RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN/AP) — As questions still remain around what exactly led a 15-year-old gunman to shoot and kill five people in east Raleigh on Thursday, those victims are being remembered by their loved ones.
The suspect fatally shot two people in the streets of a middle-class Raleigh neighborhood, then fled toward a popular walking trail where he opened fire, killing three more people and wounding two others, police said Friday.
The victims are:
- Nicole Connors, 52
- Mary Marshall, 34, who was engaged
- Susan Karnatz, 49, a married mom of three
- Gabriel Torres, 29, a Raleigh police Officer
- James Thompson, 16, a student at Knightdale High School
Two others were also shot and injured. Casey Clark, a 33-year-old Raleigh police senior officer, was released from a local hospital after being treated for a gunshot wound, while 59-year-old Marcille Gardner remains in critical condition.
The suspect is the brother of one of the victims and has suffered a suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but as of Friday is apparently still alive.
While details of the shooting remain under investigation, those victims are being remembered for the love and friendship they brought to those around them.
Marshall’s fiancée, Robert Steele, wrote on Facebook that Marshall was killed while walking their dog.
He wrote, “I don’t know what to do. My world has been completely destroyed.”
Other loved ones also took to Facebook to remember the victims. Tom Karnatz wrote a tribute to his wife, Susan, writing in part, “We had plans together for growing old. Always together. Now those plans are laid to waste.”
Tom Karnatz also said his wife was an avid runner who often ran on the greenway.
“She was a very loving wife and amazing mother to our three sons,” he said through tears when he answered the door at the family’s home Friday. “We’re absolutely heartbroken and miss her dearly.”
Woodrow Glass, a 74-year-old retiree and neighbor of Connors, said he talked to her nearly every day as she walked her small dog.
“She was friendly with everybody in the neighborhood, spoke with everybody … and was really respected here. And we’re going to miss her,” he said.
In a letter to families, Wake County Public Schools System wrote that they’re mourning the loss of 16-year-old James Thompson, a student at Knightdale High School. Thompson’s neighbor, Connors, was remembered by neighbors as being kind.
The entire Raleigh Police force is remembering officer Gabriel Torres, who was killed while on his way to work.
The suspected gunman, a 15-year-old boy, remains in critical condition.
The Hedingham neighborhood, where the shooting began, is a residential area of single-family and townhomes, as well as a golf club.
The Neuse River Greenway, a walking and biking trail, runs just behind houses in the neighborhood. The trail runs about 27 miles along the river and connects to the state’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail that’s popular with thru-hikers. The stretch behind the neighborhood is paved and lies down a grassy slope from the houses.
