Gabe Parker saw Marshall County school shooting as an experiment, officer says

In the first evidence of a motive in the Marshall County High School shooting, a deputy sheriff testified that now-16-year-old Gabe Parker told investigators he was interested in science and saw the shooting as an experiment.

"He said he wanted to see how students would respond, how police would respond, how society at large would respond to it — that more or less he wanted to see how people would react," Marshal sheriff's Capt. Matt Hilbrecht testified in a detention hearing two days after the Jan. 23 rampage.

Hilbrecht, who interviewed Parker for more than two hours, said the teen also said he wanted to "break the monotony," according to a video of the hearing obtained Wednesday by Courier Journal.

Parker said he'd been thinking about shooting up the school for a week and that he took his stepfather's Ruger 9mm semi-automatic pistol from his bedroom the night before and hid it in a basket of laundry.

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The next morning he put in his book bag, Hilbrecht said he told him.

“He made the comment that once the gun went in the satchel, there was no turning back," Hilbrecht testified. "There was nothing that was going to stop that shooting.”

Parker said he also brought along a hunting knife just in case he ran out of bullets and needed to defend himself from other students, Hilbrecht said.

The testimony of Hilbrecht and Kentucky State Police detectives offers the first detailed glimpse of a motive for the events that rocked the community of Benton, 200 miles southwest of Louisville.

Parker is charged with murder and assault in the killing of two 15-year-old students and wounding of 14 others. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held in the McCracken County Juvenile Center, though he will be charged as an adult.

In other testimony, Hilbrecht and state police Detective David Dick testified that:

► Parker said he did not target anyone in particular, although he knew the consequences of opening fire into a crowd.

► He didn't have any accomplices and told nobody in advance about his plans.

► He considered taking his own life in December and weighed the impact of the shooting on his family.

► He carried out the shooting in part because he was curious about what life was like in prison.

Asked at the hearing what he thought Parker's motives were, Hilbrecht expressed his opinion that, "The biggest thing he gave me was that he said he was an atheist and that his life had no purpose and other people’s lives also had no purpose."

Dick testified that Parker told him he wasn't bullied and that no event precipitated the shootings. He also told detectives he had a good relationship with his mother and step-father and his relationship with his father was improving.

All three attended the hearing.

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Parker told police he overslept that morning and his mother had to drive him to school.

He entered the school's band room — he played trombone — to make sure his friends were safe before he went into the school's common area and "opened fire," as he put it, Hilbrecht said.

When he was done shooting, he decided he did not want to die and dropped the gun, he said, according to Hilbrecht.

Then he went back in the band room, where he said other students told him there was a shooter, and he blended in with them.

He was then evacuated with other students into a weight room, where he surrendered without a fight, Hilbrecht said.

During the interview, in which he waived his right to remain silent, he showed no remorse and was "cold and callous," Hilbrecht said.

“His voice never quivered, never had any inflection," the detective said. "He didn't tear up."

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Dick said Parker told him that he considered suicide in December but said "he realized that his family would hurt more if he killed himself, rather than if he just went to prison for harming someone else."

Courier Journal also obtained records showing what was discovered in more than 20 searches investigators conducted under warrants after the shooting, including one of Parker's home in Hardin.

It says that investigators found "books, statues, and displays related to weaponry, violence, and military-related information" in his bedroom. There was also a knife sheath on a music stand, but no knife in it.

Parker's stepfather said that his handgun and ammunition were missing.

Police said that the knife was found in Parker's satchel after the shootings. Parker said he'd gotten the knife for Christmas.

Investigators said they also found some signs Parker may have started thinking about the shooting as much as six months earlier. A Snapchat group chat referenced a message Parker posted on Instagram saying "sorry for the kids that I may hurt in 42," according to the documents. There was a picture of the number 42 and the caption "don't panic."

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Authorities said that the date of the shooting — 1-23-18 — adds up to 42, and that a preliminary investigation suggests it may be a reference to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," a book in which the number 42 is considered to be "the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything."

Police also referenced a bunch of history-related interests of Parker's, including a copy of the Communist Manifesto that was found in his satchel and a video gaming history that showed he had visited or played some games related to World War II. Investigators said they were told he was into the history of that war.

Records also show that Parker showed memes of Spongebob Squarepants and school shootings to fellow students.

The next hearing in the case is set for Monday.

Justin Sayers: 502-582-4252; jsayers@gannett.com; Twitter: @_JustinSayers. Andy Wolfson: 502-582-7189; awolfson@courier-journal.com, Twitter: @adwolfson. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/justins.