A judge will decide Wednesday whether the man accused of shooting six co-workers at a New Albany warehouse was legally insane.

Judge David Branstool is scheduled to announce his verdict at 1 p.m. Sept. 16 in Licking County Common Pleas Court. Bruce Foster III, 30, faces 19 counts including aggravated murder, attempted murder and felonious assault in the Feb. 4, 2025, shooting at the KDC/One warehouse at 8825 Smith's Mill Road North. The victims who died were Kyle Vaver, 38, and Shakhar Chapagai, 30. About 150 employees were inside the facility at the time.

As we reported Sept. 11, the ruling date was set after a five-day bench trial. Both sides agreed Foster suffers from mental illness. The dispute: whether he understood his actions were wrong.

Licking County Prosecuting Attorney Jenny Wells outlined the legal standard in an interview with 10TV. Under Ohio law, defendants are presumed sane. Foster's defense team must prove two things by a preponderance of the evidence: that he suffered from a serious mental illness, and that the illness left him unable to understand the wrongfulness of his actions.

Branstool must first determine whether prosecutors proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Foster committed the crimes, Wells said. Only then does the insanity question apply.

A guilty verdict means life in prison without parole. A not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity finding would trigger additional evaluations and a placement determination, according to Wells, who said the process would address "the safety of the community and himself."

Prosecution rebuttal witness Dr. Kara Marcini testified that Foster was aware what he was doing was wrong. She said Foster told her he had been agitated on the day of the shooting and thought he needed to leave because he was about to harm someone, according to NBC4's trial coverage.

Wells cited Foster's own words to police during closing arguments on Aug. 28. She argued he hid a gun in his backpack, targeted specific co-workers, brought a change of clothes and scheduled an Uber minutes before the shooting.

"He says that to law enforcement officers, 'I couldn't help myself, I didn't want to hurt anyone,' because he knew it was wrong, but he couldn't help himself," Wells said during those arguments, as Spectrum News 1 reported. "That is not a defense; an impulse or a compulsion is not a legal defense."

Shooting survivor Nick Harris testified on Aug. 25 that he was talking to Vaver, his best friend, when the shooting began. Harris said he turned and found himself staring down the barrel of Foster's gun, with Foster's eyes "impossibly wide," according to NBC4.

Branstool will deliver his ruling Wednesday afternoon in Newark.