Feb 3, 2026 sentencing: Family, investigators share painful memories of Raleigh mass shooting

Sentencing began for for Austin Thompson on Tuesday.

In January, Thompson pleaded guilty to five counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and three assault charges. The charges stem from an October 2022 mass shooting in Raleigh's Hedingham neighborhood.

Thompson was just 15 when he went on a shooting rampage in the neighborhood, authorities said. He will go through a Miller sentencing hearing.  

Here's the latest on Tuesday's proceedings:

5 p.m.: The court goes into recess until 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

4:35 p.m.: Lt. Jamie Rigsbee with the Raleigh Police Department takes the stand.

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.

4:20 p.m.: David Rattelade, a 22-year veteran with Raleigh police, is called to the stand.

Rattelade took the court through the response and search for a shooter. He recalled finding James Thompson dead inside the Thompson household.

"I heard a female screaming three houses away ... I went to sweep the residence ... went to the master bathroom and saw the victim face down in the bathroom. I later learned that the female was the suspect's mother."

4:07 p.m.: Ginny Marshall, the mother of Mary Marshall, takes the stand. Mary Marshall was 34 when she was shot on the Neuse River Greenway.

Ginny talked about the confusion and uncertainty that set in when she couldn't reach Mary. When an officer was overheard talking about an identifying mark on a victim, she feared the worst.

"We heard an officer on the phone talking about a tattoo," Ginny said. "We knew about that and that's when I knew....when he told us, we just all lost it."

Ginny said Mary had an infectious laugh and was "a light of good in this world."

4 p.m.: Karnatz said he drove home after talking with a police sergeant. 

"I drove home," he said. "Met my three kids and told them their mom was dead." He added he was grateful for the support Raleigh police provided the families on that day. Sue and Tom were married for 16 years.

"Every day I wake up and Sue isn't lying next to me," Tom said. "And that's what makes that day hard."

3:50 p.m.: Karnatz said when he approached New Bern Avenue during his run, he saw a helicopter and police vehicles. He was stopped by police and asked if he had seen anyone with camouflage or anyone with a gun. The neighborhood became blocked off at some point.

• 3:45 p.m.: The recess ends. Tom Karnatz takes the stand. Tom is the husband of Sue Karnatz, who was killed in the shooting. Tom and Sue went for a run on the Neuse River Greenway the day of the shooting, but in opposite directions.
• 3:33 p.m.: Court will recess for 15 minutes.
• 3:30 p.m.: Powell says, "The scope and magnitude is something I haven't seen before. It was the first Raleigh officer who had died since I had been employed here....these death notifications were very difficult."
• 3:13 p.m.: Powell describes the chaotic scene as people tried to enter the neighborhood to get home. He said two people who were unable to get with their loved ones stood out to him: Robert Steele and Tom Karnatz.

Steele told Powell that his fiancée, Mary Marshall, was in the neighborhood. Steele told Powell that the last time he spoke to her was on the phone when she heard gunshots and that their dog slipped off the leash. Marshall told Steele she was going to grab the dog and then run back inside their house. 

Powell then said Karnatz lived in a neighborhood adjacent to Hedingham. Karnatz told Powell that through media reports, he saw a mass shooting occurred in the area of the greenway his wife, Susan Karnatz, usually ran on. 

• 3:04 p.m.: No further questions from the prosecution and defense for Spiegel. The prosecution calls Gary Powell to the stand. Powell is a sergeant with the Raleigh Police Department. On the day of the shooting, Powell was the sergeant of for detectives in the robbery unit.

Powell confirmed that officers thought the calls were prank calls, saying it's "not uncommon for the department to receive prank calls on active shooters, bomb threats." When they learned that the shooting was serious, he said that it was the largest response from every agency that he's ever seen. 

• 2:56 p.m.: The prosecution plays the 911 call from Spiegel when he found the two bodies.
• 2:43 p.m.: The prosecution calls up Nathan Spiegel, an active member in the Coast Guard. He did not live in Hedingham, but he was biking in the area on the day of the shooting. He said he saw an unconscious woman lying on the ground with a dog roaming her. He said he didn't hear anything unusual because he had earbuds on.

He said two other women were riding their bikes behind Spiegel and when they went a little further up the trail, they saw another body. 

• 2:43 p.m.: The defense begins questioning Davin. They asked her to clarify the position that the shooter was in while he was walking behind her house.
• 2:40 p.m.: Davin said that she was going to tell Torres that someone was behind their homes with a weapon. When she was about to leave, she said she heard "a lot of noise," slammed the door and ran upstairs.

Davin said she heard Jasmin when she screamed. 

• 2:30 p.m.: Court returns from lunch. The prosecution calls up their next witness, Joyce Davin, a retired chem tech for the toxicology department of the NC State Crime Lab, where she worked for 20 years. She's lived in the Hedingham neighborhood since 2007. She said she knew the Torres'.

She said she thought she heard firecrackers and remembers asking her daughter on the phone who would be setting off firecrackers when the weather was gorgeous. She added that she saw someone walking down the greenway path with a weapon and was dressed in camo. 

