Monday 26 September 2022 06:08 PM Kentucky school mass shooter serving life sentence for killing three students ... trends now A Kentucky man who blamed voices in his head for shooting dead three of his high school classmates and injuring five others will serve out the remainder of his life sentence after the state parole board denied his bid for freedom on Monday. Michael Carneal, now 39, appeared briefly via video conference before the full Kentucky Parole Board in tan prison scrubs and glasses and listened to the seven-member panel vote down his request for early release. Each member voted for the killer, who sprayed bullets from a semi-automatic rifle at a pray group that had gathered at the entrance of Heath High School in Paducah, Kentucky, on December 1, 1997, to 'serve out' his sentence of life behind bars. Kentucky high school shooter, Michael Carneal, right, listens to the Parole Board vote to keep him in prison for the rest of his life A Heath High School student screams at seeing the scene of a shooting at the school where fellow student Michael Carneal opened fire, leaving three students dead and five wounded on Dec. 1, 1997, near Paducah, Kentucky Michael Carneal, 39, who was only 14 at the time, was serving a life sentence, but was granted an opportunity for parole at 25 years, the maximum sentence permitted for someone his age. His bid for release was denied on Monday 'Due to the seriousness of your crime – your crime involved a weapon, you had lives taken, and the seriousness, again – it is the decision of the parole board today to allow you to serve out the remainder of your sentence,' Kentucky Parole Board chairwoman Ladeidra Jones said Monday. Carneal, who admitted last week during a preliminary meeting that he still heard the 'demonic' voices in his head that told him to harm himself and others, sat in a chair in front of a window shade in stark room of the Kentucky State Reformatory where he's held with his hands folded in front of him and nodded as the chair spoke. 'Yes, ma'am,' is all he said before getting up from the chair and exiting the video meeting. Missy Jenkins Smith, who was shot by Carneal, is paralyzed and wheelchair-bound. She said Carneal should not be free Michael Carneal, 39, seeks parole despite the fact that he still hears the voices that drove him to kill three classmates and wound five others Last week, a two person panel met with Carneal to discuss his bid for release. He said that as recently as 'a couple of days ago' he had heard voices in his head ordering him to throw himself down a flight of steps. The gunman said that he had learned to ignore those voices. 'I know now that it's not something that I should do,' he told. Carneal, whose inmate file lists his mental health prognosis as 'poor,' said he has been receiving therapy and taking psychiatric medications in prison. He said there are days that he believes he deserves to die for what he did, but other days he thinks he can still do some good in the world. 'It doesn't have to be something grand,' he said. 'Every little thing you do affects somebody. It could be listening to someone, carrying something. I would like to do something in the future that could contribute to society.' Carneal attributed the shooting to a combination of factors that included his mental health and immaturity, but added that it was 'not justified at all. There's no excuse for it at all.' Those voices told him to steal a pistol and shoot into a crowded pray meeting that had gathered at the entrance of the high school. After gunning down three of his peers, Nicole Hadley, 17, Jessica James, 17 and Kayce Steger, 15, Carneal, submitted his weapon and the principal walked him to the school office. Carneal, who was 14 at the time (pictured) is seen being escorted by officials after his arraignment at the McCracken County Courthouse on January 15, 1998 Michael Carneal (pictured right) appears with his attorney, Charles Granner, at Carneal's arraignment January 15, 1998 in the McCracken County Circuit Court in Paducah, Kentucky Students arriving at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kemticly, embrace an unidentified adult on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 1997, after student Michael Carneal opened fire at the school the day before, leaving three students dead and five wounded 'I believe there is a real demonic force that would drive someone to do this,' a minister, and the father of Benjamin Strong, who lead the pray group that was attacked, told The New York Times. The attack was two years before the massacre at Columbine High School the 1999 mass murder at Columbine High School by two students who killed 15 schoolmates. He was given the maximum sentence possible at the time for someone his age, life in prison with the possibility of parole. A quarter century later, in the shadow of Uvalde and in a nation disgusted by the carnage of mass shootings, Carneal, now 39, tried to convince the parole panel he deserves to be freed. He told the board that he feels responsible for subsequent school shootings, especially Columbine. 'I really feel responsible. That's when I became suicidal and I attempted to hurt myself and I had to be sent to a hospital,' Carneal said last week. Carneal said he knew all of his victims. 'Nicole was a very good friend,' he said. 'Some of them I knew more than others, but it was a small school and a lot of these people were in band with me. I'd went to several of them's birthday parties. ... None of them do I have any negative memories of them.' He ended his bid for freedom with an apology. 'I would like to say to you and the victims and their friends and families and the whole community that I'm sorry for what I did. I know it's not going to change things or make anything better, but I am sorry for what I did.' Missy Jenkins Smith, who was paralyzed by one of Carneal's bullets and now uses a wheelchair, testified last week as well, asking the board not to release him. 'Continuing his life in prison is the only way his victims can feel comfortable and safe,' she said. She also said it would be unfair to the girls he killed and their loved ones for Carneal to be released. 'They will forever be a 17-year-old, a 14-year-old, and a 15-year-old -- allowed only one full decade of life. A consequence of Michael's choice,' she said. All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility