MADISON COUNTY, Ind. – The Noblesville school shooter will remain in custody for the time being.
The decision of whether or not to keep him behind bars stemmed from a battery case that was supposed to go before a Hamilton County Judge Friday.
The Noblesville school shooter is currently at the Madison County Juvenile Detention Center and officials said he is expected to stay there through at least the weekend due to a Hamilton County Judge not being available Friday for sentencing in the battery case.
However, the Hamilton County Prosecutor filed an objection to the teen being released Friday.
“The cavalier way that he engaged in this activity, I think he thinks it’s a joke,” said Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings. “He doesn’t take anything seriously. In my opinion, I haven’t seen a lot of maturity over the time he’s been incarcerated and from what I’ve observed, it’s a little concerning to think about him being out.”
Cummings is concerned that releasing the Noblesville school shooter back into society isn’t the best move. Cummings said Madison County Circuit Judge Stephen Koester decided on the issue Friday morning.
Koester previously said the teen had already done his time for the 2018 shooting at Noblesville West Middle School and would have been released when he turned 18 back in April. However, a new battery case involving the teen and an IDOC guard on March 20, put his release on hold.
“The responsibility that I have, and we have here [in Madison County] is to hold him accountable for that behavior and hopefully put him in a place where’s he’s not likely to reoffend,” said Cummings. “Hopefully, he’s gotten the message. I think he clearly did not prior to this [battery] incident and I’m not sure if the five or six extra months he’s done has done anything to help him appreciate the seriousness of the behaviors he’s been engaging in.”
Koester decided Friday morning that sentencing for the battery incident will be sent back to Hamilton County, where the shooting happened, and that a Hamilton County judge should have the final say.
“He [Judge Koester] chose to send the case back to Hamilton County and I understand that because that’s the community where the incident occurred. That’s where he lives,” said Cummings. “Hamilton County has the most at stake from his behaviors. That’s where he’s going to live. That’s where his parents live. So, he’s going back to Hamilton County.”
Cummings is asking for the maximum executed sentence, which is 120 days for the battery incident. Cummings said the teen could get extra time in jail, receive home detention with monitoring devices or he could be fully released.
“I think our goal is to try to put him in the best position to live a productive life. I’m concerned from what I’ve observed and what I’ve seen in the courtroom in hearings that he doesn’t fully appreciate the wrongfulness of his behavior and I’m concerned about that very much,” said Cummings. “Can he move on as a functioning adult? I don’t know. That remains to be seen but I am somewhat concerned about that.”
Cummings said the matter will go before a Hamilton County Judge likely sometime early next week.
It’s still unclear if the teen is released, if he will be released from Madison County or sent to Hamilton County and formally released there.
