A 15-year-old suspect has been arrested after a shooting that left five dead in the capital of the US state of North Carolina, the Raleigh police chief confirmed on Friday, saying the teenager was hospitalized in serious condition. .
Police have not yet determined the motive for the shooting, which turned a quiet, middle-class neighborhood into a crime scene on Thursday, Police Chief Estella Patterson said at a news conference.
Patterson did not identify the suspect by name or say how he was injured.
The shooting began at 5pm on the streets of the Hedingham neighborhood of Raleigh, where residents were told to stay in their homes for hours while police carried out a manhunt.
The suspect was later found near the Neuse River Greenway, a hiking and biking trail where he shot more people, Patterson said. After a standoff, the police arrested him at a residence close to the trail.
“Nobody should feel that fear in communities – nobody,” Democratic Governor Roy Cooper said, calling the incident an “infuriating and tragic act of gun violence.”
Three women – ages 52, 49 and 35 – and a 16-year-old boy are among those killed in the shooting, according to Patterson. A 29-year-old police officer who died in the shooting has been identified as Gabriel Torres, who was on his way to work when the incident occurred.
Two people were injured: a police officer who was treated and released and a 59-year-old woman who was hospitalized in serious condition, Patterson said.
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