It took just a heartbeat for a routine afternoon to turn into a scene of absolute carnage near the Fort Duquesne Bridge. Fifty-two-year-old Michael Smith of Sheraden was behind the wheel of a black SUV, weaving through Route 65 like a bat out of hell, when his vehicle flipped the guardrail and took a deadly … Read more
KINSTON, N.C. — The hunt is on in Lenoir County for whoever decided to play judge, jury, and executioner in the dead of night. Somebody out there on Nobles Lane squeezed a trigger just past midnight, and when the smoke cleared, 28-year-old Marquez Lewis was dead. Now that somebody is still walking free, and the … Read more
It’s the kind of phone call that knocks the wind right out of you, the kind of news that makes a neighborhood hold its breath at 12:15 in the morning. That’s when the silence near Stadiem Drive and Nobles Lane in Kinston shattered under a volley of gunfire. By the time officers rolled up, it … Read more
It’s the kind of phone call that makes the blood run cold. On what should have been an ordinary Wednesday night on Southbrook Drive, gunfire shattered the evening calm and stole a young man named Zadarius Olando Merritt from everybody who loved him. Now, a family is planning a funeral instead of celebrating a 21-year-old’s … Read more
It’s the kind of Wednesday night that shouldn’t end with yellow tape and flashing blue lights. But on May 6, 2026, for 21-year-old Zadarius Olando Merritt, a trip down Southbrook Drive in Jonesboro turned into his final moments. Just after 8 p.m., something went horribly wrong, and a neighborhood was shattered by the sound of … Read more
