Washington  - A man who went on a shooting rampage at a small-town nursing home in North Carolina was apprehended by a local police officer who stormed the facility of his own accord, police said Monday.

Seven elderly people and a nurse were killed Sunday in the shooting at a health and rehabilitation centre that has shaken the tiny town of Carthage in the US state of North Carolina.

The dead included six women and a man, aged 78 to 98, and a male nurse who worked at the centre, which cares for elderly and sufferers of Alzheimer's, Carthage officials said.

Police on Monday said the ex-wife of the alleged shooter, identified as 45-year-old Robert Stewart, may have worked at the facility, though she apparently was not there at the time.

Carthage Police Officer Justin Garner, 25, was the first to respond to the scene and decided to go after the shooter on his own.

Garner apparently charged the home and raced towards the sound of the gunfire coming from deep inside the facility. He confronted Stewart, wounding the gunman and was shot himself in the process.

"He will hopefully someday realize how many lives he actually saved," Chris McKenzie, the Carthage police chief, said in a press conference, noting that many more could have died if Garner had waited for backup to arrive.

"I don't think you could classify anything yesterday other than heroic," McKenzie said.

Garner and another three injured in the shooting were recovering in a nearby hospital. All of the injured were in stable condition, McKenzie said.

A memorial service was to be held Thursday in the town of 1,870 people, McKenzie said.

"This is a small community built on faith and faith will get us through," McKenzie said. "I don't know that the emotion has fully set in."

Police said Stewart forced his way into the facility around 10 am Sunday morning and opened fire. He faces charges on eight counts of first degree murder, McKenzie said.

The Pinelake Health and Rehab houses about 100 people with special needs, many suffering from Alzheimer's.

Carthage is about 100 kilometres from Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina. (dpa)