Daily Star
A man who killed his parents, murdered two of his classmates and injured another 25 in a school shooting in 1998 has given his first ever interview.
Kip Kinkel – now 38 years old – has said he feels “tremendous, tremendous shame and guilt” for the horrifying events which unfolded on that fateful day when he was 15 at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon.
While serving a 111-year sentence at the Oregon State Correctional Institution, Kinkel spoke with HuffPost for 20 hours over the course of 10 months.
Kinkel – who was suffering from an undiagnosed case of paranoid schizophrenia when he committed the crimes – said he feels guilty, both for the crimes and the effect his actions had on young offenders being sentenced to life behind bars.
Some of the victims of the Thurston High School shooting have used this case to work against reforming juvenile justice in Oregon.
The murderer has stayed silent until now because he didn’t want to “further traumatize” those affected by his crimes, but he felt his silence was hindering young offenders from getting a second chance.
He said: “I have responsibility for the harm that I caused when I was 15. But I also have responsibility for the harm that I am causing now as I’m 38 because of what I did at 15.”
Kinkel said he had been hearing voices since he was 12 and became obsessed with weapons like knives, guns and explosives.
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