PADUCAH, Ky. (AP) -- A teen-ager who opened fire on a group of his classmates at their high school, killing three and injuring five, was sentenced Wednesday to spend at least the next 25 years in prison.
Victims and members of their families were allowed to speak during the emotional court hearing for Michael Carneal. Many of them hugged and comforted each other and cried together when it was over."As a mother, my life has forever been changed," Gwen Hadley, the mother of one of the slain students told the court. "My family is no longer whole."
Carneal, 15, pleaded guilty but mentally ill on Oct. 5 to three counts of murder and six other charges related to the shooting spree at Heath High School on Dec. 1, 1997.
Using a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun that he took to the West Paducah school that day, he opened fire on a student prayer group that meets each morning in the lobby.
Carneal spent most of the time quietly sitting in the same position at the defense table -- hunched over, hands clasped in his lap, looking straight down. His parents, John and Ann Carneal, sat at the front of the courtroom.
The boy's sullen expression didn't change after McCracken Circuit Court Judge Jeff Hines sentenced him to life in prison without possibility of parole for 25 years. The sentence was the maximum penalty a juvenile can receive in Kentucky after a conviction in an adult court.