Father of teenage suspect in North Carolina mass shooting pleads guilty to gun storage crime
RALEIGH, NC — The father of a teenager accused of a Mass Shooting in 2022 in the North Carolina capital, where five people died, pleaded guilty Wednesday to improperly storing a firearm. Authorities said the gun was found on his son’s property after the shooting.
Alan Thompson, 61, appeared to cry as he entered his plea to a misdemeanor charge in Wake County Superior Court, news outlets reported. District Judge Mark Stevens, who gave him a suspended 45-day jail sentence and a year of unsupervised probation, called the case “a case of epic tragedy.”
Thompson’s attorney said in court that there were no warning signs that Austin Thompson — accused of five murders and other charges — allegedly committing violence. The shooting occurred when Austin was 15, and was among the five people killed his older brother.
Austin Thompson is due to appear in court in September 2025 and faces a possible life sentence if found guilty.
“As a parent, Alan is experiencing the unthinkable: losing both of his sons and still not knowing why it happened,” said Russell Babb, an attorney representing Thompson’s mother and father.
Authorities allege the killing spree began on Oct. 13, 2022, when Austin Thompson shot and stabbed his 16-year-old brother, James, in their east Raleigh neighborhood. He then shot several neighbors, including an off-duty Raleigh police officer on his way to work, police said.
Dressed in camouflage clothing with multiple weapons strapped to his belt, Austin Thompson was found by police in a shed near a public greenway and arrested after an hours-long standoff. Detectives have said a handgun and a shotgun were used in the shootings.
Wake County Assistant District Attorney Luke Bumm said Wednesday that a gun found in the shed belonged to Alan Thompson. According to Bumm, Alan Thompson kept the loaded 9 mm pistol in an unlocked box on a nightstand. The gun matched evidence from the first victims, Bumm said. Alan Thompson was first charged last year.
According to Babb, Austin Thompson showed no signs of violence and his father spoke to Austin on the phone twice, just before and after the mass shooting.
“He didn’t seem agitated,” Babb said. “He didn’t seem angry. He didn’t seem upset.”
Babb said Alan Thompson spoke to him as he was driving home from work, asking if he needed anything as he stopped to get a gallon of milk. Thompson then saw police cars speeding toward the Hedingham neighborhood and called again to tell Austin Thompson to “hunker down,” Babb said.
Police initially refused to let Alan Thompson in, Babb said, and emergency responders told him his oldest son had been murdered and his youngest son was missing. Babb said he assumed his youngest son had gone after the killer, but then an officer told him, “Austin wasn’t chasing the shooter. Austin was the shooter.”
“Alan never imagined his own family member would behave like this and it saddens him,” Babb said.
Also killed in the shooting were Officer Gabriel Torres, Mary Elizabeth Marshall, Nicole Connors and Susan Karnatz. Two other people were injured in the shooting, including another officer. Austin Thompson is also charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and assault with a firearm on a police officer.
Investigators seized 11 firearms and 160 boxes of ammunition, some of which were empty, from Thompson’s home, according to search warrants. Wake County’s top prosecutor has said Austin Thompson suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound when he was taken into custody.