Five people, including a police officer, were killed in an hours-long shooting in a residential neighborhood in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday, officials said.
An unidentified Raleigh Police Department off-duty officer was among the dead, Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said at a news conference late Thursday. The Raleigh Police Department tweeted that they had taken the suspect into custody, more than an hour after police said they had contained the suspect at a residence in the area.
Another Raleigh officer was one of two people injured in the incident, Baldwin said. The officer, a K9 officer, suffered no life-threatening injuries and was released from hospital on Thursday night. The other injured person is in critical condition, Lieutenant. Jason Borneo said.
Borneo said the suspect was a white male teenager, but did not provide his age.
“All of us in Raleigh right now need to come together,” Baldwin said. “We need to support those in our community who have suffered horrific losses and lost loved ones.”
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said multiple law enforcement agencies are responding to the incident. Agents are also responding, Charlotte’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said.
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“This is a senseless, horrific and outrageous act of violence,” Cooper said at a news conference.
Borneo said the investigation was ongoing but there was no longer an active threat to the community.
Police cordoned off several streets in the area, and many law enforcement vehicles could be seen parked in the streets and driveways of two-story homes. The community is adjacent to the Neuse River Greenway Trail approximately 9 miles northeast of downtown Raleigh.
Baldwin condemned gun violence in the country and said more must be done to curb it.
“We have to wake up,” she said. “I don’t want other mayors standing on the podium heartbroken because people in their communities are needlessly and tragically dying today.”
Contributed by: Associated Press