A Camarillo man was sentenced to 85 years to life in state prison after he crashed a vehicle into a group of Westlake High School students two years ago, killing one of them and injuring several others.
Austin Allen Eis, 26, a transient, killed 15-year-old Wesley Welling and left other students “severely injured,” though Welling’s death was just the culmination of a crime spree that included an attack on a store greeter at a Walmart in Simi Valley in which he stabbed, pepper sprayed and spat on the victim.
He pleaded guilty in February to 10 felony charges, including murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Prosecutors said in an statement announcing the verdict that Eis “admitted he targeted the students out of personal frustration and a desire to commit mass violence,” and “the investigation uncovered disturbing evidence, including years of violent ideation, admiration for mass murderers, and extremist beliefs.”
“The defendant committed acts of terror and extreme violence that took the life of a teenage boy and shattered the lives of many others,” said Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said after the guilty plea. “While no number of guilty pleas will ever close the anguish of the victims and their families, they will ensure the defendant’s removal from society and impose accountability for his horrendous crimes.”
At the sentencing hearing, Kelly Welling, the mother of Wesley, addressed Eis directly.
“No nightmare I can ever have is worse than waking up to this reality—to know that the last thing my son might have seen is your face,” Kelly said, as detailed in the VCDA release. “You robbed me of my son and the world of a boy who would have become an amazing man. At 15, he was already more of a man than you could ever be. You are not seen as powerful. You are seen as the coward that you are who chose to hurt children.
“Everyone else will move on—you will go to prison, your lawyer to her next case, but Wesley is never coming back,” she added. “Every day from this point on is filled with an emptiness. There are no words to describe this pain.”
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