Prosecution of accused Hedingham shooter taking shape, court documents show

WRAL News is getting a first look at how the state is planning to prosecute the teen suspect in an October 2022 mass shooting in Raleigh.

According to court documents filed by state prosecutors on Friday, the state plans on arguing that Austin Thompson, who was 15 at the time, knowingly shot and killed 5 people in an aggravated manner and in an effort to avoid being arrested or "effecting an escape from custody."

"The defendant took advantage of a position of trust or confidence, including a domestic relationship, to commit the offense," the state said in the motion. The first victim of the shooting in Raleigh's Hedingham neighborhood was Thompson's older brother, James Thompson, 16.

Austin Thompson is charged with 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 state also plans to call a current and a former employee of the Raleigh/Wake City-County Bureau of Investigation (CCBI) as a witness during the trial, as well as a Raleigh Police Department employee to provide details on forensic evidence, as well as cell phone data, location services and digital forensics involved in the investigation.

Thompson’s trial, after several delays, is set to begin in February, more than three years after the mass shooting.

Thompson will not face the death penalty because federal law prohibits the death penalty for people younger than 18 years old at the time of their crimes.

How police say the shooting unfolded

Police said Thompson first killed his brother inside their Hedingham home before running 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 later died from their injuries.

Another police officer, Casey Clark, was injured during the search for the shooter.

Thompson was later found with a gunshot wound to his head in a shed close to six miles away from his home.

>>Full timeline of Hedingham shooting and search for shooter

A search warrant revealed the SBI found weapons and cash in the shed where Thompson hid after the shootings, including a shotgun, $772 in cash, multiple pistols, “projectiles,” knives, rifles and several rounds of ammunition, shell casings, bullets and rifle magazines.

Nearly a dozen weapons and 170 boxes of ammunition were found in Thompson's home later, along with a confession note by Thompson describing the killing of his brother inside their home.

>> Thompson's defense team to argue medication led to mass shooting

In October, WRAL News learned how Thompson's defense would plan to argue their client’s case.

According to an October court filing by Thompson’s lawyers, the teen, now 18, plans to argue that a prescription medication contributed to his actions that day, saying the medication led to "voluntary intoxication" and gave Thompson "diminished capacity."

In January, Thompson's lawyers argued, "While he has since been declared competent to stand trial, he is still a brain-injured adolescent."

Rob Steele, whose fiancée was among the five people killed that day, said any defense brought forward by Thompson's lawyers is irrelevant.

"He made a choice to commit evil, and he needs to pay for that choice," Steel said.

Thompson's attorneys also want potential jurors individually interviewed and for each prospective juror to fill out a questionnaire before a jury is selected.

>> Defense team accused of blocking mental health records in civil case

Families of the victims, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit in October 2024 against Thompson, his parents and the neighborhood's HOA, accused Thompson's attorneys of blocking his mental health records in November.

The families, in the lawsuit, said Thompson had several problems leading up to the shooting, including arguments with other residents in the community.

In the motion, the families said an attorney for Thompson used a "blanket Fifth Amendment" defense to prevent the release of those records.

WRAL asked attorney Daniel Meier, who does not represent any of the parties in this case, why civil lawyers might not have access to this information.

They certainly would, if they had the right to it.

"One of the concerns is - and why they're pleading the fifth - he has a constitutional right to plead the Fifth Amendment when it comes to the criminal case," Meier said. "You don't have that in the civil. In civil, it can be used against you."

Meier said it appears lawyers for Thompson are trying to "delay the civil process a bit until the criminal process has played out."