Our experts on parenting, frugal living and the best that the Triangle has to offer have scoured their sources and shopped the stores (and the internet) for the best suggestions for your holiday giving. No matter the age or interest, you'll find gift ideas here.

WRAL 2023 Holiday Gift Guide

Health care experts from the NC Navigator Consortium answered questions about who is eligible under Medicaid expansion, what it covers, how to apply and much more Tuesday afternoon.  

Medicaid and more: Navigators answer questions to get you the best health coverage

Medicaid call-in Dec. 5, 2023

Two more people were charged Tuesday with murder in the shooting death of a 19-year-old at Green Road Park in Raleigh on Nov. 19.



<b>RALEIGH, N.C.</b> — Two more people were charged Tuesday with murder in the <a href="https://www.wral.com/story/19-year-old-shot-killed-in-raleigh-park-two-17-year-olds-in-custody/19986465/">shooting death of a 19-year-old</a> at Green Road Park in Raleigh on Nov. 19.

Darrell Jaquan Barnes, 20, and Darius Lamar Jackson, 22, were charged in connection with the death of Miguel Bejaran.

Darrell Jaquan Barnes, 20, was charged with murder in the Nov. 17 shooting death of a 19-year-old at Green Road Park in Raleigh. 

Darrell Jaquan Barnes

Bejaran was found shot in the parking lot near the basketball court, next to Green Road Community Center. Green Road Park is off Capital Boulevard and Calvary Drive, about 3 miles south of Triangle Town Center.

Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson discusses a fatal shooting at a local park during a news conference.

