Alleged Raleigh shooter, 15, could be charged as adult in mass shooting
Sources tell WRAL News that 15-year-old Austin Thompson is the person hospitalized, suspected of killing five people and injuring two others in the Oct. 13 shooting spree in an east Raleigh neighborhood.
Thompson on Monday remains hospitalized in critical condition at WakeMed. Sources tell WRAL News that Austin Thompson has multiple injuries, including a gunshot wound to the head.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said that if Thompson survives, she expects he would be charged as an adult, despite his age.
"In consideration of the mass number of lives lost, it’s appropriate that this case be handled in Superior Court and this individual prosecuted as an adult."
One of the victims was James Roger Thompson, Austin's 16-year-old brother, who was a junior at Knightdale High School. The school yearbook shows Austin was a sophomore.
Classes were held Friday, but Friday night's homecoming football game was rescheduled to 6:30 p.m. Monday. Other homecoming activities will take place Oct. 28.
According to sources and property records, the brothers lived on Sahalee Way in the Hedingham subdivision. By 5 p.m. Friday, a single home there remained surrounded by crime scene tape.
Throughout the day, investigators carried out bags of evidence from the home.
Neighbors who were also classmates of the suspect told WRAL News they didn't see any red flags prior to Thursday's shootings.
A day after the shooting, WRAL News talked with two people believed to be family members of the suspected shooter through phone calls and texts.
The woman on the phone was asked if she was the mother of the suspected shooter and one of the victims. She wouldn't answer that question and then hung up.
Before she did, she told WRAL News they were heading home when they heard about the shooting. First through a Facebook group for the Hedingham neighborhood and then a neighbor who reached out.
Later, over text, that woman said she'd been at the hospital and they'd heard about the jogger who was shot dead. The woman said "it's a nightmare."
She also said, "Because this is a criminal case, you will need to go through our lawyer."
However, she was unable to provide contact information.
WRAL News called another family member, a man, and asked him clearly - was one of his sons the shooting suspect? And was one of his sons a victim who was killed?
To both questions, he replied, "That's what I've been told."
When WRAL News followed up later to get contact information for a lawyer he replied, "I have no comment."
WRAL News also asked the woman if they had anything they wanted to say to the shooting victims' families and if doctors believe their son, the suspected shooter Austin Thompson, would survive.
She said, "Depends on what lawyers suggest we do, of course, we want to say something to the victims' families."
Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said the initial shooting occurred in the streets of the neighborhood before the shooter ran onto the Neuse River greenway, where more people were shot.
Over the course of an hours-long search, law enforcement tracked Austin Thompson to an outbuilding on a property about six miles from his home and took him into custody.
Five people were killed and two injured in the shooting spree, although the timeline is not yet clear. The victims are: Gabriel Torres, 29, a Raleigh police officer, James Thompson, brother of the suspect, Nicole Conners, 52; Mary Marshall, 34, and Susan Karnatz, 49.
In addition to the five people killed, two others were were injured. One of them was a Raleigh police officer, who was treated and released from the hospital. Marcielle Gardner, 59, was still at WakeMed on Friday in critical condition.
"He had to be between 13 and 16, max," said a witness who saw the shooter. "He was a child. You just don't imagine things like that. You hear about school shootings and stuff, but to really see something like that in your neighborhood is just ..."
Neighbors were shaken. A man named Robert, a Hedingham resident, told WRAL News that he called 911 around 5 p.m.
"I heard two gunshots, and they were really loud so I knew something was close by, and then I heard three other gunshots," he said. "I saw him basically pass my house in the backyard. He had a long-barrel shotgun. He was dressed in camo. He had a full backpack on that was also camouflage."
Although witnesses described a long gun, police have not said what kind of weapon the shooter used or where he got it. Their investigation of the incident is ongoing.
"Tonight, terror has reached our doorstep," said Gov. Roy Cooper, who spoke Thursday at a news conference at Raleigh City Hall. "The nightmare of every community has come to Raleigh. This is a senseless, horrific and infuriating act of violence that has been committed."
