8 killed in attack on US nursing home

A heavily-armed gunman shot dead eight people, many elderly and infirm patients, in a North Carolina nursing home Sunday, authorities said, announcing that the shooter was in custody.
They identified the alleged gunman as 45-year-old Robert Stewart, but shed no light on why he went on a shooting spree at the Pine Lake nursing home in Carthage, North Carolina, a village of just 2,000 people.
"This morning a lone gunman came to the Pine Lake nursing home in Carthage and as a result of his actions today, he is facing eight counts of first degree murder," said Maureen Krueger, the Moore county district attorney.
She said the victims included a 98-year-old patient, four victims in their 80s, two in their 70s, and a nurse.
The killings stunned tiny Carthage, the seat of a bucolic south central North Carolina county. Officials said at a press conference that the town has a police force of 18, just two of whom were on duty at the time of the violence.
Carthage police chief Chris McKenzie said he had never encountered anything like in 20 years as a police officer.
"I don't know that the emotion has entirely set in," McKenzie said. "This is a small community built on faith and faith will get us through."
He said the Red Cross and the county department of social services and mental health were providing help to families of the victims and the staff of the nursing home, and the town's First Baptist Church had opened its doors to those affected by the tragedy.
The first calls to the police emergency line came in at 10:03 am reporting that a shooting was underway at Pine Lake, a 90-bed rehabilitation, nursing and Alzehimer's care facility.
Krueger said police responded and one of the officers, Justin Garner, acted "in nothing short of a heroic way today. But for his actions we certainly could have had a worse tragedy."
At least six people were taken to the First Health Moore Regional Hospital, where two died, a hospital spokeswoman said. Two of the injured were treated and released, two others were hospitalised, said Emily Sloan.
The carnage is the latest to rock small town America, which often has borne the brunt of outbursts of gun violence, but where many inhabitants fiercely advocate the right to own and carry guns.
Earlier this month, a 28-year-old out of work man killed 10 people, including his mother and a toddler, in a shooting rampage through two counties in the southern state of Alabama, the worst in the state's history.
In December, a man dressed in a Santa suit opened fire at a Christmas party being given by his ex-wife in Covina, California, killing nine people before shooting himself.
In October, an ex-convict opened fire with an assault rifle at a man and two children who had come to trick or treat at his home in Sumter, South Carolina on Halloween. A 12-year-old boy died of his wounds in that incident.
In September, a mentally ill man shot eight people, killing six, in Alger, Washington a month after being released from prison.
There are constant calls for US gun laws, tied to the second amendment of the US Constitution guaranteeing the right to bear arms, to be re-examined.
But they stumble in face of opposition from the powerful gun lobby, led by the National Rifle Association.