Raleigh shooting – latest: Suspect, 15, will face charges as an adult after killing five
Police describe suspect as white, juvenile male
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Five people were killed by a shooter who opened fire along a walking trail in North Carolina’s capital city on Thursday and eluded police for hours before he was cornered and arrested, police said.
Law enforcement officials identified the victims of the shooting on Friday. An off-duty police officer was among those killed by the suspect, whom police described as a white, 15-year-old male.
The suspect was arrested around 9.37pm after evading capture for hours and hiding inside a home, authorities said.
Gunfire broke out around 5pm, along the Neuse River Greenway in a residential area northeast of downtown, Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said.
Officers from numerous law enforcement agencies swarmed the area, closing roads and warning residents to stay inside while they searched for the shooter.
Two people, including another police officer, were also taken to hospitals.
“Tonight terror has reached our doorstep. The nightmare of every community has come to Raleigh. This is a senseless horrific and infuriating act of violence that has been committed,” Governor Roy Cooper told reporters.
Shooting went from neighbourhood streets to river walking path
Following 911 calls reporting the shooting, police closed down streets and requested that residents stay inside.
Police spent hours in the Hedingham neighbourhood, searching door to door.
A resident told WRAL that he spotted the shooter through his back window and that he also saw a woman running in the area.
After finding two people injured on one of the streets in the neighbourhood, police found two women dead on a walking path in the area – the Neuse River greenway.
“The Greenway is still very much an active scene in a sense of not knowing where the subject is,” a paramedic said at the time, according to WRAL.
School, community, and aquatic centre went into lockdown and police searched for suspect
The two injured individuals include a Raleigh police officer, who has been released from hospital, and 59-year-old Michelle Gardner, who remained in critical condition on Friday.
As they searched for the teen suspect, police congregated at Beaverdam Elementary School, which went into lockdown.
Evacuations went into effect at the Marsh Creek community center and the Buffaloe Aquatic Center, according to WRAL.
Witnesses report seeing ‘long gun'
Witnesses of the shooting have said that they saw “a long gun” but police have yet to reveal what kind of weapon was used by the suspect or how it was obtained.
“In consideration of the mass number of lives lost, it’s appropriate that this case be handled in Superior Court and this individual prosecuted as an adult,” Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said, according to WRAL.
‘We don’t have answers as to why this tragedy occurred,’ police chief says
The crime scene in the Raleigh neighbourhood of Hedingham spanned more than two miles.
During a press briefing on Friday, Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson told reporters, “my heart is heavy, because we don’t have answers as to why this tragedy occurred,” according to CNN.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman has said that the plan is to charge the suspect as an adult.
Suspect hospitalized following police apprehension
The suspect in the shooting was hospitalized after police apprehended him on Thursday evening following a standoff.
In a 911 call, a caller said that the suspect “walked by and shot” an officer “for no reason,” according to CNN.
Another caller said that two of their neighbours had been shot, with yet another caller saying that a “kid running around here with a shotgun” had shot an individual and subsequently “ran back into the woods”.
‘We had plans together for growing old. Always together,’ husband of victim says
The suspect wore camouflage clothes and carried a similarly patterned backpack, CNN reported.
A handgun and a long gun were later located.
Sue Karnatz, 49, was one of those killed. She was the mother of three boys – 10, 13, and 14 years old.
“We had plans together for growing old. Always together. Now those plans are laid to waste,” her husband posted on social media on Friday, according to CNN.
Video report: 15-Year-Old Kills 5, Injures 2 Others In North Carolina Shooting
‘Get here ASAP’: 911 calls outline North Carolina shooting
Four 911 calls have been released to local North Carolina outlets outlining the shooting east of downtown Raleigh on Thursday.
The gunman “came through with a shotgun and shot my buddy. Get here ASAP,” one of the callers told the emergency services.
“The shooter has on all camo … he looks like he’s about 15,” the caller added.
“It’s an officer. He works for y’all,” the caller said of one of the victims, WBTW reported.
“You said it’s an officer?” the 911 operator replied.
“Oh my God. It looks like he’s bleeding from his chest,” the caller said later in the call.
One caller said the suspect “walked by and shot” an officer “for no reason,” according to CNN.
On Friday, the Raleigh Police Department said that Officer Gabriel Torres, 29, had died.
‘We heard them screaming’: 911 callers describe Raleigh shooting
In one of four 911 calls released to local North Carolina media outlets, a resident in the neighbourhood where the shooting took place told the operator that “I heard some shots outside and I looked out my window and the neighbour’s on the ground, I think”.
“There’s somebody lying by the bush and there’s somebody’s lying on the porch,” she added, according to WBTW.
The operator asked the caller if she could see “anybody running or shooting anything?”
“No, we just heard it. And we heard them screaming,” the caller said.
Community mourns loss of shooting victims, photos show
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