COLUMBUS, Kan. (AP) — A southeastern Kansas man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing two people in 2020.
The office of Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt on Monday announced the sentence for 30-year-old Mark Hopkins II of Columbus. He won’t be eligible for parole for 50 years. Hopkins pleaded guilty last month to two counts of first-degree premeditated murder.
Blaze Shank of Scammon and Kylan Shook of Pittsburg were shot to death in rural northeastern Cherokee County in June 2020. Hopkins and another inmate escaped from jail in May but were captured days later in Oklahoma.
Charges against a second suspect in the shootings are still pending.
