DALLAS A teenager who told police he wanted to be a serial killer was sentenced to life in prison Friday for wounding one person and shooting at another.
Edward Mike Ji, 19, of Frisco, was convicted Thursday of attempted capital murder and deadly conduct in the random shootings at Bryan Chevalier and Peter Reid in 2006.
Ji told investigators that he was playing a game he called "Ding, Dong, Die" when he shot 14-year-old Bryan twice when the boy answered the door. Bryan suffered collapsed lungs, a damaged liver and gall bladder, broken ribs, and other injuries.
Reid, who was out walking with his wife in their gated neighborhood when he was targeted, was not harmed.
Ji, who was 16 at the time of the shootings, used a 9 mm handgun that he purchased from another teenager who had stolen it, police said.
Ji's defense attorney closed his case without calling any witnesses. He said Friday that neither the verdict nor the sentence was a surprise.
"This is one of the most memorable cases I've had in my 32-year legal career," said attorney David K. Haynes.
Ji's mother testified that her family had a history of mental illness and that her son needed treatment.
Ar-lene Ji told the judge that her son threatened to burn down the house when he was about 10 and accused her of poisoning his food.
She said he never received counseling although a middle school counselor urged the family to seek treatment, The Dallas Morning News reported in its online editions Friday.
Edward Mike Ji told police that he fantasized about cannibalism.
"You know, I am so weird and messed up that sometimes I will actually look at somebody and wonder how they would taste," Ji said in a police videotape shown during the trial.
