Story by Daniella Tebib, News Editor
Jan. 23, 2018 was a typical morning for 15-year-old Gabriel Parker. He woke up late, ate a bowl of cereal and had his mother take him to school because he overslept and missed the bus.
When he arrived at school, he went straight to the band room to make sure his friends were in there and not in the area known as the Commons.
He then took out his stepfather’s Ruger MK II .22-caliber pistol from his satchel and opened fire in the Commons Area. After shooting 16 students, he dropped the gun and ran out the door.
He hid with students who didn’t know he was the shooter until the police came in and arrested him.
This is Parker’s account of what happened that day as told in a video published on Nov. 27, 2018 in a Courier-Journal article.
He disclosed this information to Marshall County Sheriff’s Department Captain Matt Hillbrecht in an interview shortly after the shooting.
Hillbrecht then testified in court on Jan. 25, 2018 about the confession Parker gave him and others during initial questioning.
“This wasn’t really a question of who committed this act, it’s on video,” Hillbrecht said in court. “You know, it was a question of why.”
Where did the gun come from?
Parker told Hillbrecht he first thought about the shooting a week before. The night before, he took the first step. He carried a laundry basket into his parents’ room with the intent to secretly take his step-dad’s pistol from the top shelf of the closet without his grandma, who was at home with him at the time, seeing what he was doing.
He put the gun in the laundry basket and took it back to his bedroom.
The next morning, he said he took the pistol out of the case and put it in his bookbag, or satchel as Hillbrecht said on the stand, along with a second magazine. There was also a magazine in the gun.
Parker said he placed a hunting knife in the bag, as well.
“He took it because he feared the students would attack him when he ran out of bullets and he needed a way to defend himself,” Hillbrecht said.
Did he act alone?
“He refuted that anyone had knowledge of it,” Hillbrecht said.
Parker told investigators he acted alone and did not tell anyone what he was doing.
What was the motive?
While no motive has been officially established, the rumor thrown around in the media was that he had been bullied. However, that was not discussed in the initial questioning.
Instead, Hillbrecht said Parker told him that he was an atheist and his life had no purpose or meaning, and other people’s lives also had no purpose.
He said he wanted to see how the students would respond, as well as police and society.
What was his demeanor?
Hillbrecht said he didn’t resist. There were no issues.
“No emotion. Not angry, not upset,” he said in court.
The interview lasted an hour and 54 minutes and in that time, Hillbrecht said Parker was “cold, callous.”
“He was never emotional,” Hillbrecht said. “His voice never quivered, never had any inflection. He didn’t tear up.”
The interview took place in the conference room at the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department. It was an interview that Hillbrecht said was “bizarre.”
“He was very relaxed,” he said. “In fact, one of the more relaxed defendants in my career.”
Hillbrecht said Parker was very polite and respectful in his conversation with investigators, but when showed a picture of one of the deceased students, he had no response.
Parker asked how many people he hit in the shooting, and wanted to know if any of them died.
He was reportedly very responsive in the interview until he asked for a lawyer. Hillbrecht gave him water and asked if he was hungry. They even went to McDonald’s to get him a cheeseburger and fries, which he ate.