Teen sentenced for murdering family and planning school attack

A British teenager, Nicholas Prosper, has been sentenced to a minimum of 49 years in prison for murdering three family members and planning a mass shooting at an elementary school. The tragic events occurred in Luton, England, on September 13, 2024. Prosper, 19, shot his mother, brother, and sister, and was arrested shortly after the incident. Police body-cam footage captured the moment of his arrest. Prosper was seen with blood on his hands and repeatedly claimed, "It's not a murder." During his sentencing at Luton Crown Court, Justice Cheema-Grubb described the case as chilling. She stated that Prosper aimed for notoriety, wanting to be recognized as a famous school shooter. Prosper had been planning these attacks for about a year after struggling in school. His goal was to kill 34 people, including young children and teachers, aiming to surpass the record of fatalities in the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007. He had researched mass shootings online and had made videos of himself planning the attack. Before the murders, Prosper obtained a shotgun using a fraudulent firearms certificate. He shot his mother first, as she tried to take the gun from him, and then attacked his younger siblings. After the killings, he hid the gun and evaded police for two hours before flagging them down. Bedfordshire Police shared a video on social media following Prosper's sentencing, urging people to remember his victims. They emphasized that these three innocent people lost their lives at the hands of someone they loved and trusted. Prosper pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including murder and unlawful possession of a firearm.