Five Killed by Raleigh, North Carolina mass shooter

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Five people are dead, including an off-duty police officer, and at least two others are injured after a shooting on a nature trail in Raleigh, North Carolina, Thursday night, Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said.

A K-9 officer who has non-life-threatening injuries is among those injured, the mayor said.

The suspect has been taken into custody, police later said.

At least three people were transported to WakeMed Health and Hospitals' trauma center in connection with the incident, a hospital official confirmed to ABC News. There is no word on their condition currently. The hospital official does not know if others were injured in the shooting.

The scene of the shooting is in the area of the Neuse River Greenway Trail near Osprey Cove and Bay Harbor drives, police said.

The mass shooting in Raleigh, N.C., that killed five people including a police officer was carried out by a 15-year-old who is now in critical condition, officials said on Friday.

The suspect, whose name has not been released, was taken into custody after a lengthy standoff, police said.

The victims include three women — Mary Marshall, 35; Susan Karnatz, 49; and Nicole Conners, 52 — along with 16-year-old James Roger Thompson and Gabriel Torres, 29, an off-duty police officer who was on his way to work, as member station WUNC reports.

The shooting began in the streets of a subdivision in Hedingham, a neighborhood bracketed by a golf course and the Neuse River Greenway northeast of downtown, Raleigh Police Chief Stella Patterson said at a news conference Friday morning.

The shooter then fled onto the greenway, where he shot more victims in a crime scene that spans more than two miles, Patterson said.

Responding to questions from reporters, Patterson did not say whether the suspect might be related to any of the victims, and she declined to say what type of weapon was used or how the suspect acquired it.

"This investigation is ongoing," she said.

With the violence in Raleigh, the U.S. has now seen 532 mass shootings so far in 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which tracks mass shootings. The deadly incident wasn't the only mass shooting in North Carolina on Thursday: Four people were hurt in a shooting in the town of New Bern, some 115 miles southeast of the capital, according to the archive.

Sources have confirmed for The News & Observer that the suspect in Thursday night’s mass shooting is 15-year-old Austin Thompson, a sophomore at Knightdale High School and the brother of 16-year-old shooting victim James Thompson.

Austin Thompson is hospitalized in critical condition at WakeMed, where he was taken after being captured by police Thursday night.

Neighbors said he lived with his father, a handyman in the neighborhood, and would help on odd jobs. Several described unusual behavior from the son. ”I used to see him at 4:30, 5 in the morning with a bookbag on,” said Lavarius Thompson, a neighbor. “Buses don’t run till 7 in the morning.”

A “long standoff” unfolded Thursday evening, Police Chief Estella Patterson said.

Police declined to discuss the motive or circumstances of the shooting, but promised to share more details in five days. In North Carolina, police prepare “five-day reports” outlining what transpired during a significant crime incident, usually when a police officer shoots someone.

t’s not yet clear whether the suspect knew any of the victims other than his brother. Police declined to say. Patterson said the gunman shot people in the streets of the Hedingham neighborhood, then fled in the direction of the Neuse River Greenway Trail, where he continued shooting.

Torres, a Raleigh police officer, was on his way to work when he was shot. Patterson said the crime scene spanned two miles and the investigation is ongoing.

Authorities haven’t said what type of weapon the shooter used. A 911 caller said he was dressed in camouflage and carrying a long gun and backpack.