An onslaught of shootings, murders and unsolved cases brought 2007 to a deadly end. Will 2008 take a turn for the better?
DECEMBER 30, CUMBERLAND COUNTY: Fayetteville police investigate a double shooting that happened Sunday night in a Food Lion parking lot. One man died at the hospital and another man was listed in critical condition, police said. Their names were not released. The shooting happened at 7071 Raeford Road. A person fled the scene, but police did not have a description of the person.
DECEMBER 30, HARNETT COUNTY: A 21-year-old man was recovering after getting attacked in his own yard in Spring Lake Saturday night. Harnett County deputies said the victim, Servando Vargas, was stabbed several times. Juan Martin Carrillo Lira, 21, and Epitacio Ibarra, 46, were both arrested. Lira was charged with attempted first degree murder. Ibarra was charged with felony aiding and abetting, attempted first degree murder and conspiracy to first degree murder. His bond was set at $500,000. Both were being held in the Harnett County Detention Center. Deputies have not determined a motive for the stabbing.
DECEMBER 29, DURHAM COUNTY: A 16-year-old was the victim of a shooting in Durham Saturday afternoon. Police on Sunday identified the teen as Jalani Ferril of Durham. "According to investigators, the shooting does not appear to be random. No charges have been filed at this time,” according to a police news release sent Sunday evening. Officers responded to the shooting call in the 100 block of Roberson Street shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday. When they arrived, they found Jalani lying on the road. He was taken to Duke University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Two males were seen running from the scene, police said. No further details were available.
DECEMBER 29, DURHAM COUNTY: Officers responded to the break-in call in the 500 block of Holloway Street at 5:54 p.m. on Saturday. Officers were told that the people inside the house were armed with guns. When police arrived, they found two males in a Ford Taurus parked behind the house. A third male, who was armed with a gun, came out of the house and dropped the gun when ordered to do so by officers. The males in the Taurus then attempted to leave, police said. The Taurus struck one officer in the leg and then, according to initial reports, the driver drove toward a second officer in a driveway. Police fired shots at the vehicle, but the driver fled down Holloway Street to Morgan Street. The Taurus struck an Isuzu SUV near Mangum Street, causing it to flip over and collide with a Honda Accord. The driver of the Taurus was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. He had not been positively identified Sunday night, and the cause of death had not been determined.
DECEMBER 28, WAKE COUNTY: A Raleigh man was stabbed to death for apparently spilling beer on another man at a Raleigh nightclub, the victim's father said Friday. "Evidently, Daniel bumped into this guy and beer spilled on this guy, and this guy was very angry about that," said Andre Smith, whose son, Daniel Dietmar Smith, 21, died at WakeMed early Friday morning. Police said Daniel Smith was stabbed at about 2:15 a.m. at West Side Stories, 200 S. West St., following an argument with Wallace Reynold Bass Jr. Bass, who was at the nightclub celebrating his 24th birthday, was detained at the scene and later charged with murder. He was being held Friday night at the Wake County Jail without bond.
DECEMBER 28, CUMBERLAND COUNTY: Police search for three men in connection with the shooting death of a Fayetteville man. Bobby Eugene Clemmons, 23, was left at the emergency entrance to Highsmith Rainey Hospital on Dec. 19 after being shot, and he later died, police said. Police recovered the vehicle they believe Clemmons was in when he was dropped off at the hospital. The black Kia was located near Fordham Drive. The location where the shooting occurred hasn't yet been determined, police said. David William Covington, 23, of 204 Brinkley St., was arrested Thursday and charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, conspiracy to commit murder and shooting into an occupied vehicle. He was being held in the Cumberland County Detention Center on a $210,000 secured bond. Police were searching for the following men in the case: Larry Donnell Everett, 23, of 1110 Clark St.; Kajuan Kenneth Toles, 24, of 827-A Orange St.; and Ricky Lavelle Martin Jr., 19, of 289 Ingram St.
DECEMBER 27, SAMPSON COUNTY: A 37-year-old woman who was found dead on the back steps of her Sampson County house recently lost her fiance in a traffic wreck. Beverly M. Honeycutt was shot in the face and left to die outside her home at 214 Mathis Road, a quiet, two-lane country road near Clinton, said her mother, Susie Stone. "There is no way to describe what it did to me when I saw her lying there," Stone said. "I really don't know what happened." Honeycutt was visiting her mother Thursday night and headed home shortly after 8 p.m., Stone said. A friend who was supposed to accompany Honeycutt to small-claims court Friday morning went to check on her about three hours later when she didn't answer the phone. "He said, 'Miss Susie, I'm in her yard and her car door is open, and she's lying on the door steps and she's all bloody,'" Stone said. "He went all to pieces." Honeycutt's fiance, a trucker, was killed in a wreck about three weeks before Christmas. A gold chain he was wearing when he died lay on the brick steps next to her body. Sampson County Sheriff's Office investigators wouldn't confirm that Honeycutt was shot, saying only that there was obvious trauma to her head. The body has been sent to the State Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy. Investigators said there was no sign Honeycutt had been robbed.
DECEMBER 26, WAKE COUNTY: Wake County deputies are keeping tight-lipped about a death investigation. Deputies responded to a home on Brackenridge Lane near Fuquay-Varina around 11 a.m. Wednesday and found a person dead. Investigators have not released the person’s name, age or sex. The body has been sent to the medical examiner's office to determine the cause of death.
DECEMBER 26, WAKE COUNTY: Garner police are investigating an early-Saturday drive-by shooting in which two people were injured. The shooting happened at about 12:20 a.m. on Brookstone Court near Seventh Avenue. Bravette Crisp and Jarrell Walters, both 17, of Garner, were taken to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Investigators do not have any suspects.
DECEMBER 25, DURHAM COUNTY: At 2:14 a.m. on December 25, officers were dispatched to a traffic accident in the southbound lanes of the freeway. When they arrived, they found a 1992 white Lincoln Town Car pinned against a guardrail. Officers found a bullet hole in the car and realized that the driver – Jalil Stokes, 21, of North Elizabeth Street – had been shot. Stokes was taken to Duke University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. Investigators have not established a motive and no charges have been filed.
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