Raleigh shooting update: North Carolina officials identify victims, including police officer and boy, 16

RALEIGH, N.C. — Raleigh, North Carolina, officials on Friday identified the victims of Thursday's mass shooting, who include a 16-year-old boy, a police officer who was on his way to work and a woman who was critically injured just days before her birthday. 

The gunman, a 15-year-old boy, opened fire near the Neuse River Greenway area in Raleigh just after 5 p.m., officials previously said. He was taken into custody about three hours later after he was allegedly "contained" inside a nearby home. The crime scene spanned "over two miles," Raleigh Police Chief Estella D. Patterson said Friday.

Patterson identified the deceased off-duty police officer as 29-year-old Gabriel Torres, who was on his way to work at the time. She said other victims include James Roger Thompson, 16; Nicole Conners, 52; Susan Karnatz, 49; and Mary Marshall, 35. 

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Property records show at least two of the deceased victims, including the fallen officer, lived on Osprey Cove Drive, where some of the shooting occurred.

Two more victims were wounded but survived. They have been identified as a second Raleigh police officer, who has since been released from the hospital, and Marcille Lynn Gardner, who was shot just days before her 60th birthday, and remains in critical condition. The alleged killer is in critical condition at a nearby hospital. 

"My heart is heavy because we don't have answers as to why this tragedy occurred," Patterson said. "But what I can tell you is that the Raleigh Police Department and the Raleigh community is resilient and we stand strong and we will heal and we will be stronger as a result of what has occurred."

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The police chief would not speak about any relationship between the victims and the suspect.

"The shootings occurred in the streets in the neighborhood, and then the suspect fled towards the Greenway. And then we had some more victims who were shot in the Greenway." 

The violence unfolded in a portion of the Hedingham neighborhood near Osprey Cove Drive and Bay Harbor Drive, where the Greenway is located behind a section of homes. As gunfire erupted, police asked residents to remain inside their homes and call 911 immediately if they saw or heard anything. 

Hedingham resident Sheri Thorn said such violence is unusual in the neighborhood, where most of the children are "really friendly" and "love to play in the street."

"It's never been like this. This neighborhood has never been this way," Thorn told Fox News Digital on Friday. "Everybody really knows everybody or most." 

She described it as a "beautiful golfing community."  

"It's very quiet … people are just real respectful," Thorn added. "People come together… It's just that kind of community.That's what makes it the worst, makes it the hardest."

Raleigh Police Lt. Jason Borneo said the department had not yet identified a motive for the shooting.

Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin thanked police "who acted so bravely."

"There are several families in our community waking up this morning without their loved ones. We grieve for them today. Our prayers are also with those who are injured. You know, no one can imagine what they're all going through." she said. "But please know we as a community stand with you today."

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Police are asking anyone with information related to the shooting to call 919-996-1193.