New Mexico middle school shooter sentenced to detention until age 21

By Joseph J. Kolb ALBUQUERQUE N.M. (Reuters) - A 13-year-old boy who brought a sawed-off shotgun to his New Mexico middle school and wounded two classmates in January has been sentenced to be held in juvenile detention until age 21, a court official said on Thursday. Mason Campbell was sentenced on Wednesday by Chaves County District Court Judge Freddie Romero to the maximum term under New Mexico's youth offender law. He is also to undergo psychological counseling, said court clerk Kay Steen. Campbell, who was 12 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty in May to three counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and one count of bringing a weapon on school grounds in the city of Roswell, southeast of Albuquerque. Two students were wounded when Campbell opened fire. Before sentencing, special prosecutor Matt Chandler read from Campbell's notebook, which painted a picture of a disturbed child who hoped to take revenge because of chronic bullying. Neither of Campbell's victims are said to have bullied him. Campbell's mother, Jennifer, pleaded for leniency. "This is a child who was tortured and bullied on a daily basis... I want you to realize he is a child," Jennifer Campbell said, according to television station KOB News. (Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Gunna Dickson)