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1996 Washington school shooter apologizes in his 1st remarks

FILE - In this Aug. 25, 1997 file photo, Barry Loukaitis listens to his defense attorney make a motion during Loukaitis' murder trial Monday, Aug. 25, 1997 in Seattle. The prisoner who as a teenager opened fire at his middle school in Washington state has spoken out for the first time two decades later, apologizing for killing a teacher and two fellow students. Barry Loukaitis' hand-written letter to the Grant County Superior Court was filed last week as part of a court-ordered re-sentencing in the 1996 bloodshed. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 25, 1997 file photo, Barry Loukaitis listens to his defense attorney make a motion during Loukaitis' murder trial Monday, Aug. 25, 1997 in Seattle. The prisoner who as a teenager opened fire at his middle school in Washington state has spoken out for the first time two decades later, apologizing for killing a teacher and two fellow students. Barry Loukaitis' hand-written letter to the Grant County Superior Court was filed last week as part of a court-ordered re-sentencing in the 1996 bloodshed. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File) FILE - In this Aug. 25, 1997 file photo, Barry Loukaitis listens to his defense attorney make a motion during Loukaitis' murder trial Monday, Aug. 25, 1997 in Seattle. The prisoner who as a teenager opened fire at his middle school in Washington state has spoken out for the first time two decades later, apologizing for killing a teacher and two fellow students. Barry Loukaitis' hand-written letter to the Grant County Superior Court was filed last week as part of a court-ordered re-sentencing in the 1996 bloodshed. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

By Associated Press 2 min read

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – The prisoner who as a teenager opened fire at his middle school in Washington state more than 20 years ago has spoken out for the first time, apologizing for killing a teacher and two fellow students.

Barry Loukaitis’ hand-written letter to the Grant County Superior Court was filed last week as part of a court-ordered resentencing in the 1996 bloodshed.

“I’ve never apologized for what I’ve done,” Loukaitis wrote. “I didn’t because I feared that trying to apologize after doing something so terrible would only add insult to injury.

“If that feeling was wrong, I’m sorry for not speaking before,” he said.

Loukaitis was 14 when he opened fire in a classroom, and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that people younger than 16 could not receive life terms without parole.