GBS Student's Shooter Sentenced To Juvenile Detention

GLENVIEW, IL — A Des Plaines resident who admitted fatally shooting a Glenbrook High School student in July was sentenced to juvenile detention of up to three years Monday, his 18th birthday, Pioneer Press reported. The precise length of his involuntary manslaughter sentence will be determined by the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, but it will not extend past the age of 20.

The teen pleaded guilty to shooting 17-year-old Angelique Morris, of unincorporated Glenview, in the head around 1 a.m. on July 8 while he was "handling a gun" inside his basement in the 9900 block of Linda Lane in unincorporated Des Plaines, Sheriff's police said. Morris was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead. The Cook County medical examiner later ruled her death a homicide.

Morris was headed into her senior year at GBS and hoped to become a special education teacher, her family said. The teen sentenced Monday to stay in custody of the juvenile department was described as her boyfriend. He is not being name because he was tried as a juvenile

The two were alone in a room together at the time of the shooting, and Morris had reportedly changed her phone number on the night of her death.

A spokesperson for Cook County prosecutors previously declined to offer any information regarding the legal status of the firearm that killed Morris or any pending related charges.

Judge Steven Bernstein said he couldn't imagine "why in God's name" the convicted teen had a gun at the time, Pioneer Press reported.

During his sentencing hearing, the teen apologized to Morris' family for putting them "through his nightmare" and expressed regret for the incident, according to a statement read by his lawyer. Another lawyer read a statement from Morris' older sister asking the judge for justice on behalf of Morris, according to the Glenview Announcements.

"My 5-year-old son looks up at the sky and talks to [Morris], but I will never be able to talk to my sister," she wrote.

_{Top photo: Angelique K. Morris | GoFundMe, a Patch partner}