The boy responsible for a shooting in the cafeteria of a Cincinnati high school earlier this year pleaded guilty to charges that will keep him in prison until he’s at least 21.
James Austin Hancock, who shot two students and injured two more in a shooting Feb. 29, pleaded guilty April 28 to four counts of attempted murder and one count of inducing panic, according to dailymail.co.uk.
Defense attorney Charles Rittgers said there “really isn’t a good motive for what he did” and emphasized that Hancock committed the crime at the age of 14.
“As most people know, especially at that age, they’re immature and they act sometime impulsively,” Rittgers said.
Hancock was arrested shortly after he opened fire on students at Madison Jr./Sr. High School with a .380 caliber firearm he stole from a relative. The four victims in the shooting, including two students who were either hit by shrapnel or injured while running away, have made full recoveries.
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Prosecutors dropped four felonious assault counts after Hancock was indicted as a juvenile under a serious youth offender classification in March.
Now Hancock will be placed in a juvenile detention center until he turns 21. If he stays out of trouble in that time, there would be no possibility of an adult sentence.
Ginger Weaver, the mother of one of the victims in the shooting, said she thought Hancock should’ve been charged as an adult and said he deserved a harsher sentence.
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