Five people were killed, one of them an off-duty police officer, by a gunman who opened fire on them on Thursday in the American city of Raleigh, while the police arrested a suspect, authorities of the capital of the state of North Carolina in the southeastern United States announced.

Mary-Ann Baldwin, the city's mayor, said during a press conference that Raleigh police "confirmed the death of five people, one of them a Raleigh police officer who was off duty."

She added that the attack also resulted in several other people being injured, whose number was not specified, one of whom was critically wounded.

The shooting started around 17:00 (21:00 GMT) on a trail designated for picnics in this city with a population of about half a million, which is the state capital.

Large numbers of security forces were deployed to find the shooter, according to local media.

Robert, one of the witnesses who refused to disclose his last name to the local station WRAL, said, "I saw him pass in front of my house in the park. He was carrying a hunting rifle and wearing clothing similar to army uniforms."

Baldwin explained, "Around 20:00 (00:00 GMT Friday), Raleigh police reported that they had surrounded a suspect in a house in the area,"

and the police tweeted shortly afterward "The suspect has been arrested," with Lieutenant Jason Bruneau clarifying that "he is a young white man."

The mayor of Raleigh said, "We must do more" to eradicate this scourge, adding, "We must put an end to this gratuitous slaughter in the United States. We must act against gun violence. The task before us is immense. And our grief this evening is immense."

The United States often witnesses shootings and other acts of violence linked to firearms, which are considered to have some of the most lenient possession and carrying laws in the world.

About 49,000 people were killed by gunfire in the United States in 2021 compared to 45,000 in 2020. These two figures are the highest ever in the country's history.

This data means that more than 130 people die in the United States every day from gunfire, more than half of them by suicide.

However, mass shootings that claim many victims imprint themselves on minds and show the ideological divide between conservatives and progressives on the issue of preventing these tragedies.

The history of the United States includes a long series of shootings that spare no place from companies to churches, shops, nightclubs, schools, and universities.

A massacre committed at a high school in Florida on February 14, 2018, led to a wide national movement, especially among youth, calling for stricter laws on individual firearm possession in the United States.

But despite more than a million protesters gathering, the U.S. Congress did not pass ambitious legislation, as many of its members are influenced by the National Rifle Association, the largest gun lobby in the country.

Any progress on the legislative front recently remains marginal in a country where millions of citizens consider gun ownership a fundamental constitutional right. Recently, universal background and psychological checks have been imposed for those wishing to own a firearm.