Suspect in custody after at least five killed in North Carolina shooting

by María Luisa Paúl, James Bikales / The Washington Post

14:59 JST, October 14, 2022

A gunman opened fire in an eastern Raleigh, N.C., neighborhood Thursday afternoon, killing at least five people and injuring two, authorities said.

The suspect was taken into custody nearly five hours after the shooting began, Raleigh Police said on Twitter.

Among the fatalities was an off-duty police officer. Two injured victims were transported to a local hospital, including a Raleigh police K9 officer, who did not have life threatening injuries, Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said.

Bullets rang out late Thursday afternoon in Hedingham neighborhood nearby the Neuse River Greenway, an urban trail that winds for nearly 30 miles along the eastern edge of the city. At 5:55 p.m. Raleigh police first advised residents “to stay in their homes.”

Taylor Burke, a resident, told CBS17 that soon after her children got home from school, she heard helicopters and police descend on her neighborhood. People were being told they couldn’t enter or leave the area, she said.

“When we looked in our backyard where the golf course is, there was just a bunch of officers or detectives with guns out and in the trees, walking down the golf course,” Burke said.

By 8 p.m. the suspect appeared to be cornered, with Baldwin saying in a Thursday night news conference that the suspect was “contained” inside a residence.

The city was left reeling from the violence.

“We as a community need to come together to be there for those who need us now,” Baldwin said. “We must do more. We must stop this mindless violence in America. We must address gun violence. We have much to do. Tonight we have much to mourn.”