A teenage boy wearing camouflage and toting a rifle shot and killed five people on October 13, 2022, including an off-duty Raleigh police officer. Who were the Raleigh shooting victims?
The victims’ names were released by Raleigh police: Nicole Connors, 52, Susan Karnatz, 49, Mary Marshall, 35, James Thompson, 16, and off-duty Raleigh Police Officer Gabriel Torres, 29.
The suspect is Austin Thompson, 15, James Thompson’s brother.
Sue Karnatz was described as a married mother of three boys who loved life and nature. Marshall was shot and killed while walking her dog. Connors was described by her husband as a loving caregiver.
The 15-year-old suspect has not been identified because he is a juvenile. He is in critical condition. The motive is not clear. Marcielle Gardner, 59, is in critical condition. A second police officer was also injured but did not suffer life-threatening injuries.
Here’s what you need to know about each victim. We are adding photos and bios as they become known.
On Facebook, Susan Karnatz, known as Sue Butler Karnatz, shared photos of running, nature, and pets.
Sue Butler Karnatz’s sister wrote a moving tribute on Facebook.
We are heartbroken. My beautiful sister’s life ended yesterday because of this tragedy.
Sue Butler Karnatz was a wife, a mom to 3 boys, a daughter, a niece, a confidante, an ultrarunner, a reader, an advocate, and so much more. She loved life and nature, and had the most gentle of hearts, protecting even the stray bug that made its way into her house.
She loved her family fiercely and there is a big hole there now.
I could be my true self with her, and when we got together, we’d revert to childhood mode sometimes, laughing until one of us cried (usually her).
As her husband said, there are memories now where once there were plans – big plans, small plans, mundane plans. As is the case for so many who lose loved ones too soon, the tragedy seems so very senseless, and I just can’t understand it. Although we live in different cities, I am already facing countless ways that I’ll feel her absence every day.
As I lay awake – as I have all night – I know that this loss is one of many yesterday, affecting so many people. Profoundly. Other families are aching just as we are.
Thanks for reading and letting me share a glimpse of my sister with you. Please remember her with me. ♥️
A woman wrote on Facebook, “Just found out that one of the victims from last nights tragedy was a sweet sweet lady that i went to high school with. Susan Butler Karnatz. Athens Drive peeps this is soooo sad!!! Sending thoughts and prayers to her family. Unbelievable the violence in todays world.”
Mary Marshall, 35
Robert Steele wrote on Facebook, “The love of my life, Mary Marshall, was killed last night by a cowardly individual. She was shot while walking our dog. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to do. My world has been completely destroyed.”
According to CNN, her sister Meaghan McCrickard said Marshall was walking her dog, Scruff, “when she heard gunshots in the area.” She called her fiance to say she was returning to the house but never made it.
They were due to be married at the end of October.
“She was my hero despite being my younger sister,” McCrickard told CNN.
“We want to take this unimaginable opportunity to beg our local, national, and country leaders to finally step up and do something about gun control. Being a leader is about leading and making decisions that benefit, support and keep our country safe. How many times do we have to hear our leaders say, ‘We’re sorry’ and ‘Something must be done?’ We demand action.”
Nicole Connors, 52
The husband of Nicole Connors, one of the victims of the Raleigh shooting, told me his wife was a caring person who always “looked out for” others.
“I always thought it would be me to go before she went,” he said.
Nicole Connors’ husband Tracey Howard told NBC News that his wife was a “caregiver.”
She worked in human resources but left the job to help care for her mother who had a stroke, NBC News reported.
Connors knew how to “take charge of everything” to help loved ones, Howard told NBC. She made sure “I took care of myself” he said.
Officer Gabriel Torres, 29
Raleigh Police Officer Gabriel Torres lived in the Hedingham neighborhood. He was about to head into work yesterday when a 15-year-old gunman shot and killed him. The 29-year-old officer leaves behind a wife & 2-year-old daughter. @WRAL
Police said that Torres was a Raleigh police officer for 18 months.
He was a former Marine based in Florida, achieving the rank of sergeant, according to the News and Observer.
The newspaper reported that Torres was married with one child.
The Raleigh Police Protective Association posted a statement about Torres on Facebook:
We ask all of you to please pray and keep in your thoughts Officer Torres and the other victims of this senseless act of evil. We are thankful and proud of the courageous response of members of the Raleigh Police Department, Wake County Sheriffs Office, State Highway Patrol, NC ALE and State Capitol Police who successfully took the suspect into custody. We are committed to Officer Torres’s family and are in the process of setting up fundraising efforts that are approved and authorized by the family.
The group shared a GoFundMe page to help Torres’s family.
James Thompson, 16
FacebookJames Thompson (l) and Austin Thompson (r)
One of the deceased victims was James Thompson 16. According to WRAL-TV, he was Austin Thompson’s brother. James Roger Thompson was a junior at Knightdale High School, WRAL reported.