RIGHT OF SALE, NC –
Five people were killed by a gunman who opened fire along a pedestrian street in the North Carolina capital Thursday and evaded officers for hours before he was cornered into a house and arrested. police said.
A police officer on duty was among those killed by the suspect, who police only described as a young white male. He was arrested around 9:37 p.m., authorities said. His identity and age were not disclosed.
Gunfire broke out around 5 p.m. along the Neuse River Greenway in a residential area northeast of downtown, Mayor Raleigh Mary-Ann Baldwin said. Officers from multiple law enforcement agencies flooded the area, closing roads and warning residents to stay inside as they searched for the shooter.
Two people, including another police officer, were taken to hospital. The officer was later released, but the other remains in critical condition.
“Tonight, terror has come to our doorstep. Every community’s nightmare has come to Raleigh. Governor Roy Cooper told reporters this was a senseless act of violence and senseless horror.
Authorities did not give any details of a motive, but Baldwin joined Cooper in criticizing the violent behavior.
“We have to stop this mindless violence in America, we have to tackle gun violence,” the mayor said. “We have much work to do, and tonight we have much to mourn.”
The Raleigh shooting was the latest in a week of violence across the country. Five people were killed Sunday in a shooting at a home in Inman, South Carolina. On Wednesday night, two police officers were fatally shot in Connecticut after appearing to be drawn into an ambush by an emergency call about possible domestic violence. Police officers were shot this week in Greenville, Mississippi; Decatur, Illinois; Philadelphia, Las Vegas and central Florida. Two of those officers, one in Greenville and one in Las Vegas, were killed.
Thursday’s violence was the 25th mass murder in 2022 in which victims were shot dead, according to The Associated Press / USA TODAY / Northeastern University Mass Killings database. A mass murder is defined as when four or more people are killed regardless of the perpetrator.
Brooke Medina, who lives in a neighborhood bordering the green, was driving home around 5:15 p.m. when she saw about two dozen police cars, both marked and unmarked, driving toward a residential neighborhood about a block from the center. Raleigh city center is about 14 km. . Then she saw the ambulance speeding in the other direction, towards the nearest hospital.
She and her husband, working from home with their four children, began reaching out to neighbors and realized there was a shelter in place.
Medina, who works as a vice president of communications for a think tank, said the family had closed all the window blinds, locked the doors and gathered in an upstairs hallway. The family listened to police scanners and watched local news before heading back downstairs as the danger appeared to have moved further away from their home.
“We will focus on the rest of the night and be very vigilant. Keep all our lights on, doors locked,” she said.
She describes the neighborhood known as Hedingham as a large, tree-lined community filled with single-family homes, two-story apartments and townhouses that are more affordable than other areas. of the Raleigh area.
Allison Greenawalt, 29, who also lives in the neighborhood, said she was sitting on the couch with her cat around 5pm when she heard “three shots in quick succession.” She said the police arrived quickly and that she was grateful they were there during the tumultuous hours as she took shelter inside. Meanwhile, her husband tried to drive home after the shooting and was turned away by police closing nearby streets, and he didn’t get home until about 10:30 p.m., she said. speak.
“I was sitting in our house with the lights off and the windows closed most of the evening, just waiting to hear that” the shooter had been arrested, she said.
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Dazio reports from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Michael Kunzelman of Silver Spring, Maryland and Gary D. Robertson and Allen G. Breed of Raleigh contributed to this report.
