The shooting occurred near the Neuse River Greenway, a popular trail in the area
Police have identified the suspect in a Raleigh, North Carolina mass shooting as a 15-year-old male.
Five people including an off-duty police officer were killed and two were injured in a shooting spree that unfolded Thursday night.
The suspect is in critical condition in hospital.
The shooting occurred in a residential neighbourhood near the Neuse River Greenway, a popular trail on the outskirts of the state capital.
A motive is yet to be established, but Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said the investigation remains ongoing.
“My heart is heavy, because we don’t have answers as to why this tragedy occurred,” Chief Patterson said at a Friday morning news conference.
The shooting broke out just after 17:00 EDT (21:00 GMT) on Thursday night.
Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin later reported that the gunman was being “contained in a residence in the area” by police.
Raleigh police then said the gunman, a “white male juvenile”, was taken into custody.
At least two other people including another police officer were wounded and taken to hospital.
Chief Patterson said the police officer has since been released from hospital, but a 59-year-old remains in critical condition.
A list of the deceased victims was released Friday morning. It includes Raleigh police officer Gabriel Torres, 29, who was killed on his way to work, Chief Patterson said.
The other victims are: Nicole Conners, 53, Susan Karnatz, 49, Mary Marshall, 34, and James Thompson, 16.
Chief Patterson said the shooting spree spanned over two miles. The suspect fired shots at some victims in the streets of the residential neighbourhood before he fled to the Greenway trail, she said, where more victims were shot.
As the shooting unfolded, a nearby elementary school was locked down and two community centers were pre-emptively evacuated, the chief said.
Mass shootings are a constant problem in the US.
More than 34,000 people have died in shootings in the US in 2022, more than half of which were from suicide, according to the Gun Violence Archive website.
At Friday’s press conference, Ms Baldwin, Raleigh’s mayor, said the tragedy has “doubled our determination now to end senseless gun violence that is grips on our country and now on our city”.
“We must stop this mindless violence in America,” said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper after the shooting. “We must address gun violence. We have much to do, and tonight we have much to mourn.”
