A 16-year-old pleaded guilty Wednesday to two charges of murder for fatally shooting his father in their home and a 6-year-old boy at a South Carolina elementary school.
Jesse Osborne faces 30 years to life in prison when he is sentenced at a later date. He also pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted murder in the shootings of two other students and a teacher, all of whom were wounded. During his confession, Osborne told investigators he had hoped to kill 20 or 30 students that day.
The teen, dressed in a sweater vest and a button-down shirt, said little in court beyond answering Circuit Judge Lawton McIntosh's questions on giving up his right to a trial and other legal matters with "yes, sir" and "no, sir."
Osborne had just turned 14 when he shot and killed his father in their home on Sept. 28, 2016, then drove his dad's pickup truck 3 miles (5 kilometers) to Townville Elementary School in Anderson County, authorities said.
Osborne crashed the truck into a playground fence and fired several shots at a group of students outside for recess. Six-year-old Jacob Hall was shot in the leg and died three days later from blood loss.
Jesse Osborne killed his father with three shots to his head as he sat in a chair in their home, according to his confession after his arrest.
Osborne spent days talking about the shooting with several other people in an Instagram chatroom, prosecutors said.
He considered shooting students at his middle school where he had been suspended earlier that fall for bringing a hatchet and machete.
"The middle school has tons of cops," he said in the chat group six days before shooting. "The elementary school doesn't."
Osborne said he loaded the wrong type of ammunition in the gun and it jammed after every shot at the school. Teachers outside with their first-graders said he never tried to make it inside the school as the children rushed inside.
Crime-scene photos from inside the school showed smears of icing where panicked children ran around. They were eating cupcakes baked by someone's grandmother for their birthday, according to testimony at a February hearing that determined Osborne would be tried as an adult.
Osborne entered his guilty plea Wednesday with no deal from prosecutors about his sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court allows a life sentence without parole for suspects who are juveniles when they kill someone only in the most heinous of cases.
Osborne told investigators he was angry at his father because he would get drunk and berate and try to fight him and his mother. He also said in his confession that he was bullied.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some personnel at a key U.S. military base in Qatar were advised to evacuate by Wednesday evening, according to a U.S. official and the Gulf country, as President Donald Trump warns of possible action after a deadly crackdown on protesters in Iran.
The decision came as a senior official in Tehran brought up the country's retaliatory attack in June at Al Udeid Air Base outside Doha, Qatar.
The U.S. official, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive plans, described the move at the base as a precautionary measures and that other steps were being taken across the region. The official, citing the need for operational security, would not go into further detail, including whether the evacuation was optional or mandatory, whether it affected troops or civilian personnel or how may were advised to leave.
The anti-government demonstrations in nearby Iran began in late December, and Trump has said he is willing to conduct military operations against Iran if the Tehran government continues to kill and arrest protesters.
Trump said Tuesday he believes the killing is “significant” and that his administration would “act accordingly.” He noted that he was cutting off the prospect of talks with Iranian officials and told Iranian citizens that “help is on its way,” without giving more details.
Qatar said the measures at Al Udeid were being “undertaken in response to the current regional tensions.”
“The State of Qatar continues to implement all necessary measures to safeguard the security and safety of its citizens and residents as a top priority, including actions related to the protection of critical infrastructure and military facilities,” Qatar’s international media office said on the social platform X.
The base, which hosts thousands of American service members, was targeted by Iran in June in retaliation for U.S. strikes on its nuclear facilities.
Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote on X that “the #US President, who repeatedly talks about the futile aggression against #Iran’s nuclear facilities, would do well to also mention the destruction of the US base in #Al-Udeid by Iranian missiles.”
“It would certainly help create a real understanding of Iran’s will and ability to respond to any aggression,” he added.
The U.S. military maintains a variety of troops in the region, including at Al Udeid, but the Trump administration shifted some resources from the Middle East to the Caribbean Sea as part of a pressure campaign on former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, was ordered in October to sail from the Mediterranean Sea to the Caribbean along with several destroyers. The carrier USS Nimitz, which helped conduct the June strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, also departed the region in October.
The Navy had five small ships — two destroyers and three littoral combat ships — in the waters off Iran as of Tuesday.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, had a phone call Tuesday with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister.
In a statement on X, Al Thani said he “reaffirmed the State of Qatar’s backing of all de-escalation efforts, as well as peaceful solutions to enhance security and stability in the region.”
Iran’s decision in June to retaliate against U.S. strikes by targeting the sprawling desert base outside Doha created a rare tension between the two maritime neighbors, with Qatari officials saying it caught them by surprise.
No American or Qatari personnel was harmed, the U.S. military’s Central Command said at the time, noting that they worked together to defend the base. A Qatari military officer said one of 19 missiles fired by Iran was not intercepted and hit the base, but Trump said in a social media post at the time that “hardly any damage was done.”
The Gulf state has been caught in the crossfire of other regional tensions, including an Israeli strike in September on the headquarters of Hamas’ political leadership in Doha while the group’s top figures had been gathered to consider a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The Pentagon declined to comment on questions about the changes at Al Udeid. The State Department had no immediate comment on the potential for any security alerts to be issued for American diplomats or other civilians in Qatar.
In June, the embassy had issued a brief shelter-in-place advisory to U.S. citizens in Doha but stopped short of evacuating diplomats or advising Americans to leave the country.
Amiri reported from New York.
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One at Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks at the Al Udeid Air Base, May 15, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - President Donald Trump, right, meets with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani aboard Air Force One at Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
A woman cries as members of the Iranian community stage a rally in support of anti-government protests in Iran, outside the U.S. embassy in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
