By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press
RALEIGH, NC (AP) — A gunman opened fire along a walking trail in North Carolina’s capital city Thursday, killing five people before leading police on an hour-long chase that forced residents of various neighborhoods to shelter in their homes.
Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin told reporters multiple people were shot on the Neuse River Greenway around 5 p.m. and an off-duty police officer was among the dead. She said at least two others were taken to hospitals, including another police officer. Officers from numerous law enforcement agencies swarmed the area, closing roads and warning residents to stay inside while they searched for the shooter.
Officers eventually locked the suspect in a residence before arresting him sometime before 10 p.m., authorities said. The suspect’s identity and motive were not released by investigators.
“We must stop this senseless violence in America, we must address gun violence,” the mayor said. “We have a lot to do, and tonight we have a lot to cry about.”
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Brooke Medina, who lives in the neighborhood that borders the greenway, was driving home around 5:15 p.m. when she saw about two dozen police cars, both marked and unmarked, racing toward the residential area about 9 miles (14 kilometers) from downtown Raleigh. . She then saw ambulances speeding in the other direction, toward the nearest hospital.
She and her husband, who was working from home with their four children, began contacting neighbors and realized there was a shelter-in-place order.
The family closed all the window shades, closed the doors and congregated in an upstairs hallway, said Medina, who works as vice president of communications at a think tank. The family listened to the police scanner and watched the local news before heading back downstairs once the danger seemed to have moved away from their house.
“We’re going to hunker down for the rest of the night and be very vigilant. Keep all our lights on, doors locked,” she said.
She described the neighborhood known as Hedingham as a sprawling, dense, tree-lined neighborhood that is filled with single-family homes, duplexes, and townhomes that are more moderately priced compared to other parts of the Raleigh area.
Medina said she often takes her children for bike rides on the greenway during the day, but usually carries pepper spray just in case.
“There are many places where one could disappear,” he said.
The shooting in Raleigh was the latest in a violent week 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 an emergency call apparently lured them into an ambush about possible domestic violence.
It followed police shootings this week in Greenville, Mississippi; Decatur, Ill.; 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 fatally shot, according to The Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University Mass Murder Database. A mass murder is defined as when four or more people are killed excluding the perpetrator.
Dazio reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Michael Kunzelman in Silver Spring, Maryland and Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh contributed to this report.
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