Teen pleads guilty in Raleigh's Hedingham mass shooting. Motive remains unknown.
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Raleigh mass shooting in Hedingham neighborhood
On Oct. 13, 2022, seven people were shot in Raleigh, NC, in the Hedingham neighborhood near the Neuse River Greenway Trail. Five were killed, including a Raleigh police officer. High school student Austin Thompson was charged with their murders. Read The News & Observer’s ongoing coverage of the mass shooting, Thompson’s guilty plea and his sentencing hearing.
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Editor’s note: This story contains details of violence that some may find disturbing.
Austin Thompson, still only 18, pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder in the worst mass shooting in Raleigh’s history, killing five people and wounding two more on a rampage through the Hedingham neighborhood.
Thompson — wearing a burgundy quarter-zip, button-down shirt and leg shackles — spoke publicly for the first time since the 2022 slayings, answering a Superior Court judge’s questions in a quiet voice and showing no outward emotion.
But though Thompson left a note behind after killing his older brother in the family home, that evidence will remain under seal until his sentencing in February, leaving any motive for the killing unexplained.
Thompson’s lawyers, in announcing Tuesday that Thompson would plead guilty, said the teen accepts what he did, understands the grief he brought both victims’ families and his own, and wishes to spare them a lengthy trial.
Thompson now faces five life sentences in prison, one for each of the fatal shootings, plus more than 1,600 months for the other felonies.
“Life in prison,” said Robert Steele, whose fiance, Mary Marshall, died from shotgun wounds on the Neuse River Greenway. “No parole. He took five lives. That’s justice.”
A rifle shot to the head, 49 stab wounds
For the first time, Raleigh heard a detailed account of the mass shooting that shocked the city, placed it in national headlines and drew words of condolence from President Biden.
Assistant District Attorney Patrick Latour said both Thompson and his older brother, James, went to school at Knightdale High School on the day of the shooting, turning in homework and doing normal tasks.
They came home and played video games alone in the house until about 4:20 p.m., when Thompson got a .22 rifle from the home and shot his brother in the back of the head. James Thompson stumbled to the bathroom, still alive, where his younger brother stabbed him at least 49 times, mostly around the neck, Latour said.
He then left a note and collected guns from the home, his family being avid hunters, and laid them out on the bed.
“Almost buffet-style,” Latour said.
He changed into camouflage clothing and packed a backpack with ammunition, food, water, fire starters, fishing gear, knives, toilet paper and more than $700.
Before the day of the shooting, Latour said, Thompson had searched other mass shootings online, looking for the types of weapons used and how juveniles are treated when charged with murder.
‘Neighbors are terrified’
After his brother’s death, Latour said, Thompson moved outside just as neighbor Nicole Connors and her friend Lynn Gardner were coming home to walk their dogs after a birthday celebration at Red Lobster.
As they passed Thompson’s house, the prosecutor said, he fired five shots from the shotgun, hitting them both. Connors died on her porch, unable to make it inside, next to her dog who also had been fatally shot. Gardner, who suffered facial fractures from the gun blast, survived after a lengthy hospital stay.
Shortly after, Latour said, neighbors saw Thompson jogging near the cul de sac at Osprey Cove, where he approached Raleigh police officer Gabriel Torres as he was talking to his wife and daughter on the phone, getting ready to go to work.
Torres had a habit of kissing his daughter before he left for work, Latour said, and Thompson shot him through the windshield just as his family was driving up to the family home.
A witness yelled from a nearby house, Latour said, but slammed the door and ran upstairs with his child once Thompson pointed the gun his way.
“Neighbors are terrified,” Latour said.
Saving grace
By that time, Latour continued, Raleigh police had swarmed over Hedingham, a sprawling neighborhood in the northeastern part of Raleigh.
Neighbors began to see news accounts.
Mary Marshall went out to the nearby Neuse River Greenway Trail, adjacent to the subdivision, to recover her dog, who had gotten loose. Passers-by found her there, face-down and unconscious, shot multiple time in the head, neck and shoulder.
Her dog, unhurt, would not leave her side, Latour said.
“I think a small saving grace is nobody actually witnessed Mary’s death,” said Steele, her fiance, after Wednesday’s hearing. “I didn’t have to hear it described.”
But on that same greenway, Latour said, Thompson also shot Susan Karnatz on her daily jog. Her husband had already finished his run and waited for her, seeing only a stationary spot on the greenway on a location sharing app. Eventually, Latour said, that phone signal led police to where Thompson shot her.
Self-inflicted wound
Thompson has appeared in court once prior to Wednesday’s plea hearing, showing the deep wound on his forehead he suffered in a lengthy standoff with police.
On Wednesday, Latour disclosed that Thompson’s wound was self-inflicted, fired while holed up in a shed. It was the first time that detail had been made public.
He fired at least four shotgun rounds at police during the standoff, Latour said, hitting Raleigh officer Casey Clark in the knee. Clark has since been forced to leave police service against his wishes due to the injury.
On Tuesday, Thompson’s attorneys announced that the defendant can’t explain why he shot and killed his victims. His head wound prevents that clarity and still triggers seizures, attorneys said in court filings.
For victims’ family members, the long ordeal that began in 2022 is nearing an end, at least in criminal court. The sentencing phase begins Feb. 2, and the civil lawsuit over whether the shooting could have been prevented is still pending.
“It’s relieving,” Steele, the fiance, said. “I really didn’t take a deep breath until the judge accepted it. ... It’s almost over.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
This story was originally published January 21, 2026 at 3:33 PM.
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