# Prosper family murders

On 13 September 2024, Juliana Prosper, 48, along with two of her children, Giselle and Kyle, aged 13 and 16, were shot to death by Juliana's 18-year-old son Nicholas Prosper in Luton, England. All three had been shot dead in the early hours of the morning. An investigation revealed that Prosper had conspired to commit a school shooting at his former institution, St. Joseph's Primary School.

## Background

There has not been a school shooting in the United Kingdom since the Dunblane massacre in 1996, making them exceedingly rare, but there have been a growing number of unsuccessful plots in recent years.
Juliana Prosper (née Falcón) was born in Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, on 4 June 1976, and migrated to England, where she married Ray Prosper, with whom she had four children. At the time of the murders, she resided in a flat off Wauluds Bank Drive with three of her children, including Nicholas.

### Perpetrator

Nicholas Prosper (born 18/12/2005), diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, was often described as a quiet and "geeky" boy while growing up with a strong interest in computers. Although he initially had a friend group in his teens, he became more and more isolated as he grew up. At one point, he was banned from a website used to documenting imagery relating to people's deaths for making pro-pedophilia comments.
Investigators revealed the man had taken a strong interest in school shootings, especially the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting; He specifically wanted to murder around 30 people to achieve a higher death toll before committing suicide. The would-be massacre, which had been planned for over a year, was scheduled to take place on Friday the 13th. Prosper specifically chose his former primary school due to his prior knowledge of the school's layout and security system. He was not bullied there. In August, he attempted to buy a gun, but failed.
On 12 September, the day before the shooting, he had bought a double-barrelled shotgun and 100 cartridges from a local dealer for £650 using a faked firearms licence. The dealer, who believed his phony licence to be legitimate and notified police about the purchase that same day, was not arrested, as Prosper had researched the logos, signature, and types of paper gun licences in the United Kingdom are printed on, ending up with an extremely well-crafted fake. He spent the rest of the day making online searches relating to instructions on how to kill someone with a shotgun, along with search queries relating to necrophilia and the murder of Sarah Everard.
A video uploaded by Prosper to Mega and shared on social media during the early hours of the day of the shooting shows him declaring himself to be a "follower" of Clementine, a fictional character from The Walking Dead videogame series, and showing contempt for his sister Giselle for a specific in-game choice several months prior, saying "her face will be mutilated further than necessary". Prosecutors claimed this was not relevant to the shooting.

## Shooting

Neighbours reported hearing gunshots at 5:30 a.m. Police discovered the three bodies killed by gunshot wounds. Juliana was shot in the head, Giselle was shot in the face and chest, and Kyle was shot in the chest and stabbed with a knife around 100 times. Prosper later revealed he had planned to commit acts of necrophilia with Giselle's corpse, but Juliana waking up foiled his plans. CCTV footage showed Prosper hiding nearby for around 2 hours while police swarmed the area, arriving at about 5:33 am.
Believing his targeted school would be locked down due to the gunshots, he found a police car and turned himself in and was arrested at 11:50 am, approximately 600 metres from the crime scene, after hiding for around two hours in nearby bushes. A shotgun and 33 rounds were found hidden in a bush nearby. He was charged with three counts of murder, purchasing or acquiring a shotgun without a certificate, possession of a shotgun, and possession of a bladed article in a public place. Indecent images of children were also found on his phone, but, due to the severity of the other charges, he was not charged in relation to them.
At the time, he was wearing distinctive yellow and black clothing, acting as a sort of "uniform" with which he had hoped to achieve notoriety.

## Legal proceedings

As Nicholas Prosper was led out of his first court appearance on 16 September, his father, Ray Prosper, shouted: "I still love you, son. It’s not your fault, OK?" before bursting into tears.
Prosper's trial date was set for 5 December, later delayed until 3 March 2025.
On 24 February 2025, Nicholas Prosper pleaded guilty to three counts of murder at Luton Crown Court, along with all other charges. During the investigation, it was revealed he was plotting to commit a school shooting at his former primary school after murdering his family, though he was arrested before any additional damage could be done. Through his writings and declarations in prison, Prosper stated that he regretted not being able to kill more people.
On 19 March, Prosper was sentenced, by Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, to life imprisonment with a minimum of 49 years to be served. Sentencing was delayed after Prosper initially refused to attend court but was ordered to do so by the judge.