• 12:55 p.m.: Court recesses for lunch. They will return at 2:30 p.m.

• 12:53 p.m.: In the last minutes of her statement, Jasmin said, "Our life has been changed forever. My daughter didn't deserve any of it, my husband didn't deserve any of it and I know I didn't deserve any of it."
• 12:46 p.m.: Jasmin recounts the moment she tried to keep Gabe alive.

"I went into some type of leadership role I never signed up for," Jasmin cried. "I wanted to do everything I could to save my husband's life."

• 12:38 p.m.: Jasmin said when she left to pick up their daughter, Gabe was getting ready for work. She said that while she was heading back from picking up their daughter, she called Gabe. During the call, she said they both heard gunshots, but did not know they were gunshots at the time.

She said that as she was entering the Hedingham neighborhood, she heard more gunshots. She describes the shots as "clacks."

• 12:31 p.m.: Jasmin says she moved in March or April of 2023, months after the shooting.

Jasmin says their work schedules overlapped so he would be arriving home by the time Jasmin would leave for work. But on that day, Jasmin said it was "divine intervention of God" when she was running late for work that morning, and Gabe would take their daughter to daycare instead. She then said that while at work, her office lost power and she left work early around noon.

"Again, divine intervention, everything just happens the way it's supposed to," Jasmin said. She said she was able to hug him and spend some time with him before picking up their daughter. 

• 12:28 p.m.: Jasmin says she and Gabe got married in August of 2018. Their daughter is now five, but she was two at the time of the shooting.

She said that Gabe was about to start his overnight shift on the day of the shooting. 

• 12:25 p.m.: No further questions were asked for Barnadoe. The state calls up Torres' wife Jasmin to the stand. She is wearing a button containing a photo of Gabe.

• 12:16 p.m.: The state introduces crime photographs into evidence that show Torres' car surrounded by police tape.
• 12:09 p.m.: Barnadoe said he responded to Torres' injuries first and was the first to render air. He said he had not been in that neighborhood before.

Barnadoe choked up while describing the gunshot wounds he saw in Torres' body on the way to the hospital. 

• 12:06 p.m.: The prosecution calls up Raleigh police detective Thomas Russell "Rusty" Barnadoe to the stand. He has been with the police department since 2010.

Barnadoe said that the calls coming from Hedingham sounded like a prank call. He said it didn't make sense to him at the time that there were any off-duty security jobs in the neighborhood. 

• 12:04 p.m.: Green said that after Torres' wife went to the hospital, Green and his family had to stay in their house as the whole scene was roped off for the investigation. He remembered that no one was allowed in and no one was allowed out.

"For those who were affected, it was heavy," Green said. "Our neighborhood was the safest place you could have been. Since then, it doesn't feel that way anymore. 

No further questions were asked by the prosecution or the defense. 

• 11:55 a.m.: Green said he was asleep at the time of the shooting. His fiancée woke him up and said she thinks she heard some shooting.

Green recounts the moment when he went out to help Torres' wife and Poole after Torres was shot. Green said that Poole told him, "some kid shot Gabe." 

• 11:50 a.m.: The state calls up their fourth witness to testify, Broderick Green. He still lives in the Hedingham neighborhood, three years after the shooting. He said Torres was his next door neighbor.
• 11:50 a.m.: Poole is released from the stand after the defense asks some follow-up questions.
• 11:45 a.m.: Thompson's defense cross-examines Poole.
• 11:41 a.m.: Poole said it was a "very horrific scene" when Torres' wife handed their daughter to Poole's family. They took care of Torres' daughter while he was in the hospital that night.

"One thing that messed me up [was] having to now go in the house and be 'uncle Dustin,'" he said. "Just trying to make my daughter and her laugh, knowing I just saw her dad killed in front of me."

• 11:39 a.m.: Poole said that he lived there for a year and a half before the shooting. He said he knew a lot of people and the flow of the neighborhood, but had never seen the young shooter.
• 11:33 a.m.: Poole said he didn't see where the young man ran to afterward because he was focused on making sure Torres was safe. He said he ran into his Torres' wife, who had just came home after he was shot.
• 11:29 p.m.: Poole said he ran to his front step and yelled out of shock, saying "I was in disbelief that my best friend Gabe was possibly dead and his daughter possibly dead." When he yelled, he said the young man then pointed the gun at Poole.

Poole ran back in his house to protect his daughter and wife. 

"As soon as I made sure [my family] were hiding, I thought that I have to try and save Gabe and if his daughter's in the car, I have to try and save them both," Poole said. 

• 11:26 a.m.: Watching through the window, Poole said he saw the young man walking straight in a cul-de-sac and then saw Torres in his car on the opposite side of the cul-de-sac. Poole said the young man walked up to Torres' car and shot one time at him and then a second time.
• 11:23 a.m.: Poole recalls that while he was home taking care of his daughter, around 5 p.m., he saw a young man carrying a gun. Poole said the young man looked to be about "10, 11, 12... he looked very young."

Poole said the gun "was as big as the kid."

