Oklahoma Suspect Sent to Teen Center

Sunday, May 28th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) â€” A 13-year-old accused of shooting five fellow students at Fort Gibson Middle School in December will be sent to a juvenile treatment center, a prosecutor said.

Seth Trickey, identified by witnesses as the youth who opened fire on a crowd of students Dec. 6, will probably serve time at the Lloyd E. Rader Children's Center in Sand Springs, said Danita Engleman, assistant district attorney.

``In the juvenile system, it's not like a sentence,'' Engleman said. She said some children go through the program in as little as eight months.

Prosecutors had tried unsuccessfully to have Trickey certified as an adult. Had he been convicted as an adult, he could have faced life in prison.

In the juvenile system, he could be in custody until age 19.

A gag order issued in January had prevented lawyers from commenting on the case, and juvenile proceedings are kept confidential.

Engleman spoke after a hearing Friday.

Authorities said at least 15 rounds were fired during the middle school attack, hitting four students directly. A fifth student was hit by a ricochet bullet, and another boy found a bullet embedded in a math book inside his backpack.