The parents of a 15-year-old boy accused of killing five people in a North Carolina shooting rampage have said they are ‘overcome with grief’ and saw no warning signs before the killings.
Alan and Elise Thompson issued the statement through a lawyer that acknowledged the pain caused by their son, Austin, and expressed grief for the five he killed on Thursday. One of the dead was their 16-year-old son James.
‘Our son Austin inflicted immeasurable pain on the Raleigh community, and we are overcome with grief for the innocent lives lost,’ the statement said.
The statement said they will fully cooperate with law enforcement to help investigators understand what happened, but they have questions themselves. Authorities have not discussed a motive for the shooting.
‘There were never any indications or warning signs that Austin was capable of doing anything like this,’ the statement said.
Reached by phone Tuesday night, Elise Thompson declined to comment outside of the statement.
Austin remains hospitalized in critical condition following his arrest on Thursday night, hours after the shooting began.
Witnesses described in 911 calls that the shooter opened fire with a shotgun in a neighborhood northeast of downtown Raleigh and along an adjacent walking trail.
The Wake County prosecutor has said she will pursue adult charges against the suspect. Authorities had previously identified the shooter as a 15-year-old boy but had not publicly released the name.
Callers who dialed 911 during the shooting rampage described encountering bodies on the streets or front yards of their neighborhood and along a trail popular with runners and bikers, according to recordings released by authorities.
Witnesses said shooter was wearing camouflage and using a shotgun in the attacks that began shortly after 5pm.
The shooting drew officers from numerous agencies to the neighborhood as the suspect eluded capture for several hours.
The victims, ranging in age from 16 to their late 50s and were felled going about their daily routines, police and loved ones said.
Among those killed was an off-duty police officer. In addition to those killed, two others were wounded.
As revealed by DailyMail.com Thompson’s mother Elise discovered her son’s first victim – his brother James – shot dead in the family home on Sahalee Way.
By the time she made her awful discovery her younger son had already shot dead near neighbor Nicole Connors, 52, and her dog Sami and left Connor’s best friend, Gardner, grievously wounded in the front yard.
The women had enjoyed an early dinner – a birthday treat from Connors to Gardner – before returning home to their awful fate.
Thompson then made his way to Osprey Cove Drive where he gunned down Officer Gabriel Torres, 29, who was heading out to start his shift.
Ducking out of the residential subdivision Thompson headed to the Neuse River Trail and Greenway where he shot his final two victims – Susan Karantz, 49, who regularly ran that trail and Mary Marshall, 35, a Navy vet who will now be buried on October 28 – the day before she was due to marry her fiancé, ‘the love of her life,’ Robert Steele.
By 5.30pm the Trail and Greenway was swarming with cops.
Soon police, sheriff’s deputies and state troopers were scouring the other side of the river.
They massed near Beaverdam Elementary School, off Old Milburnie Road – crime-scene tape is still visible along part of that road, remnants of the frantic hours that followed Thompson’s first shot.
DailyMail.com has learned that the teenager headed south along the trailway before cutting across the Neuse River at Neuse River Trailway bridge and doubling back on himself to head north.
Witnesses told DailyMail.com that police vehicles were seen speeding across the river on New Bern Avenue.
Residents of McConnell Oliver Drive, Tarheel Drive and Old Milburnie Road – across the river from Thompson’s starting point – were told to remain indoors while the shooter was still at large.
The rampage ended in a standoff between Austin in police at a remote barn six miles from where it all started.