A 15-year-old gunman suspected of killing five people in the North Carolina city of Raleigh is in a critical condition in hospital, US police said.
The boy, who has not been named, is alleged to have fatally shot two people in the streets of North Carolina’s capital city, before he fled towards a walking trail where he opened fire again, killing three more people and wounding two others.
Raleigh police chief Estella Patterson said those killed were a racially diverse group and ranged in age from 16 to their late 50s.
Among the dead was an off-duty Raleigh police officer, Gabriel Torres, who was on his way to work when the shooting began.
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A second police officer was wounded and released from the hospital, while a 59-year-old woman is critically ill in hospital.
The suspect eluded officers for hours before he was cornered in a house and arrested, police said.
The shooting set off a massive police response and manhunt, with officers scouring an area of more than two miles to find and capture the suspect, Ms Patterson said. She said authorities have not yet determined any motive for the shooting.
Governor Roy Cooper called the shooting an “infuriating and tragic act of gun violence”.
“Today we’re sad, we’re angry and we want to know the answers to all the questions.
“I think we all know the core truth – no neighbour, no parent, no child, no grandparent, no-one should feel this fear in these communities – no-one.”
The gunfire broke out around 5pm local time on Thursday (10pm Irish time) in a residential area north-east of Raleigh city centre, 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 gunman.
The Neuse River Greenway runs just behind the backs of houses in the Hedingham area where the shooting began.
The trail runs about 27 miles along the river and connects to the state’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail that is popular with hikers. The stretch behind the area is paved and lies down a grassy slope from the houses.
The Raleigh incident is the latest in a violent week across America. Five people were killed on Sunday in a shooting at a home in Inman, South Carolina.
On Wednesday night, two police officers were fatally shot in Connecticut after apparently being drawn into an ambush by an emergency call about possible domestic violence.
Police officers have been shot this week in Greenville, Mississippi; Decatur, Illinois; Philadelphia, Las Vegas and central Florida. Two of those officers, one in Greenville and one Las Vegas, were killed.
Thursday’s violence was the 25th mass killing in 2022 in which the victims were fatally shot, according to The Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University Mass Killings database. A mass killing is defined as when four or more people are killed excluding the perpetrator.