Washington D.C. – A Puerto Rican police officer is among the five victims of Thursday’s massacre in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Gabriel Jesús Torres, 29, was on his way to his work shift when a 15-year-old teenager was involved in the shooting in a quiet town in Raleigh.
Torres, who was a Marine, lived with his wife and two-year-old daughter in the town of Hedingham.
He had been with the Raleigh Police for a year and a half.
According to Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson, Torres was not in uniform or in an official car when he was shot.
Details of how the gunman attacked his five victims have not been released.
The victims were between 16 and 50 years old. It is presumed that the first victim of the suspect, who was arrested, was his older brother, 16 years old, identified as James Thompson.
The other victims were shot while carrying out daily activities. A woman was in her garage talking to a neighbor. Another woman was walking her dog. And a man died while he was exercising.
“No neighborhood, no parent, no child, no grandparent, no one should feel this fear in their communities, no one,” North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said.
Torres was in the Marine Corps from November 2016 to February 2021. He rose to the rank of sergeant, according to the North Carolina News & Observer.
The Raleigh Police Protective Association organization indicated on Facebook that it will seek to establish some economic aid fund that is approved and authorized by the Torres family.
A second police officer was injured, but has since been released from the hospital.
