Suspect in 2022 Ingraham High School shooting pleads guilty to first-degree murder

The teenage suspect in the 2022 Ingraham High School shooting officially pleaded guilty to three charges Monday (June 10), according to the King County Prosecutor's Office.

Among the criminal charges, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder with first-degree assault with a firearm. Due to the shooter's age, he will spend the next few years in juvenile detention.

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“This means he will remain in juvenile rehabilitation for as long as the law allows, which is until his 21st birthday and not before,” said Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for the district attorney's office. King County, to KIRO Newsradio. After that, he will be eligible for two years of parole.

In November 2022, the shooter – then 14 years old – brought a gun to campus and shot another 17-year-old student. According to students on campus that day, two people – the suspect and the victim – began fighting in a hallway when things quickly escalated. The incident occurred around 9:55 a.m. At least five shots were fired.

Although the motive for the killing remains unclear, law enforcement has said they do not believe it was a random act of violence.

“An Ingraham High School student was shot and killed this morning on campus in what is believed to be a targeted attack,” Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Brent Jones told reporters in November 2022.

The shooter fled alongside a 15-year-old accomplice. They were found and arrested while boarding a bus on Aurora Avenue, an hour after the shooting. He was carrying a backpack, in which investigators found a semi-automatic weapon – a Glock Model 32 handgun – as well as ammunition matching bullet casings found at Ingraham High School.

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According to a witness who was with the 17-year-old victim following the disagreement and subsequent fight outside of class that led to the shooting about 10 minutes later, the altercation began because the youth 14-year-old thought the victim had stolen his cell phone. .

The 17-year-old shot and killed at Ingraham High School has been identified as Ebenezer Haile.

Contributor: Sam Campbell, KIRO Newsradio

Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and email him here.