Woman killed in Raleigh shooting; home searched

A police spokesman said the shooting happened just before 9 a.m. at the Meridian at Wakefield apartments, at 11501 Colbert Creek Loop.

The woman was later identified as Agata Filipska Vellotti, 43.

He did not provide further details, including a motive or whether anyone had been arrested in the case.

Based on a witness account, however, a man believed to have killed his wife was taken into custody at the Raleigh Police Department's Downtown District substation sometime after 10 a.m.

The woman, who did not want to be identified, said she was in the police station lobby Thursday morning when a dozen officers converged on the area and were talking about how they were waiting for a man who had killed his wife to surrender.

She said she was ushered into a storage area as a safety precaution until the man was detained. When she was able to return to the lobby, the woman said, she heard officers talking about transporting the man to WakeMed because he complained of chest pains.

WRAL News video captured emergency workers placing a man in an ambulance.

A silver 2007 Lexus sedan, similar to one police were looking for in connection with the shooting, sat outside the police station and had been cordoned off by crime scene tape by 11 a.m.

By late morning, police were searching a home at 2728 Kinsley Place in Raleigh – the same address listed on the vehicle registration of the Lexus.

Neighbors on Kinsley Place, about 7 miles away from the Meridian apartment complex, identified the owner of the car as Vellotti's husband, Mario Vellotti, who lives at the address with his adult son.

The neighbors said Vellotti's wife moved out of the home about six weeks ago and that the couple had a volatile relationship. One neighbor said the wife recently contacted Interact of Wake County, a nonprofit that offers counseling, education, support and shelter for victim of domestic violence.

The shooting, which happened near Capital Boulevard and New Falls of Neuse Road, prompted a brief lockdown of five nearby schools – North Forest Pines, Forest Pines and Wakefield elementary schools, along with Wakefield Middle School and Wakefield High School.

A Wake County Public School System spokesman said the lockdown was only a security precaution and that no one at the schools was injured.