INDIANAPOLIS — A judge decided the young man responsible for the Noblesville school shooting will remain in custody following battery allegations.
Hamilton County Judge Michael Casati said the now-18-year-old will spend 120 days at the Hamilton Juvenile Services Center Secure Unit.
Once released from the maximum juvenile detention center, the court determined he will then be sent to a residential placement facility instead of going home.
The judge said the young man and his parents must pay $171 in court fees and a $100 administrative fee.
The case will be reviewed on Oct. 4 at 10:30 a.m. prior to the young man's release from the maximum juvenile detention center. A permanency hearing is set for June 3, 2024, at 10:30 a.m.
"The Juvenile is a risk to the community, and the Court does not find it consistent with the safety of the community and best interests of the child to be released to his home," Casati said in the ruling. "The Court has concerns with some of the findings of conclusions by Dr. Dalton, specifically that the Juvenile is a low to moderate risk for violence given the IYAS assessment and considering the Juvenile's history and that the lack of remorse and empathy shown have no bearing on his risk to reoffend."
Castati said keeping the young man in a secure detention facility and then moving him to a residential placement facility is in the "Juvenile's best interests and well-being."
The young man has 30 days to appeal the court's decision.
"The record shows that the Juvenile had flippant attitude towards the allegations and provided differing statements on how or why this happened," Casati said. "The Court finds that such is consistent with his noted lack of remorse or empathy shown about the underlying, much more serious, offenses that led to his commitment to the Department of Correction in 2018."
Five years ago, the then-13-year-old boy shot a teacher and his classmate at Noblesville West Middle School. He was placed in a juvenile detention facility, with the plan for him to be released when he turned 18. That release was delayed after the young man touched a case manager's breast.
During a victim's statement, the woman said the incident led to "great embarrassment" that affected her credibility as a new and female counselor.
"Most of it is focused on treatment, counseling, everything that they can do," said Barb Trathen, a chief deputy prosecutor in Hamilton County. "It's the same as an adult offender. There are transitional programs for adult offenders coming out of a penitentiary. We don't want to just throw them back out into the community, where they have no skills ready to adjust, and that's what this is all about, a transitional facility."
The young man has admitted to touching the case manager's breast. His attorney said his client "messed up" but has been punished.