NC Mass Shooting: 15-Year-Old Shooter To Be Charged As Adult, DA Says

RALEIGH, NC — The 15-year-old boy accused of killing 5 people and wounding two others in Raleigh on Thursday will likely be tried as an adult, according to multiple reports citing Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman.

The boy, who has not been identified by authorities, was taken into custody hours after he fatally shot two people in a residential area northeast of downtown Raleigh before fleeing to the Neuse River Greenway, a nearby walking trail in the city's Hedingham neighborhood, and shooting several others.

The boy remains hospitalized and in critical condition, Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said at a Friday news conference.

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Freeman told ABC 11 on Friday her office intends to charge the boy as an adult.

"Based on the mass fatality and the violence here, we do intend to seek charges against him as an adult and to proceed to Superior Court with this case," she told the news station.

Under North Carolina law, crimes committed by a 15-year-old are usually adjudicated in juvenile court. But a juvenile court judge must transfer the case to Superior Court for the youth to be tried as an adult if the 15-year-old is accused of first-degree murder and determines there is probable cause that the suspect committed the crime.

Freeman told ABC 11 that the boy has not been served since he was still in the hospital.

"This is the first time we've had this sort of mass shooting in the 25 years I have worked within the criminal justice system, so there's no question for us and the community to know that today, this many people simultaneously woke up without loved ones because of senseless violence," Freeman said. "This is a different kind of case, no doubt about it."

Those killed Thursday range in age from 16 to their late 50s, Patterson said Friday. Off-duty Raleigh police officer Gabriel Torres was among the dead, Patterson confirmed. Torres was on his way to work when the shooting began.

Others killed were Nicole Conners, 52; Mary Marshall, 34; Susan Karnatz, 49, and James Roger Thompson, 16.

Senior Officer Casey Joseph Clark, 33, was shot and sustained non-critical injuries. He was treated and released from the hospital, Patterson said. Marcille Lynn Gardner, 59, was also injured and remains in critical condition.

A Raleigh K-9 officer was also treated for injuries that were non-life-threatening, Patterson said.

In one of several calls obtained by CNN, a caller told dispatchers the shooter was wearing camouflage and "walked by and shot" a police officer "for no reason. Another call reported a "kid running around here with a shotgun" shot a person and "ran back into the woods."

President Joe Biden released a statement Friday addressing the shooting, in which he said, "Enough."

"We’ve grieved and prayed with too many families who have had to bear the terrible burden of these mass shootings," Biden said in the statement. "Too many families have had spouses, parents, and children taken from them forever."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.