A judge ordered Monday that a teenager who opened fire at a central Indiana middle school in 2018, injuring another student and a teacher, be admitted to a residential treatment program.
Hamilton Superior Court Judge Michael A. Casati ordered that the now-18-year-old be placed at the Hamilton County Juvenile Service Center for 120 days while a probation department searches for a suitable secure residential facility.
“The juvenile poses a risk to the community,” Casati wrote in a five-page order. A hearing to determine his placement has been scheduled for Oct. 4.
He will be held there for at least a year. The judge ordered him to appear in June 2024 for a permanency hearing. He can be kept as a minor in Indiana until the day before he turns 22.
The boy, who was 13 at the time of the shooting, had been jailed since May 2018, when he opened fire at Noblesville West Middle School. He also killed a seventh-grade science instructor and a 13-year-old student. Jason Seaman, the teacher, tackled and pinned him to the ground.
Ella Whistler, a student, was shot seven times, while Seaman was shot three times. There were no fatalities.
Prosecutors claim the youngster was due to be released to his family on March 20 when he assaulted a female counselor at the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility by “fist-bumping” her breast and then joking about it with other kids. He was 17 at the time and was charged with violence as a juvenile.
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