Before receiving his sentence on Tuesday, Christopher Stokes told the judge in Milwaukee County Circuit Court that he wasn't asking for leniency and that he deserved to be locked up. Stokes, 44, said he couldn't explain why he killed his family members.

Killed were Teresa Thomas, 41, and her two children, 16-year-old Tiera Agee and 14-year-old Demetrius Thomas. Two others related to Stokes were also killed, 19-year-old Marcus Stokes and 17-year-old Lakeitha Stokes.

Only Stokes' three-year-old grandchild was spared. Prosecutors said the child witnessed the shootings and asked Stokes not to hurt him.

A criminal complaint said Stokes called 911 on April 27 last year and told dispatchers he had “just massacred'' his family.

Milwaukee County Judge Michelle Havas sentenced Stokes to 40 years in prison for each of the five counts of first-degree reckless homicide he earlier pleaded guilty to, plus another five years for illegally possessing a gun as a convicted felon.