Indiana Teen Was Planning School Shooting Until Her Friend Tipped Off FBI. Now She Learns Fate
NEED TO KNOW
- A teenager who planned to commit a mass shooting at an Indiana high school in February will serve 12 years in prison
- Trinity Shockley, now 19, was arrested after the FBI’s Sandy Hook tip line was alerted by the teen’s friend
- The tipster said Shockley had “access to an AR15” and “admired” school shooter Nikolas Cruz
A teenager convicted of plotting a mass shooting at an Indiana high school earlier this year has been sentenced.
Trinity Shockley was sentenced on Nov. 24 to 20 years in prison with eight years suspended after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, according to online court records. Her sentence will be followed by five years of probation.
The 19-year-old became emotional in court and apologized to an intended target and the community, saying, “I am so sorry I put you in that position of fear,” WFYI-FM reported. Shockley added, ‘It’s gotten a lot better since I’ve been surrounded by people that care about me,” referring to her mental health.
Shockley was arrested after the FBI’s Sandy Hook tip line was alerted by the teen’s friend, who claimed Shockley, a 12th grade student, was planning to commit a mass shooting at Mooresville High School on Feb. 14, per a probable cause affidavit previously obtained by NBC News, ABC News and CBS affiliate WLKY.
The tipster said Shockley had “access to an AR15 and has just ordered a bulletproof vest,” and that the teen “admired” Nikolas Cruz, who perpetrated the deadly 2018 mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., the affidavit states, per NBC News. Shockley previously claimed to be a victim of bullying.
Her attorney, Joseph Gaunt, said his client never intended to follow through with the shooting. “She knew she couldn’t do it, but she kept talking about it,” he said, per WFYI-FM. “That’s what makes this case hard.”
Morgan County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Cassie Mellady said that she felt the sentencing was a “fair outcome,” WTHR reported. “In this case, there was a significant amount of planning that was involved, so I tried to match the plea agreement to that.”
In a statement released on social media after Shockley’s sentencing, the FBI’s Indianapolis office called the case a “powerful reminder that when the public speaks up, lives can be saved.”
Read the original article on People
