Iowa teen found guilty of 2nd-degree murder and manslaughter in deaths of 2 students at school

Preston Walls appears in court at the Polk County Courthouse, Aug. 31, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa. A jury has found the Iowa teenager guilty of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter in the deaths of two students that he shot at a Des Moines alternative school earlier this year. Jurors on Thursday Sept. 14, 2023 found Walls guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 18-year-old Gionni Dameron and 16-year-old Rashad Carr at the Starts Right Here program on Jan. 23. (Lily Smith/Des Moines Register via AP, file)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa teenager was found guilty on Thursday of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the deaths of two students that he shot at a Des Moines alternative school earlier this year.

Preston Walls, 19, had been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths, but jurors found him guilty of lesser charges. That seemed to indicate jurors accepted Walls' claim that he fired on the students because he feared for his life.

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