Hearing Starts to Determine if Youth Will Be Tried as Adult

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – A long-delayed hearing has started to determine if the youth charged with shooting four classmates at Freeman High School will be tried as an adult.

The hearing for Caleb Sharpe began Monday in Spokane.

He is accused of opening fire in a hallway in 2017, killing student Sam Strahan and wounding three others.

The 17-year-old Sharpe was 15 at the time.

Sharpe has been in custody since the shooting. He will turn 18 this fall.

Potential penalties are much stiffer if Sharpe is tried as an adult.

Sharpe faces one charge of first-degree premeditated murder with aggravating circumstances and three charges of attempted first-degree murder for the three girls injured in the shooting. He also faces 51 second-degree assault charges for the other students endangered during the shooting.