Teen kills five in North Carolina

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — A 15-year-old boy fatally shot two people in the streets of a neighbourhood in North Carolina's capital city, then fled toward a walking trail where he opened fire, killing three more people and wounding two others, police said Friday.

Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said the teen was hospitalised in critical condition following the shootings late Thursday afternoon. Authorities had not determined a motive.

The victims were of different races and ranged in age from 16 to their late 50s, Patterson said during a news conference.

The dead include off-duty Raleigh police Officer Gabriel Torres, 29, who was on his way to work when the shooting began. Police identified the other victims as: Nicole Conners, 52; Mary Marshall, 34; Susan Karnatz, 49; and James Roger Thompson, 16.

Marcille Lynn Gardner, 59, was wounded and remained hospitalised in critical condition Friday. A second police officer, Casey Joseph Clark, 33, was wounded and released from the hospital.

The teen, who was not immediately identified by police, eluded officers for hours before he was cornered in a home and arrested, police said. Officials have not said how he was injured.

The shootings set off a massive police response and manhunt, with police scouring an area of more than 2 miles (3 kilometres) to find and capture the teenager, Patterson said.

Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said the shooting has brought home the need to “end senseless gun violence that has grips on our country and now on our city.”

“We have to do something,” she said.

Under North Carolina law, crimes committed by a 15-year-old are usually adjudicated in juvenile court. But a juvenile court judge must transfer the case to Superior Court for the youth to be tried as an adult if the 15-year-old is accused of first-degree murder and determines there is probable cause that the suspect committed the crime.

Authorities have not commented on what charges the suspect could face.

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