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8 dead in US nursing home shooting |
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By: Agencies |
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Date:
2009-03-30 |
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Place: North Carolina |
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Lone gunman kills 8 in nursing home; is the 3rd major US shootout this month
A lone gunman burst into a nursing home on Sunday morning and started "shooting everything", barging into the rooms of terrified patients, sparing some from his rampage without explanation while killing seven residents and a nurse.
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Dealing with carnage: Investigators at the nursing home found a rifle leaning against the side of a Jeep Cherokee. | Authorities said Robert Stewart also wounded three others, including the police officer who confronted him in a hallway of Pinelake Health and Rehab and stopped the brutal attack. It ended when Officer Justin Garner traded gunfire with Stewart in a hallway, wounding the suspect.
Stewart (45) has been charged with eight counts of first-degree murder and a single charge of felony assault of a law enforcement officer. Authorities offered few other details, allowing only that Stewart was not a patient or an employee at the nursing home and isn't believed to be related to any of the victims.
Motive unknown
They were unable to immediately offer a motive for the killings in what was the third major shooting incident in the US this month.
"He just comes in and starts shooting everything around. [He was] shooting at people in wheelchairs," said Senator Harris Blake, of Moore County, relating the story told by the police.
Those killed at the nursing home in Carthage, which offered care for the elderly and Alzheimer's sufferers, included seven patients in their 70s, 80s and 90s, and one 39-year-old staff member, officials said.
Six of the victims died at the scene and two died of their injuries in the hospital.
Authorities refused to reveal where the surviving residents had been taken.
Carthage is a small town of roughly 1,800 people, an area popular among retirees. |
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