Gunman shoots 3 at apartment complex in Westerly, Rhode Island, police say – USA TODAY

A Charlestown Police officer secures the scene of a shooting in Westerly, Rhode Island, on Dec. 19, 2019.

WESTERLY, R.I. – A 66-year-old resident of an assisted-living complex shot and killed one person and wounded two others before taking his own life Thursday morning, prompting area schools and businesses to lock down, police said.

The shooting victims were all women, Westerly Police Chief Shawn Lacey said at a Thursday afternoon press conference. A 47-year-old employee of the residential complex was killed, Lacey said. Two others, a 38-year-old employee and a 67-year-old resident, were wounded.

Lacey provided little information about the suspect but said that he was known to authorities.

“His name was in our system,” Lacey said.

Authorities would not release any names during a midafternoon news conference; families were still being notified.

The 38-year-old employee was in critical condition, Lacey said; she was taken first to Westerly Hospital and was being flown to Yale New Haven Hospital. The 67-year-old resident was taken to Rhode Island Hospital and was in stable condition after surgery.

Lacey said active shooter situations are rare in Westerly, a beach town of about 22,000 people where Taylor Swift owns a mansion.

“It’s a shock to the community … there’s never any serious type of crimes of this nature,” he said. “This is a low-crime community.”

The first call to Westerly police came in at 10:32 a.m. for a single person shot. When police arrived they were able to identify a potential suspect, who was a resident of the complex, by reviewing surveillance footage, Lacey said.

Westerly and state police officers went to the suspect’s room and found him inside dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, state police Supt. Col. James Manni said.

Authorities had initially handcuffed a different person, who is no longer a suspect, Lacey said. Police were not searching for any additional suspects.

All Westerly Public Schools had been placed in lockdown “until further notice,” the school district said earlier in a Facebook post. The lockdown was lifted at about 12:45 p.m., according to the Facebook page.

Christina O’Reilly, a spokeswoman for Rhode Island Hospital, said the hospital received one patient who was still being evaluated. Westerly Hospital spokesman William Hanrahan said one person was being treated there following the incident.

Gov. Gina Raimondo said on Twitter that she was “closely monitoring the situation in Westerly.”

Reports of gunfire had seven workers at a boat repair business next door hiding in their own lockdown. One of them, Tracy Wise, said the workers had gathered at the In Motion Marine Repair for a company Christmas party when “everyone’s phones just started going off” about a shooting at the apartment complex.

“We locked the doors until they caught whoever was out there,” she said.

“It’s a little scary knowing the guy may be running around behind us,” she said. “I don’t like being this close to something like this. We heard all the schools are in lockdown. It is not my time to die.”

Twelve people at the Granite Group, a nearby plumbing and heating store, were also in lockdown, said Bob Santos, a counter salesman.

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/12/19/rhode-island-shooting-3-people-shot-westerly-apartment-complex/2697876001/

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Gunman shoots 3 at apartment complex in Westerly, Rhode Island, police say – USA TODAY

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