A gunman opened fire at a North Carolina nursing home Sunday morning, killing at least eight people and wounding several others, police said. The gunman was also injured before he was apprehended by police after the 10 A.M. shooting at Pinelake Health and Rehab in the town of Carthage, Carthage Police Chief Chris McKenzie told television stations. A police officer was also hurt. Sen. Harris Blake of Moore County said the gunman “comes in and just starts shooting everything around.” He said sheriff's officials told him six people were killed at the scene and two died later at a hospital in nearby Pinehurst. Gretchen Kelly, spokeswoman at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, said six people were brought to the hospital from the nursing home about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southwest of Raleigh. Kelly said two of the injured died at the hospital and two other patients had been discharged, while two were still being treated. She would not release further details on the injuries or conditions of those hospitalized. McKenzie said the gunman was not a patient at the nursing home, but did not offer any further details on what the gunman's motive might have been. A nursing home Web site said the facility that opened in 1993 has 110 beds, including 20 for those with Alzheimer's disease. Calls to the nursing home by The Associated Press rang unanswered Sunday, and McKenzie and several state law enforcement agencies did not immediately return messages or declined to comment. Police planned a news conference for later Sunday afternoon. Carthage is a small town of roughly 1,800 people in the North Carolina Sandhills, an area popular among retirees and home to several noted golf courses, including the famed Pinehurst resort and its No. 2 course that regularly hosts the US Open.
