Teen Pleads Guilty but Mentally Ill in Triple Homicide

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) _ A Spartanburg teenager has pleaded guilty but mentally ill in connection with the deaths of three family members in 2014. Local media outlets report 18-year-old Eric Hunter Lankford received a 40-year sentence on Thursday for each murder. Lankford also received a 5-year sentence for possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. The sentences will run concurrently. Lankford will receive credit for the 1,513 days he has already served. Solicitor Barry Barnette said Lankford used a .22 caliber rifle to murder his father, 44-year-old Joe Robert Lankford, his 80-year-old grandmother, Rachel Gaston Lankford; and 83-year-old great-aunt Virginia Gaston at their home shortly before midnight on Jan. 17, 2011. Barnette said each victim was shot in the head. Lankford was 14 at the time of the triple homicide.