'Mindless Violence': 5 Killed, Including Off-Duty Cop, in Raleigh Shooting

A suspect has been arrested in the deadly shooting of five people, including an off-duty police officer, while others were injured as the gunfire rattled a residential neighborhood in Raleigh, North Carolina, police said.

Raleigh police announced on Twitter Thursday the suspect had been taken into custody after being cornered and is reportedly a teenage male. The arrest ended a three-hour search and standoff that spread panic through a quadrant of North Carolina's second-largest city, and left a community in mourning. The standoff with police occurred in a barn, reported WRAL-TV.

"All of us in Raleigh right now need to come together," Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said during a press briefing. "We need to support those in our community who have suffered a terrible loss: a loss of a loved one. We need to support the family of the police officer who was killed and also the police officer who was shot."

A noticeably distraught Baldwin told reporters that in addition to those killed in the shooting, a police K-9 officer was also wounded but did not have life-threatening injuries.

Saying the city was facing a "tragic day" because of the officer's death, she thanked law enforcement who put themselves in harm's way confronting the suspect. She also called on the country to address shootings, calling them "mindless violence."

Police spokesman Lieutenant Jason Borneo told reporters that Chief Estella Patterson was out of town for a professional conference but was receiving "minute-by-minute" updates. Borneo had few additional details about the suspect, the slain officer or information on those injured in the shooting.

Raleigh police earlier in the evening warned residents in the Hedingham neighborhood to take cover as they responded to an active shooting in the Neuse River Greenway area on the city's eastern edge near Osprey Cove Drive and Bay Harbor Drive, warning residents to stay inside.

With the gunman at large at the time, multiple law enforcement agencies descended on Hedingham. Officers were seen gathered near a wooded area and walking behind homes in the neighborhood, in what WRAL described as "a chaotic scene."

"I heard two gunshots and they were really loud so I knew something was close by and then I heard three other gunshots," a witness identified as Robert told WRAL. "I saw him basically pass my house in the backyard. He had a long-barrel shotgun. He was dressed in camo. He had a full backpack on that was also camouflage."

Victoria McGraw described to ABC affiliate WTVD being alarmed as the multiple emergency vehicles rushed to her neighborhood and police officers urged residents to go into their homes.

"The most alarming part had to be my youngest daughter; she was with her dad, and he just kept calling me, like, what was going on, and he was seeing a flood of police officers coming in and that's when I looked outside and there were police officers up and down the street," she told the station.

Raleigh police tweeted at around 7:30 p.m. that sections of the Hedingham neighborhood remained closed and that residents should follow directions of law enforcement.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper at around 7 p.m. tweeted that he had spoken with Baldwin and had directed state law enforcement to provide assistance.

"State and local officers are on the ground and working to stop the shooter and keep people safe," wrote Cooper.

After the three-hour search in a wooded area, the suspect was found holed up in a barn on McConnell Oliver Drive on the edge of the city, WRAL reported during its livestream, and was apprehended after a standoff with police.

Newsweek has reached out to the Raleigh Police Department for updates.

Update 10/13/22, 10 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional comments and information.