Did Indiana Punish a Trans Teen Instead of Helping One?

18-year-old Trinity Shockley of Mooresville, Indiana, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder for planning a Valentine’s Day school shooting at Mooresville High School. On the surface, it sounds like another thwarted tragedy. A teenager allegedly plotting an attack inspired by mass murderers. But underneath that headline lies a story of untreated trauma, hypocrisy, and a justice system that seems more interested in punishment than prevention.

In February 2025, the FBI tip line received an anonymous report from Wisconsin claiming that a high school student in Indiana was planning a Valentine’s Day shooting. The messages led investigators to Shockley, who used the Discord handle “Crazy Nikolaz.” In those chats, she wrote chilling phrases like “Parkland part two. Of course, I’ve been planning this for a YEAR.”

When police searched her home, they found photos on the wall of several mass murderers, including Nikolas Cruz, Dylann Roof, Ethan Crumbley, and Andrew Blaze. They also found notebooks filled with violent, racist thoughts and entries expressing admiration for Cruz, the Parkland shooter. She described herself as Cruz’s “number one fan.” Authorities said she intended to carry out the attack during the school’s lunch period, the most “target-rich” time of day, and that it was meant to coincide with the anniversary of the Parkland shooting.

It’s worth remembering that Valentine’s Day is also the anniversary of the 2008 Northern Illinois University shooting, where five people were killed and many more wounded. Almost no one remembers that anymore. There have been so many school shootings since then that the memory of NIU has been buried under decades of repetition, each new tragedy erasing the last. But, I digress.

Later, Shockley told investigators she had only been joking, that her words came from rage and frustration. Police never recovered a firearm, though they did find magazines and ammunition.

On October 27, 2025, Shockley entered a plea agreement in Morgan Superior Court. She admitted to conspiracy to commit murder, a Level 2 felony, and the state dropped two intimidation-to-terrorism charges. Under the terms of the deal, she faces a 20-year sentence, with twelve and a half years to be served in the Indiana Department of Correction and five years on probation.

Under the conditions of probation, she must undergo ongoing mental health treatment, is barred from all Morgan County school properties, cannot research or view any content related to school shootings, and will have her electronic devices monitored for compliance. She is permanently prohibited from owning firearms. A final sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 24, when both sides will present evidence in what prosecutors have described as a contested proceeding.

There’s an aspect to this story that I wouldn’t even know about if it weren’t for the hateful, sensationalistic coverage from Fox News and the New York Post. Both outlets emphasized that Shockley is transgender, identifying as a trans male while also using she/her pronouns. They treated her identity like a punchline or a warning label, a way to draw clicks from outrage. But being trans doesn’t make anyone inherently dangerous. This case doesn’t change that, and it shouldn’t be twisted to suggest otherwise. If anything, the fixation on her gender identity says more about how media weaponizes identity than it does about the crime itself. For anyone who wants to see that contrast in context, look back at yesterday’s post about Alex Ye, another trans student.

Buried deep in nearly every report about Shockley is the detail that she was hit by a suspected drunk driver in 2022 while crossing the street to catch a bus. The crash left her with a fractured skull and brain injuries. She was bullied afterward and struggled to cope, reportedly developing severe mental distress. When she tried to get professional help, her father, himself a responsible gun owner’™, refused to allow it because, as he told school officials, he “didn’t believe in mental health.” That decision may have changed the trajectory of everything that came next. What we don’t yet know is when her obsession with mass killers began. Was it before or after the accident? Because if it began afterward, then the mental health aspect of this case can’t be ignored.

Gun rights advocates are fond of saying that mass violence isn’t a gun problem; it’s a mental health problem. But when a teenager suffers a brain injury and asks for help, and a parent refuses to let her get it, that argument rings hollow. If we truly cared about mental health, we wouldn’t wait until someone’s arrested to talk about it. Shockley’s case illustrates the gap between what we claim to value and what we actually do.

What’s striking is how unevenly justice is applied in cases like this. I’ve covered cisgender school shooting plotters who received lighter sentences for far more concrete plans. Kids who had real weapons, written manifestos, and clear intent.

Shockley never had a gun, yet she’s facing over a decade in prison. Considering that Indiana bans gender-affirming care for minors, it’s not unreasonable to wonder whether this outcome is purely about public safety or if there’s an element of retaliation against a trans teenager who was already broken long before the police ever got involved.

Trinity Shockley’s story is tragic on multiple levels. A young person endured serious trauma, was denied care, and sought meaning in the worst possible places. Now she’s being condemned instead of treated. The court will decide her fate next month, but whatever the sentence, the real failure here happened years ago when a cry for help was silenced by disbelief. And a system that loves to talk about “mental health” decided not to listen.

(Sources)

(Sources that no one should click on)