RALEIGH, North Carolina – It took hours and a search that stretched for miles on both sides of the Neuse River east of downtown Raleigh to end an active shooting situation that spooked neighbors and stunned the town of Oaks.
Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said the mass shooting that claimed the lives of five people began on the streets of the Hedingham subdivision, a residential and golf course community that backs up to the river and its greenway.
Just after 5 p.m., residents of Osprey Cove Drive began calling 911 to report hearing gunshots, seeing a person in camouflage with a gun, and finding their neighbors seriously injured or worse.
“I got one. A male. Hispanic. That’s bad. He’s an off-duty officer,” a caller told dispatchers. The Raleigh Police Department said Friday that Constable Gabriel Torres, 29, was among the dead.
Tracey Howard found his wife, Nicole Conners, dead on the porch of their home, shot dead alongside her dog, Sami.
Mary Marshall, who was walking her dog, called her fiancé to tell him she was scared and asked him to come home. It was the last time they would speak.
Law enforcement swarmed the neighborhood, blocking streets and asking residents to stay indoors.
Around 5:30 p.m., the search extended to the greenway of the Neuse River. There, paramedics found two women, both dead. Susan Karnatz, 49, who hiked this trail daily, was one of them.
“The green lane is still a very active scene in the sense that it’s unclear where the subject is,” reported a paramedic.
In addition to the five killed, two others were injured. One was a Raleigh police officer, who was treated and released from hospital. Marcielle Gardner, 59, was still at WakeMed on Friday in critical condition.
Across the river, police, sheriff’s deputies and state troopers massed near Beaverdam Elementary School off Old Milburnie Road. Staff and students who were at the school after hours were locked down, and the Marsh Creek Community Center and the Buffaloe Aquatic Center were both evacuated. K-9 agents searched an area along the woods near the intersection of Tarheel Club Road and Old Milburnie Road.
The eastbound Interstate 540 exit to Buffaloe Road was also closed and traffic diverted north.
Law enforcement tracked Austin Thompson to an outhouse on property on McConnell Oliver Drive, approximately six miles from his home, and took him into custody.
Austin Thompson was taken to WakeMed, where he was listed in critical condition. Sources told WRAL News he had multiple injuries, including a gunshot wound to the head. His family has not commented publicly on the shooting.
Although witnesses reported seeing “a long gun”, police did not say what type of weapon was used in the shooting or where the suspect obtained it.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said if Thompson survives, she expects him to be charged as an adult, despite his age.
“Given the massive number of lives lost, it is appropriate that this case proceed to Superior Court and that this individual be prosecuted as an adult.”