'The nightmare of every community has come to Raleigh:' Data shows 17 mass shootings in NC so far this year

Congress has defined a "mass killing" as three or more killings in a single incident that occur in a public place. It is a definition written into U.S. law in 2013. While there is no similar shared understanding of a "mass shooting" across law enforcement agencies, the media and the public, there is little doubt that the deaths of five people and injuries to several others on Thursday in Raleigh qualify.

"The nightmare of every community has come to Raleigh," Gov. Roy Cooper said in response.

Chief of Police Estella Patterson said a 15-year-old opened fire in the streets of the Hedingham neighborhood and an adjacent greenway Thursday afternoon.

Five people died, and they were identified by police as off-duty Raleigh police officer, Gabriel Torres, 29, who was on his way to work when he was shot; James Roger Thompson, 16, a junior at Knightdale High School; Nicole Conners, 52; Susan Karnatz, 49; and Mary Marshall, 34.

Two others were injured. Marcille Gardner, 59, was fighting for her life at WakeMed on Friday morning, and Raleigh police officer Casey Clark, 33, was treated and released from the hospital.

The Raleigh shooting was the latest in a violent week across the country. Five people were killed Sunday in a shooting at a home in Inman, S.C. Two police officers were fatally shot Wednesday night in Connecticut after apparently being drawn into an ambush by an emergency call about possible domestic violence. Police officers have been shot this week in Greenville, Miss.; Decatur, Ill.; Philadelphia, Las Vegas and central Florida. Two of those officers, one in Greenville and one in Las Vegas, were killed.

In a statement Friday, President Joe Biden said he and First Lady Jill Biden are grieving with victims' families, and his administration is working closely with Cooper to help local authorities with their investigation.

“We are thinking of yet another community shaken and shattered as they mourn the loss of friends and neighbors, including an off-duty police officer,” he said, adding: “Enough. We’ve grieved and prayed with too many families who have had to bear the terrible burden of these mass shootings."

The Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit that tracks gun violence across the country, shows 532 mass shootings in 2022, incidents in which four or more people were shot or killed, not including the shooter. Seventeen of those events have happened in North Carolina; 14 people have died in mass shootings in the state, and 68 have been injured.