Deputies: Shooting leaves 3 dead, including suspect

CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — Three people are dead -- including the suspect -- after a shooting involving four people Wednesday, Cabarrus County sheriff's deputies told Channel 9.

IMAGES: Scene of 3 shot, 2 dead in Cabarrus County

Chief Deputy Paul Hunt said the suspect, 29-year-old Reginald Mercer, was found dead inside a home Wednesday near a crime scene on Shiloh Church Road. Hunt said it appeared that he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

PRESS CONFERENCE: Cabarrus Co. Deputy Chief says person of interest found dead

Investigators said they were working three different crime scenes and are not looking for anybody else in connection with the shooting.

Jackson said her daughter Tina Carter had been shot inside the house and was unresponsive.

[ CHOPPER 9: SWAT team enters Cabarrus Co. home after deputies said 3 shot ]

Deputies arrived at a home on Shiloh Church Road around 1 p.m. Wednesday and found an injured woman-- Brenda Jackson -- running out of the house.

Investigators said they also found Albert Jackson Sr. shot to death in the back seat of a vehicle behind the home.

SWAT teams surrounded and entered the house. When they didn’t find Mercer, they launched a search for him. A North Carolina Highway Patrol helicopter was called in to aid in the search.

Investigators put school buses on alert and re-routed them away from the scene. Two schools, W.R. Odell Elementary and Harris Road Middle, were briefly placed on lockdown at 1:10 p.m. The lockdown was lifted around 1:30 p.m.

Channel 9 learned that Mercer, a registered sex offender, had a criminal history. Family members of the victims told Channel 9 that Mercer had recently been mentored by one of the victims, Albert Jackson Sr., who was trying to get Mercer back on track.

Deputies said Brenda Jackson was taken to the hospital and is cooperating with authorities investigating the incident. She suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Family members said Brenda Jackson is Mercer's mother. Mercer's sister and Brenda Jackson's daughter, Tina Carter, was found dead inside the home. Family members also said Albert Jackson Sr., who was found dead in the vehicle, was also related.

"He was with him every day like a father-son-type thing," Anthony George Jackson, Albert's son, said. "He helped him, took him places."

"I'm just stunned," Albert Jackson Jr., Albert's son, said. "I don't know what to think."

The investigation is still ongoing and authorities have not determined a cause of the incident.

Chilling 911 calls released

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