Raleigh shooting – latest: Suspect, 15, will face charges as an adult after killing five
Police describe suspect as white, juvenile male
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.
Victims identified
Raleigh police confirmed that the five people killed during a mass shooting on Thursday evening as Nicole Connors, 52, Susan Karnatz, 49, Mary Marshall, 35, Gabriel Torres, 29, and a 16-year-old minor who authorities did not name.
Marcille Gardner, 59 was wounded and is still recovering in the hospital. Casey Joseph Clark, 33, was also wounded but was released from a hospital after receiving treatment.
ABC11 reports that the suspect, who police describe as a 15-year-old white male, was also injured and transported to the hospital with life threatening injuries. It is unclear if the injuries were self-inflicted.
Read more in Johanna Chisholm’s story at The Independent below:
Raleigh shooting: What we know about 15-year-old suspect and five victims killed
Raleigh mass shooting victim was set to be married later this month
Mary Marshall, 35, was less than a month away from her wedding when she was shot and killed by a 15-year-old on Thursday.
Ms Marshall was to be married on 29 October. Her and her fiance had reportedly rented a pair of cabins in the mountains and were preparing to decorate them with pumpkins for a Halloween-themed wedding.
NBC News reports that friends from all over the country — and one from overseas — were planning to attend the wedding.
“She’s got a friend coming from Japan, somebody coming from Florida, from Texas,” her sister, Meghan McCrickard told the outlet. “As excited as she was to be married, I know she was more excited to have all the people she loved the most at the same place at the same time.”
Ms McCrickard said “it was going to be the most beautiful, fall, spooky wedding.”
President Biden addresses nation after Raleigh mass shooting
Joe Biden released a statement today in the wake of the mass shooting that left five people dead in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“Jill and I are grieving with the families in Raleigh, North Carolina, whose loved ones were killed and wounded in yet another mass shooting in America. We are thinking of yet another community shaken and shattered as they mourn the loss of friends and neighbors, including an off-duty police officer,” Mr Biden said. “As we mourn with the people of Raleigh, we are grateful for the law enforcement and other first responders, including federal law enforcement who were on the scene last night and into this morning.”
You can read more of Mr Biden’s statement — and his call for an assault weapons ban — in Eric Garcia’s story below:
Biden calls for action to end gun violence after shooting in North Carolina: ‘Enough’
Congresswoman Deborah Ross zeros in on gun violence after shooting
Democratic Congresswoman Deborah Ross of North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District issued a statement lamenting US gun violence following the mass shooting in Raleigh. The city is located in the 2nd District.
“How many communities and families must experience this senseless bloodshed before we finally say enough is enough? Gun violence has plagued our schools, houses of worship, and other public spaces for far too long,” she wrote. “I am devastated that Raleigh is next in the long line of American communities forever changed by a mass shooting. No American should be forced to endure this kind of unspeakable anguish and grief.”
Her full comments can be found here.
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal calls for gun safety laws
Democratic congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, serving as a representative from Washington’s 7th congressional district, called gun violence an “epidemic” in the US following the mass shooting in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“Gun violence is an epidemic in this country and we must do more to enact common sense gun safety legislation,” Ms Jayapal tweeted.
“My heart breaks for those who lost their lives, their loved ones, and yet another community left mourning,” she said.
DA to charge 15-year-old shooting suspect as adult
North Carolina district attorney Lorrin Freeman said on Friday that she plans to charge the 15-year-old Raleigh mass shooting suspect as an adult.
The suspect reportedly remains hospitalised in critical condition.
Ms Freeman’s office has filed petitions to transfer the case “to Superior Court and to proceed against the individual as an adult.” according to NBC News
President Joe Biden calls for assault weapon ban
In a joint statement, US president Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden called for an assault weapons ban in the aftermath of the Raleigh mass shooting.
“We’re grieving with the families in Raleigh, NC, whose loved ones were killed or hurt in another mass shooting,” the president and the first lady tweeted.
“For the lives we’ve lost and the lives we can save, we must pass an assault weapons ban,” they said.
Raleigh author calls out grocery stores for stacks of gun magazines
Shooting began in golf course community, police chief says
The Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said the mass shooting started on the streets of the Hedingham subdivision east of the state capital’s downtown.
According to WRAL, the area is a residential and golf course community near the Neuse River and its walking path.
Osprey Cove Drive residents started calling the emergency services just after 5pm. They told 911 dispatchers that they heard gunshots, that they spotted a man wearing camouflage, and that they had discovered severely injured or killed neighbours.
Man finds wife dead on porch beside dog
One of the residents calling the authorities told the 911 dispatcher that “I’ve got one down. One male down. Hispanic. This is bad. He’s an off-duty officer”.
On Friday, the Raleigh Police Department said that Officer Gabriel Torres, 29, had died.
Tracey Howard discovered his wife Nicole Conners dead on their porch beside her dog Sami, WRAL reported.
Mary Marshall was out with her dog when she called her fiance to tell him to return home as she was scared. The local outlet noted that it was their final conversation.