the rally public affairs and I'd like to welcome you all today. The chief is going to make a few remarks today about um some recent crimes and we have some people from the department as well as Parks Representative from parks and recreation and the N double A cp. So I will turn it over to you too. Thank you. Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Um, with me today as laura stated some members of my team but also to make sure that I recognized Gerald Givens who's with the Raleigh apex N double A Cp. He's the president of the N double A cp and also ken Hitler from parking rex. So last night, many of you know that a young man lost his life at Green Road Park after meeting up with some individuals in the park, although a senseless act of violence. And certainly we extend our condolences to the family in this incident. But with the help of one, I'm sorry on point security company, our officers were able to quickly detained two individuals which led to two arrests in this case. Now, our detectives worked extremely hard overnight and through the night and into the day to be able to piece the case together. And although this investigation is ongoing, we are very happy that two arrests have been made. Those who live in this neighborhood can feel assured that we have those individuals responsible for this last night's incident as well as some of the other violent incidents that we have seen, really highlights the need for all of us to be extremely vigilant during this time, especially as we enter into the holiday season where historically we see rise in crime. I have told you that addressing violent crime is a priority for me and for the last three months, my team and I have been very intentional about analyzing crime data to determine the most effective strategies to target and prevent violence. And some of this includes I'd like to share with you today. Firstly, we have been really increasing our patrols in our visibility in our neighborhoods and our communities, particularly those locations where we're seeing crime and high violence on our nightclubs. Also our sweepstakes locations also too, we're continuing to prioritize our offenders. Looking at those priority offenders, those violent offenders. I'll set it, I said it before and I'll say it again, if you commit violent crime in our city, we are coming after you. We're not going to be tolerable. We have also prioritize our investigation of cases involving firearms because nearly half of the aggravated assaults that we have experienced this year have included a firearm. And we are working very closely with the D. A. S. Office to prioritize these cases and to make sure that we give attention to them. Now speaking of firearms, I'm very pleased to share that. We have confiscated 783 firearms across our city year to date. This is a 38% increase over last year this time. And while we continue to address incidents of violence in our community, I want to stress the importance of the community's health. We cannot do this alone and I'm so happy to learn that even in last night's case we were able to get some witness of independent witness information that help us leave. That led to those two arrests. This is the kind of cooperation and collaboration we want to see with our community. So we're asking our community continue to be involved, continue to call us. If you have information. If you know what is occurring in your neighborhood around crime, please let us know And we always encourage you to call crime stoppers at (919) 834 4357. One of the things that's disturbing to me is that we're seeing more cases involving juvenile victims and suspects we continue to partner with youth groups in our area and programs to provide meaningful alternatives to crime for our youth. But we know that is an area that we need more help in and today with me is Gerald Givens. Um he as the head of the N double A Cp has been doing some proactive things in that area. So I'm gonna ask Gerald he doesn't mind just coming up um and talk a little bit about some of those initiatives in those programs that he is leading. Good afternoon, everybody, you know we have been noticing the exact same thing that the chief and the R. P. D. Has noticed And we began uh to put together a bulletin that we distributed to all of the legislators and the General Assembly on October 26 and partnership with the North Carolina Council of Churches, Mom's rising. Um North Carolinians against gun violence, Moms demand action. And we delivered those stacks about gun violence in north Carolina as well as in America as a whole. Next week we're gonna be meeting with the chief and some of the other law enforcement officers in that area as well as with some of the elected officials about creating community violence intervention programs that will help us in our community with an emphasis on our youth and in december will be probably having another press conference. But we'll be announcing exactly what that program is in partnership with everyone. I've also encouraged our team in the N. A. A. C. P. To get more active with our academic, cultural, technological and scientific olympics which is called axle most of those kids out there, they know about uh Lauryn Hill and Anthony Anderson when all of them went through the N. A. A. C. P. Axl program before they became stars. And so we want to make sure that we that we're giving the Children who are talented in our community an opportunity to participate in those things as well. The last thing that I will say is that my heart goes out to these three families, the family of the young man who's passed and the families of the two young men who were allegedly involved in this situation. That's the true calculation that we're dealing with here families and communities and we'll be right by the chief side and the rest of the community to make sure that we'll say thank you for that Gerald. And this is exactly the kind of collaboration that we're talking about us coming together with other nonprofits, other groups and entities in our community that wants to invest in our community to make sure that we are safe. So as we move into the colder weather and this time of season, I want to just leave some tips with you if I can or the community firstly because it's getting cold and it's so easy for us to leave our vehicles running. We want to warm it up so that when we get in the car we feel nice and cozy. I stress and I urge you please not to do that. That is an opportunity for somebody to steal that vehicle also to please don't leave your valuables in your car. If you must leave your valuables, please make sure that they are secure and they are out of sight. But again, we ask you not to leave valuables in your vehicles, particularly firearms. We have seen a rise in firearms being stolen out of vehicles. So please do not leave them in your car. Also too, as we're having shorter daylight. If you have to be out after dark, please do not be alone, make sure that you are with somebody travel in groups as much as possible. And lastly, please be very aware and vigilant of your surroundings. We want to prevent crime at all measures and so we're just asking the community's help in doing that, just do things that are smart in this time to prevent violence from occurring alright with that. I'll take a few questions, I will tell you, I have a few meetings that I have to get to, so just a few questions if there are any. Yes, ma'am. Hi there Amanda Lamm wre l are you looking for any other potential suspects right now? We have the two under arrest but the investigation is ongoing. If we get information that there might be someone else involved, then we will certainly follow that lead. Um I do want to say also to last night and I might may have already said it again, we were, the community is stepping up in a way that is just amazing to bring information to us, We're so happy with that and we want to continue to encourage that. Yes, no, there are right now, would it be Yeah, absolutely. So we are, we are running a very robust recruitment campaign at this time. We are looking at many of our community colleges and other areas that we can recruit from one of the things that Raleigh Police Department has not historically done is allow those who have graduated from the basic law enforcement training to enter into our abbreviated academy. They had to go through the entire academy. Well, we we have altered that a little bit where they can go through our modified academy so that we can get those officers on the street quickly. So that's one of the efforts on one of the changes that we have made and will continue to push that. We will continue to ask if anybody's interested in being a police officer we are hiring, please go to our website. Um and we look forward to that. What do you attribute the increase in the number of violent crimes involving young people too? I think there's it's a combination of things. Um I think one of the thing is coming out of this pandemic, um we're still having students that are doing online classes. They're not back in school completely, so that gives them a lot of time, Their their idol, they're out and about their out in the evening. There's not enough events to keep them occupied and that's why it's so important that we do these partnerships as mr Gibbins talked about and also to some of the others that were involved in with the boys and Girls club, so that we can find meaningful things for young people to do to keep them out of trouble. She posing out here last night. We're in this park. I do not know the exact location. Um I don't know. I think it was in this general area right here. We're pretty close to where the crime scene was last night. So yeah, it occurred here in the parking lot close to the building is where it occurred. Any idea a motive for why this happened, what these teens were doing out here around 7:30 last night? Were they leaving the center playing basketball or any idea that you can give us? We don't have all the information to that because again, it's an ongoing investigation when we're able to release that we're reaching. Uh huh. Well, we have time for today. Thank you so much. Thank you all for being here. I appreciate your support. Oh yeah.