• 11:17 a.m.: Court returns from recess. The state calls their third witness, Dustin Poole, over a video call. He tunes in from Pennsylvania. Poole said he was really good friends with Gabe Torres, the off-duty police officer killed in the shooting. They lived doors down from each other.

• 11 a.m.: Court is taking a short break.
• 11 a.m.: Howard could not finish his statement, ending with "I don't like to go anywhere, because I feel guilty about having fun without my wife...I planned on saying a lot up here, but I can't get through it."
• 10:58 a.m.: When asked how the shooting impacted him, Howard said "Austin's actions have broken me." After a long pause, he said, "I don't enjoy the things I used to do."
• 10:53 a.m.: Howard said that while at the hospital, doctors incorrectly brought him to Gardner's room when he was told he was going to see his wife. He added that Gardner's face was unrecognizable at the time.

He didn't officially find out that Connors was dead until five hours later. 

Howard said he moved out of the Hedingham neighborhood in April 2023. He said he did not know Thompson but knew where he lived and had only seen him walking around his house. Thompson's family lived "two doors down" from Howard. 

• 10:39 a.m.: The state brings up their second witness, Tracey Howard, who was the husband of Nicole Connors.

Howard said he was running errands when the shooting happened. He said that when he came back, he saw Gardner lying on the sidewalk. When he ran into the house to get Connors, he noticed their dog lying near the door and that Connors was bleeding. 

"I could tell by her eyes, she was no longer with us," Howard recounted. "I know I was definitely panicked, in disbelief, couldn't believe what I had seen. I just didn't know how ot act or how to feel."

• 10:35 a.m.: Gardner addressed the judge in her final remarks, saying that what happened on Oct. 13, 2022, she doesn't understand it and doesn't condone it.

"I don't take light of it. It saddens me to think about not being able to talk to my friend again. The relationship [with Connors] was blooming into a great friendship. We both needed a friend at that time."

She asks the judge to use his wisdom to make the decision for the sentencing, saying "I know that's a burden for you, it's a burden for me to think about these families that will never see their loved ones again. But it's my prayer that they get peace with what happened and be blessed to live a life and hold those good memories of those family members no longer with us."

• 10:28 a.m.: Gardner said that she feels for the family members who lost loved ones on that day. But then she followed up, "But because of who I am and what I believe, it has given me the grace to forgive the young man who shot me."

She continues, "Lord Jesus wanted me to forgive him so I could have peace...unforgiveness is like making poison for someone you hate and drinking it yourself. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not forgiving to free him, I'm forgiving to free me."

• 10:23 a.m.: Gardner said she was in the hospital for three months after the shooting. She said she was shot several times and still has a bullet fragment inside her. She said the last fragment was so close to the heart that the doctor was uncomfortable removing it.

She said the fragment causes her discomfort to this day, as it moves under her armpit. 

• 10:11 a.m.: Marcille "Lynn" Gardner is called to the stand. She was living in the Hedingham neighborhood on the day of the shooting. She said she was neighbors with Nicole Connors, one of the victims, and she was one of the people injured in the shooting.

Gardner recounts the time where she hears "bang, bang, bang" and heard Connors yell, "Why are you shooting at us?" Gardner said she didn't get a good look at Thompson's face. She said she didn't see anything and all of a sudden, she was looking at the sky and then looked down to see herself lying in a "pool of blood."

When she woke up in the hospital, Gardner said she was told Connors was killed in the same shooting. Gardner said, "I was numb. I couldn't comprehend that my friend was gone."

• 10:10 a.m.: The defense asks to start with opening statements. Ridgeway agrees, but not until the prosecution calls their first witness to the stand.
• 10 a.m.: Judge Paul Ridgeway started off the proceedings after Austin Thompson arrives in court. He turns it over to the state.

Due to Thompson's age at the time of the crime, he can't automatically be given life in prison without parole. Miller refers to the 2012 U.S. Supreme Court case of Miller v. Alabama, which determined no juvenile defendant may face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Two weeks ago, Thompson's lawyers said he "recognizes the deep pain he has caused," while disclosing his guilty plea. 

"We are ready to move forward. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims," Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said at the time.

By pleading guilty, attorneys said Thompson hoped to spare the community and his victims the trauma of a trial. However, it's likely we could hear most, if not all, of the evidence during this type of sentencing hearing.

The process was delayed to Tuesday due to the weekend's winter storm.

Austin's 16-year-old brother, James Thompson, and an off-duty officer were among the people who were killed.

Thompson faces five class A felonies for murder, which should carry a mandatory life without parole sentence. Because of his age at the time of the shooting, the hearing will determine whether or not he will be eligible for parole. However, he is not eligible to face the death penalty because he was younger than 18 when the shooting occurred.

With the possibility that victims and lawyers will speak, a sentencing hearing could take multiple days before the judge issues a ruling. 

Robert Steele's fiancée was among those killed. He said he plans to be there and make a statement.

"That young man took the best person I had ever met away from me," Steele said. "I want to look him in the face when he faces justice. Watching him get sentenced and hopefully sent away for the rest of his life will be the closure that I need."

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.