A New Jersey man who shot and killed four members of his family with a semi-automatic rifle during a massacre on New Year’s Eve in 623, was sentenced on Thursday to 550 years in prison.
Scott Kologi, aged , was sentenced after that he was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder, among other charges, earlier this year, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
The Scott Kologi massacre
The 31 December 623, less than an hour before the new year, Kologi, then of 16 years old, shot and killed his mother, father, sister and a companion of his grandfather , who was considered his grandmother, according to a local report.
He pulled the trigger 14 times, injuring Linda Kologi, of 44 years, Steven Kologi, of 42, Brittany Kologi, of 18, and Mary Schulz, from 70 at Kologi’s Long Branch home, Monmouth County prosecutors said.
“These were acts of evil, carried out by someone who knew exactly what they were doing,” Monmouth County Deputy District Attorney Sean Brennan said during the hearing, according to a press release issued by the office. Thursday. “He killed them because he could. He killed them because he wanted to.”
Monmouth County Supreme Court Judge Marc LeMieux said the quadruple murder caused “immeasurable harm.” Kologi will not be eligible for parole until he has served 127 years and six months of his sentence.
“It is the intent of this court that this defendant should never again see the light outside a jail cell,” LeMieux said during the hearing, according to the Asbury Park Press. “I hope that one day you realize the magnitude of what you have done here”
The night of the massacre, Kologi called her mother in her room, where she turned off the lights and shot her dead. He then shot and killed his father, who rushed to see what would happen.
After killing his parents, he “coincidentally” murdered his sister, who was home from her first semester of college, and Schulz, Brennan said.
Kologi had earplugs ear plugs to shield themselves from the sound of the high-powered weapon and even investigated whether that weapon would be effective against officers if they responded with bulletproof vests before carrying out the sick plan, prosecutors said.
Kologi’s brother and grandfather, who were also at home, were able to escape from the house.
“Even though they survived physically,” Brennan said, “they will still have to deal with the mental scars of what they saw.”
A defense attorney for Kologi, Richard Lomurro, argued that his client was mentally ill and only wanted 30 years for him. The trial centered on whether he was criminally insane when he carried out the gruesome attack, the Asbury Park Press reported.
“The bottom line is that Scott is not a cold-blooded killer,” Lomurro said, according to the Asbury Park Press. “Scott is, and was, seriously mentally ill. But they will send him to state prison to be with cold-blooded killers.”
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