The shooter accused of killing five people Thursday in a southeastern United States city is a 15-year-old boy, local authorities said Friday, adding that he was hospitalized and in critical condition.
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The victims of the shootings that broke out in Raleigh, the North Carolina state capital, range in age from 16 to 52, said the city’s police chief, Estella Patterson. Among them is a police officer who was not on duty.
The alleged shooter also injured two other people, “a police officer (…) who was treated and released from hospital” and another 59-year-old “still in critical condition”, a- she added during a press conference.
The shooter opened fire, for an as yet unexplained reason, shortly following 5:00 p.m. (21:00 GMT) on a walking path in this city of nearly 500,000 inhabitants.
A large contingent of security forces was then deployed to find the perpetrator of the shooting. No explanation was given as to how he obtained his weapon.
About 49,000 people died from firearms in the United States in 2021, compared to 45,000 in 2020, which was already a record year. This represents more than 130 deaths per day, more than half of which are suicides.
