WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (AFP) - Five people including an off-duty police officer were shot dead on Thursday, prompting a massive manhunt that shut down part of the North Carolina capital of Raleigh and resulted in the suspect being "contained," Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said.

At least two other people including a police officer were wounded and taken to hospital, Baldwin told a news conference.

"We must stop this mindless violence in America," Baldwin said, without providing many details about the shooting spree.

The suspected shooter was thought to be a white teenage male with a long gun, ABC News affiliate WTVD reported, adding no one had been taken into custody yet but that the suspect had been cornered in a garage by authorities.

There were multiple crime scenes associated with the active shooting situation, the report added.

Helicopter video from WRAL-TV showed more than a dozen emergency vehicles lined up on a road through a wooded area.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said he spoke to Baldwin and was deploying state resources to assist at the scene.