Chad Flowers

Matthew Burns

Police chief discusses shooting at Raleigh park

Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson

Two 17-year-olds were also charged in the shooting, but their names have been withheld because they are underage. Police said their cases will first go to juvenile court, but they might eventually be tried as adults.

Barnes and Jackson remain in the Wake County Detention Center with no bond.

Sydney Franklin

Two more charged in death of 19-year-old at Green Road Park in Raleigh

The shooting happened near Fuquay-Varina Elementary School.

Fuquay-Varina police investigate road rage shooting near elementary school

Fuquay-Varina police said the road rage shooting happened at the intersection of Mill Creek Drive and Johnson Pond Road. Fuquay-Varina Elementary School is less than one-quarter of a mile north of the intersection.

North Carolina Highway 98 was closed in both directions Thursday near Interstate 885 in Durham after a driver evading state troopers crashed into another vehicle head-on.

Wrong-way chase down NC 98 leads to 4-vehicle crash in Durham

Crash on NC 98 in Durham

Thursday night, temperatures are expected to be in the mid 40s, perfect for attending Wool E Bull's Winter Wonderland.


Cool and breezy Thursday precedes weekend warmup; Sunday is a WRAL Weather Alert Day

Thursday Thaw, Dec. 7

Shots rang out outside Vance County High School Tuesday night.

Fight shuts down Vance County basketball game, shots fired outside of school

Vance County High School fight

The man suspected of fatally shooting three people Wednesday at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, taught at East Carolina University and graduated from Duke University.

Las Vegas shooting suspect had hit list with names of UNLV, ECU staff

Las Vegas shooting suspect Anthony Polito

Get the latest WRAL WeatherCenter Forecast whenever you need it, including the DUALDoppler5000 and the 7-Day Forecast.

WRAL WeatherCenter Forecast

Authorities respond to a violent crash on NC 98 in Durham on Thursday evening.

Sky 5: Crash on NC 98 in Durham

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Daytime Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings are held at 3 p.m. daily. They can be seen as live or on-demand video.

Daytime Pick 3 and Pick 4 Drawing

Nightly N.C. Education Lottery drawings during the 11 p.m. News.

Evening Pick 3 Pick 4 and Cash 5

Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday Powerball drawings, as shown live on WRAL.

Powerball Drawing

Videos

Payton Wilson was surprised Wednesday night at the NC State men's basketball game versus Maryland Eastern-Shore, learning he was the 2023 Dick Butkus Award Winner. 

Payton Wilson surprised with 2023 Dick Butkus Award at NC State basketball game

Payton Wilson wins Butkus award

Carolina Panthers tight end Hayden Hurst has been diagnosed with post-traumatic amnesia, his father announced on X, formerly known as Twitter on Wednesday. Hurst's father, Jerry, said he was diagnosed by an independent neurologist after the 30-year-old sustained a concussion during the team's Week 10 game against the Chicago Bears.

Panthers TE Hayden Hurst diagnosed with post-traumatic amnesia, according to his father

Hayden Hurst vs Chicago Bears

Six men are facing charges as part of a multi-jurisdictional undercover sting operation targeting child sex predators and human traffickers.

Six men arrested in child sex predator, human trafficking sting out of Wake Forest

Six arrested in Wake Forest for human trafficking

Six Tar Heels scored in double figures as the No. 24 North Carolina women's basketball team used a balanced effort to beat hot-shooting UNC Greensboro 81-66 at Carmichael Arena Wednesday evening and improve to 6-3 on the year.

Two more charged in death of 19-year-old at Green Road Park in Raleigh

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