The gunman in one of the first mass school shootings in the United States was denied parole by the Kentucky Parole Board on Monday.
The decision from the board comes roughly 25 years after Michael Carneal, 39, pleaded guilty to killing three of his fellow students and injuring five others at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky, on Dec. 1, 1997. He will not be eligible for parole in the future, according to USA Today.
During testimony Carneal gave Tuesday, he claimed that he still hears voices in his head, similar to the voices that told him to carry out the 1997 shooting. Despite claiming that he could now resist the voices, he has a poor prognosis and is experiencing “paranoid thoughts with violent imagery,” a parole board member said.
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Carneal also stated that he heard voices telling him to jump down a stairway on Sept. 18.
The 1997 shooting occurred when Carneal stole a gun from his neighbor’s garage and opened fire on a prayer circle. The three victims who were killed in the shooting included Kayce Steger, 15, Nicole Hadley, 14, and Jessica James, 17, with those injured identified as Hollan Holm, Shelly Schaberg, Kelly Hard Alsip, Craig Keene, and Missy Jenkins Smith, who was paralyzed from the chest down.
Jenkins Smith has visited Carneal in prison since the shooting and forgiven him for his actions, but she believes that “he is doing well behind bars and he should stay there.” Hadley’s mother, Gwen, told the board that her daughter “didn’t get a second chance” and that Carneal “should stay where he is.”
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The deadliest school shooting recorded in U.S. history was the Virginia Tech shooting on April 16, 2007, which saw 32 fatalities. The shooter, Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho, later died by suicide, according to FOX 7.
