NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — A Madison County judge is set to decide whether a teenager who admitted to shooting a classmate and teacher inside a Noblesville middle school nearly five years ago will stay in jail or be released amidst recent battery allegations.
A short detention hearing was held Tuesday in Madison Circuit Court regarding whether a Noblesville 18-year-old will remain incarcerated or be released on GPS monitoring under 24-hour home supervision.
The shooting
The teen was 13 years old in May of 2018 when he brought a handgun into Noblesville West Middle School and shot a classmate and science teacher.
The attack ended when the teacher threw a ball at the boy and wrestled away his gun. The classmate was shot multiple times while the teacher was hit three times; both survived.
At the time, the boy was too young to be tried as an adult and was instead remanded to the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility in Madison County for treatment and incarceration.
In April 2023, Hamilton County Judge Paul Felix said that early on during his detention, the teen did not appear to grasp the gravity of his actions.
However, Felix said the teen had recently shown enough progress that the Court was considering his release back to the community once he became an adult on April 5.
Battery allegations
The possibility of the teen being released after turning 18 was then thwarted after police say he inappropriately and intentionally touched the breast of a female public safety official while in the IDOC juvenile facility. He now faces battery charges in the incident.
A criminal juvenile case manager has since testified that on March 20 the boy entered her office, fist-bumped her breast twice, made light of it and then bragged about the incident to other juvenile offenders.
Near the end of April, Judge Felix cited the offender’s “lack of respect and regard” for the incident with the staff member when saying he has doubts that the boy actually has remorse over the 2018 shooting.
While denying the boy’s release in April, Judge Felix quoted the teen’s own statement to investigators: “It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m getting out soon.”
New developments and possible release
All of these developments bring us to Tuesday, June 6, when Madison Circuit Judge Stephen Koester heard arguments from prosecutors and the teen’s defense attorneys during a detention hearing.
While attorneys representing the teen argued for his release, Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings asked the court to keep him behind bars while the court decides on the battery charges.
Judge Koester will now take all information regarding the school shooting, the recent battery charges and the teen’s recent psychiatric evaluation under advisement when making a decision on his future.
The judge is set to rule on the matter at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, June 7. Check back to this article for updates.