MUSKOGEE, OKLA. ? A judge who decided to release a Fort Gibson teenager who shot and wounded five of his classmates would only free the teen if he left Oklahoma, according to court transcripts.

Muskogee County Associate District Judge Tom Alford ruled that neither Fort Gibson nor the state of Oklahoma was ready to have Seth Trickey free within its boundaries.

Alford ordered Trickey and his grandparents to leave immediately for Kansas, according to transcripts of a Nov. 19 hearing recently released to the Tulsa World.

“But for the very slight change in the circumstances here, you could very well be spending your entire life in the penitentiary,” Alford told Trickey. “There are still a lot of people that are grieving over what happened that terrible day. Do you understand that?”

Trickey, 17, was released after that hearing to live with his maternal grandparents, Robert and Marilyn Martin, in Lawrence, Kan.

He had served less than four years in state facilities after wounding five Fort Gibson Middle School classmates in a Dec. 6, 1999, school shooting.

After completing his treatment with the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs, a judge had to decide if Trickey was rehabilitated enough to be released.

Trickey would have remained in juvenile custody until he was 19, if Alford had not granted his early release.

“This is something he’s earned,” said Steven Novick, Trickey’s attorney. “This is something he’s ready for. And in the words of his caseworker, it’s time for him to spread his wings and test out what he’s learned in the community.”

Trickey will be supervised by his grandparents and Kansas juvenile officials.

He also might get his driver’s license and continue his education at a nearby college, having earned his high school degree at age 16.

At the hearing, Assistant Dist. Atty. Sejin Brooks complained that those accomplishments didn’t prove that Trickey belonged back in society.

“Quite frankly, I don’t think Mr. Trickey has earned anything,” Brooks said. “I think all he’s ever done is taken, and what privileges he’s gained have been given to him.

“I think it’s by the grace of God that more people were not injured,” the prosecutor said. “And I think it’s by the grace of this court and the juvenile justice system that he’s given this opportunity.”

Trickey has never completely explained why he pulled his father’s 9 mm pistol from a backpack in 1999 and opened fire on his classmates.

Evidence indicated that he emptied the gun at the fleeing students and even followed them as they ran. One 12-year-old girl was shot in the face, three boys were wounded in their arms or legs, and another boy was grazed by a bullet. No one was killed.

Trickey’s status will be re-evaluated in February.