RALEIGH, N.C. — Family and friends of Mary Marshall, a Navy veteran who was killed in the Oct. 13 mass shooting in east Raleigh’s Hedingham neighborhood, gathered Saturday for a memorial service.
A bugler played taps, and a flag was presented to grieving family members in Dix Park near downtown. Speakers, including Marshall’s fiancé, Robert Steele, recalled her contagious laughter and her inspiration to others.
“She faced life’s challenges head-on,” Steele told dozens seated on folding wooden chairs laid out neatly on the grass under a cloudy sky. “She faced everything head-on.”
Marshall, 34, and Steele had chosen Saturday as their wedding date before Marshall was gunned down while walking her dog along the Neuse River Greenway Trail, her sister told NBC.
Police say the shooter was a 15-year-old boy, who has been identified by his family as Austin Thompson. The suspect’s older brother, James Thompson, 16, was among the five fatally shot that Thursday evening.
Nicole Connors, Susan Karnatz and Gabriel Torres, a Raleigh police officer, were also killed.
A service for Connors, a native of Dayton, Ohio, was conducted last Thursday in her hometown. Services for Torres and Karnatz were Oct. 22.
The teen suspect remains in hospital. Police have not yet identified a motive in the shooting.