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ST. CHARLES COUNTY — A St. Charles man has been sentenced to life in prison after fatally shooting his sister and his ex-girlfriend in 2022.

Trae Spratt, now 32, said Monday that , and his ex-girlfriend — who has not been named by officials — during a “mental breakdown.” Spratt said he has been diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder and regularly takes prescriptions to treat it.

Spratt was initially charged with first-degree murder, four counts of armed criminal action, two counts of child endangerment and one count of domestic violence. As part of a plea deal announced Monday, prosecutors amended the charge to second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison for that, plus the other charges.

In September 2022, prosecutors say, Bradford had gone to an apartment in the 100 block of Ameristar Boulevard in St. Charles to help her brother move out after he and his girlfriend broke up. Spratt became upset after hearing the two women talking about him, said St. Charles County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Casey Brooks.

Brooks told Circuit Court Judge Chris McDonough how after overhearing the conversation between his sister and ex-girlfriend, Spratt took a drink of lemonade, retrieved his gun from the bedside table and proceeded to point the weapon at Bradford for approximately one minute before shooting.

After shooting his sister once in the head, he turned the gun on his ex-girlfriend and shot her once in the face. She survived and fled down the hallway to the bedroom where her two children were hiding in a closet. Spratt chased after her, but ultimately fled the scene after he couldn’t break into the bedroom.

Spratt called his brother and cousins, and confessed to the shooting, Brooks said. He later turned himself into the ӣ����Ƶ police.

One brother, two aunts and Spratt’s uncle attended the sentencing. The family declined to be interviewed, but the uncle asked the judge to consider “the real significant challenges” that Spratt has experienced in his life. The uncle did not elaborate.

“We believe — we know — that he loved his sister,” the man said. “And that something, because of his mental health, went very wrong that day. And I don’t think that Trae meant to do what he did.”

Spratt’s ex-girlfriend also attended Monday’s sentencing. She did not speak, but submitted a written victim impact statement to the court. Her two children did not attend.

St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Joe McCulloch said the woman and her children continue to recover from the “tragic experience that is going to stick with them for the rest of their lives.”

“Once again this is just an act of senseless gun violence that didn’t need to happen,” McCulloch said, in an interview after the sentencing. “Two families have been affected by this, and one family has lost two family members — not only the deceased woman, but that she was killed by her own brother. It is just sad and heartbreaking for families to experience anything like this.”