Michigan teen pleads guilty to killing 4

A 16-year-old Michigan teen pleaded guilty to terrorism and first-degree murder charges on Monday, among about 20 other charges. His lawyers also withdrew his previous intent to pursue an insanity defense. Prosecutors said they did not strike a deal with the teenager. A judge asked the teen if anyone had made promises or threats that hadn’t been read onto the record, and he confirmed that it really was his own choice to plead guilty. The teenager was charged with killing four people in a school shooting nearly a year ago. He had surrendered to law enforcement officers after the shooting.

Has anyone else been charged in this case? His parents are jailed on separate charges of involuntary manslaughter. A day before the shooting, a teacher had found their son searching for ammunition on his phone at school. The teenager’s mother, when she heard from the school about the ammunition search, said, “Lol. I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught,” according to prosecutors. The teen may later be called upon to testify against his parents.

Dig deeper: Read Andrée Seu Peterson’s column in WORLD magazine about the roots of the mass shooting problem in the United States.