Indiana middle school shooter ordered to stay in custody
Apr 27, 2023, 4:46 PM | Updated: 4:58 pm
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A judge ordered a former student who opened fire at an Indiana middle school in 2018, wounding another student and a teacher, to remain in custody after a corrections employee said Thursday that he “fist-bumped” her breast.
The former student, who was 13 at the time of the shooting, had been detained since shortly after he opened fire at Noblesville West Middle School on May 25, 2018. He shot a seventh-grade science teacher and another 13-year-old student. The teacher, Jason Seaman, cut the shooting short when he tackled the shooter and pinned him to the ground.
Seaman was shot three times, and the student, Ella Whistler, was shot seven times. No one was killed.
Following his 18th birthday the shooter was due to be released on home detention with GPS monitoring until he turned 21, his attorney, Ben Jaffe, said in court. But after a state corrections employee testified about the fist bump, the shooter was remanded to the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center pending a psychological assessment.
The shooter showed a “lack of maturity and a lack of understanding of all of the things that I’d hoped that you would learn,” Hamilton Circuit Judge Paul Felix said.
Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility employee Rayann Jefferis said the shooter “fist-bumped” her breast twice while he was in her office. Jefferis said she didn’t believe the bump was sexual but said it was inappropriate.
Jaffe compared the bump to “goofing off.”
The psychological assessment will be used by the court to reassess the shooter’s future in the criminal justice system.
