Police: Shooter, 15, Kills 5 Along North Carolina Greenway

The shooter who killed five people along a walking trail in North Carolina’s capital city is a 15-year-old boy who has been hospitalized in critical condition, police said Friday.

Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson told reporters that the suspect opened fire Thursday on a greenway in an area northeast of downtown. He then eluded officers for hours before he was cornered in a home and arrested, police said.

A 16-year-old boy and an off-duty police officer were among those killed.

Authorities didn’t offer any details on a motive.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Five people, including an off-duty police officer, were killed, and two more wounded, in a shooting Thursday evening in a residential neighborhood in Raleigh, North Carolina. A suspect, described as a White male juvenile, has been taken into custody. 

A Raleigh police K9 officer was among the two people who were wounded, Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said during a press conference Thursday night. Raleigh police Lt. Jason Borneo said later Thursday night that the wounded officer had been treated and released from the hospital. 

The second wounded victim was hospitalized in critical condition, Borneo said. 

The shooting was reported just after 5 p.m. local time along the Neuse River Greenway trail in the east Raleigh neighborhood of Hedingham, Baldwin said. 

The suspect was taken into custody at 9:37 p.m., Borneo said, adding that "there is no active, ongoing threat." The suspect had earlier in the night been "contained in a residence in the area" by both local and federal law enforcement, Baldwin said.

No details were provided on the circumstances of the shootings or a possible motive.

As the situation was unfolding, Raleigh police initially reported that "multiple law enforcement agencies" had responded to an "active shooting." The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives tweeted just after 7:30 p.m. that its special agents were responding to an "active shooter scene."

Residents were advised by police "to remain in their homes," while drivers were also asked to avoid the area.

Nearby Hedingham Golf Club told CBS affiliate WNCN-TV that it closed the club and pulled all golfers off the course.

"Tonight, terror has reached our doorstep," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at a second news briefing late Thursday night. "The nightmare of every community has come to Raleigh. This is a senseless, horrific and infuriating act of violence that has been committed."

First published on October 13, 2022 / 7:19 PM

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