Teen accused of killing five in Raleigh, NC shooting to be tried as adult
The 15-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting five people in Raleigh, North Carolina will be charged as an adult in connection with the deadly spree, prosecutors said.
The suspect was taken into custody with critical injuries after an hours-long manhunt on Thursday. His name was not released by police, but local outlets identified him as the brother of the youngest victim in the mass shooting.
A police officer remains in front of the house where the suspected shooter lived on Sahalee Way following a shooting in Raleigh, N.C., Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. Several people were shot and killed by a gunman in the neighborhood Thursday night, Oct. 13. (Chris Seward/)
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said that she will prosecute the teen as an adult should he recover from his injuries. She has already begun the process of moving the case from juvenile court to superior court, which includes petitions for a probable cause hearing,
“In this situation, there’s no question the mass loss of life, in my opinion, this case should be transferred and tried in superior court,” Freeman told the News & Observer.
Neighbors talk at the Hedingham neighborhood on October 14, 2022 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Melissa Sue Gerrits/)
There’s still little known about the suspect, but several of his neighbors recalled him acting strangely in the past. They said he lived with his father, who worked as a handyman in the area.
“I used to see him at 4:30, 5 in the morning with a bookbag on,” neighbor Lavarius Thompson told the Observer. “Buses don’t run till 7 in the morning.”
Memorial flowers for 5 victims of a mass shooting lay on an entrance to Hedingham neighborhood on October 14, 2022 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Melissa Sue Gerrits/)
The violent rampage began around 5 p.m. on Thursday in the Hedingham neighborhood, where the first two victims were shot, police said. The suspect then fled toward the the Neuse River Greenway, opening fire on people walking their dogs or out for an evening jog. Police said the crime scene stretched for more than two miles.
Seven people were shot, five of them fatally. The victims were identified on Friday as 29-year-old Gabriel Torres, an off-duty police officer on his way to work, Nicole Conners, 53, Susan Karnatz, 49, Mary Marshall, 35, and James Thompson, 16.
A second police officer was also wounded, but has since been released from the hospital. The seventh victim, Marcille Lynn Gardner, 59, remains in critical condition, police said.
