner. He said he performed two autopsies related to this shooting. He starts off by describing the wounds found on Gabriel Torres.
• 10:51 a.m.: Nelson describes the wounds found on Nicole Conners.
• 10:30 a.m.: Nelson describes Susan Karnatz's wounds.
• 10:18 a.m.: Nelson describes the wounds found on Mary Marshall.
• 10:07 a.m.: The prosecution brings up Dr. Craig Nelson, who is one of two doctors who performed autopsies, according to the state. He is the associate chief medical examiner at the Department of Pathology and Lab Medicine at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine. He said he's performed over 4,000 autopsies.

In relation to this shooting, Nelson performed three autopsies, all of which he determined contained shotgun wounds. 

• 10:02 a.m.: The defense begins cross-examining Rigsbee's testimony.
• 9:46 a.m.: Rigsbee breaks down crime scene photos taken at the Thompsons' house.
• 9:40 a.m.: Thompson enters the court and returns with testimony from Lt. Jamie Rigsbee with the Raleigh Police Department. He relays the moment he knew that Thompson was the prime suspect.

On Tuesday, Rigsbee remembered finding out about Torres' death. 

"One of my detectives went straight to the hospital," Rigsbee said. "He told me Officer Torres had died...the deputy chief was standing next to me. I told him the news and we pressed on because we have a job to do."

Rigsbee later recalled having never seen as much blood in his time as a homicide detective as when he entered the bathroom where James Thompson was killed.

Before the sentencing

On Jan. 22, Thompson entered a guilty plea to 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.

The Oct. 13, 2022, shooting spree began inside the Thompson family home in the Hedingham community and ended on the nearby Neuse River Greenway.

In addition to the murder charge for the death of his brother, Austin Thompson is charged with the murders of an off-duty Raleigh police officer, Gabriel Torres, 29, who was on his way to work when he was shot; Mary Marshall, 34; Nicole Connors, 52, and Susan Karnatz, 49. Another Raleigh police officer, Casey Clark, 33, and Marcille "Lynn" Gardner, a special education teacher, were injured.

Law enforcement arrested Thompson in a shed close to six miles away from his own home. Thompson was found with a gunshot wound to his head. That wound has had a lasting impact on Austin, making it so that "Austin cannot explain why he committed this shooting," according to lawyers.