Prosecutor: Freeman counselors told admitted shooter’s parents to lock up their weapons
SPOKANE, Wash. — Day three of admitted Freeman school shooter Caleb Sharpe’s declination hearing began Thursday morning.
A judge will soon decide if Sharpe, who is accused of killing his classmate and injuring three others in September 2017, will be tried as an adult or juvenile.
READ: Admitted Freeman school shooter has ‘low risk for future dangerousness,’ says defense expert
RELATED: Defense: Issues at birth may have led to brain damage in Freeman school shooter
On Thursday, the defense called its second witness, Dr. Craig Beaver, to the stand. Beaver is a licensed psychologist who is board-certified in clinical neuropsychology.
Beaver said he interviewed and tested Sharpe in 2018. Beaver claimed Sharpe told him he began to feel “more and more, as he put it, dark” in the months leading up to the shooting. Beaver said Sharpe said he “felt like there were two Calebs.”
Dr. Beaver also drawing on one of the Kent Factors today, which are the standards for determining whether to try someone as an adult.
He tells the judge Sharpe’s brain disorder meant he was “significantly less mature” than other 15 year olds. @kxly4news
— Taylor Graham (@TaylorKXLY) July 18, 2019
Beaver continued to tell the judge Sharpe has a neurodevelopment disorder which made it difficult for him to “understand what his thoughts were telling him.”
Beaver’s testimony comes after the defense called Dr. Richard Adler to testify. Adler is a board-certified psychiatrist who also interviewed and tested Sharpe. In court, he said Sharpe had an extremely “low risk for future dangerous” to the community and has rehabilitative potential.
Beaver agreed with Adler, saying Sharpe has “an excellent rehabilitation chance” because he’s responding well to medication, the shooting was a “single event” and he has no family history of violence.
Adler previously showed Sharpe’s brain scans and said his neurodevelopment is not normal compared to other people his age. The defense earlier argued that Sharpe’s delayed development comes from a lack of oxygen at birth.
The prosecutor’s office began questioning Beaver after the defense. Kelly Fitzgerald with the prosecutor’s office said the school counselor who met with Sharpe before the shooting told his parents “multiple times” to secure their weapons at home and they did not.
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