ABC11 Eyewitness News - Eyewitness News at 11pm - January 21, 2026

Episode Date: January 22, 2026

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Right now, live coverage from your local newsleader, preparing you for tomorrow starting tonight and your first alert forecast. Here's what's happening where you live. This is ABC 11 eyewitness news. And right now at 11 gridlock at the grocery store. Tonight shoppers across the triangle are in a frenzy trying to stock up before this weekend's winter storm. We found very long lines picked over shelves and a lot of frazzled shoppers, just trying to get the essentials to repair for the chance of snow and ice. coming our way this weekend. Hi everyone, thanks for joining us here for the news at 11. I'm Steve Danos.

And I'm Lauren Johnson, a winter storm watch has been issued ahead of this weekend and Governor Josh Dine has declared a state of emergency for North Carolina. He's set to give a news conference tomorrow morning with more information. We have live team coverage for you here at 11 tonight. Jemis Price will bring us more on how people are

stocking up and getting ready to ride out possible power outages. But let's begin with Don, who's been working nonstop to keep track of this very complicated forecast. Don. And good evening to you. We first want to give you that winter storm watch that is in effect for most of our viewing area and this runs from

Saturday night now until Monday the potential for ice is high with this storm so I want to show you something new this is brand new from the National Weather Service this is their one of the products they use to determine if they're going to issue a winter storm warning and this is chance of three inches of snow you'll notice three inches of snow just to 10 to 30 percent chance really through the Metro and then it does go up to 50 to 80 percent as you get up towards Southville, Virginia. Watch what happens when we go from snow to a quarter inch of ice. The entire area pretty much goes under a 50 to 80 percent chance of seeing a quarter inch or more of ice.

That would be significant and the potential is there to see more and more icing. Here's the latest European model. It continues to show significant to possibly crippling ice from the triangle north. South, you'll notice it falls off a bit. That's because we're starting to see more rain incorporate with some of the models. down here. So still a long ways to go. I think the threat for a really heavy snow, though, has moved north. And now we're trending more toward ice. And because of that, acuether is actually put out a power outage chance. And notice this red area runs right through our viewing area from Charlotte to Greenville. Widespread power outages are possible as we head through the weekend and into early next week. Tonight, we're quiet out there. First alert,

Doppler net, not showing much. That's going to change in the coming days, though. We'll talk more about possibility for some rain first on Friday and a nice warmout tomorrow. And then, of course, that all important weekend storm will show you the latest models in your complete forecast coming up in just a bit. Stephen Lark. Don, looking forward to seeing more in the minutes ahead. Thanks. From Raleigh to Durham and everywhere in between grocery stores had really long lines this evening. Yeah, people are preparing the best way they know how, filling up the fridge in the pantry and just hoping for the best.

James Price joining in on the action tonight. Hitting up several stores in the triangle. She joins us live in downtown Raleigh. Jemise described the scene and the mood out there among shoppers you met. Lauren and Steve, a lot of hustle tonight and it appears folks are really taking this winter weather seriously. And it was evident by what I saw at those grocery stores tonight. We're talking long lines, empty shelves and packed parking lots. Folks are rushing out to get the supplies they need and to get the food they'll need if this weather event lasts several days.

From Costco to Publix and Harris Teeter, the grocery stores are packed tonight across the triangle. It's a little nuts right now. Some shells were empty and key staples like milk and bread were running low or out for now. The shelves are pretty empty already, so people have definitely been rushing already to pick up different grocery items. And take a look at this. Long lines inside this Harris Teeter in Durham. The line stretches to the back of the store. Carts are run out and, you know, parking lots full.

We met Rachel Schwab outside of Harris Teeter tonight after her grocery store run. She was hoping to beat the rush but was in the middle of the crowd. She showed us some of the items she was able to pick up. This is the only size milk they had left in 2% right here. Only size. Really? It's little. We are just days away from a major winter weather event that could bring snow, ice or sleet.

And moms like Taylor Lee want to be prepared. This is a special trip, actually, yeah, preparing for the ice. Well, we did need to go grocery shopping, but it definitely got pushed up a couple of days. The mom of two has a basket full of necessities and the fun food in case the winter weather lasts longer than expected. Just snacks and, you know, just, of course, some treats so that, you know, I can send them into the other room with the treats and not feel so guilty. And over at Publix in downtown Raleigh, we caught up with Grant Seulman. He picked up the one thing he'll need. Mainly water is the biggest thing.

Grant is no stranger to snow, but this time around, he's worried about one thing. A little bit more worried about the ice because all the trees. The ice could impact trees and power lines, leaving people in the dark and ruining all the food you just bought. According to food safety.gov, a full freezer will hold a safe temperature for about 48 hours if the door remains closed. Food may be safely refrozen if it still contains ice crystals. Otherwise, you'll have to throw out your meats, milk, soft and shredded cheese, eggs, frozen foods, and fresh cut fruit. Meanwhile, families like Taylor's hoping they made enough preparation to get through this weekend's winter weather event. Making sure that we have, we're stocked full of groceries and that if we get stuck in our house, we have things to do and, you know, backup power sources and stuff.

So we also stop by a local hardware store this week. They're busy over there too, some of their key items. Ice melt for the sidewalk and your porches, shovels, and de-iscer for your car. We're live in Raleigh, James Price, ABC 11, eyewitness. Yeah, you know, bottled water is a good idea in case your pipes freeze and there's no running water in the house. So something else to think about, right? Great idea. Yeah.

Jamice, thank you. And eyewitness news will bring you all the latest weather updates throughout the week. Download that free ABC11 mobile app for the latest watches and warnings. You can also check Doppler net and that seven day forecast at any time. We are following some breaking news unfolding in Vance County. Tonight Henderson police are investigating what they're calling a series of shootings. At this time we know at least two people have been shot tonight. Police say they started responding to reports of gunfire around 630 this evening.

We do know of at least those two investigations happening, but there could be more. The first happened around Hughes Street. Police say someone was shot and had to be life flighted to Duke Hospital. In that second shooting, police say a 17-year-old girl was shot in the hand. hand when someone shot into a house on Water Street. No arrest had been made. Henderson police believed the shootings may be connected to last night's shooting when two people and a seven-month-old baby were inside a car and bullets were flying. The mom and baby were hospitalized but expected to be okay. And earlier tonight, the mayor of Henderson posted this message on Facebook. It says prayer

warriors, please stand up for the city of Henderson. We have reached out to police for more information and we'll update you here on air and online as we get more. And we're following more breaking news in Hartnett County in the town of Irwin, a fire is destroyed a home. Our breaking news crew capturing this video on Josie Williams Road. The cause is unclear, but you can see this two-story house was pretty badly damaged. At least two people are now out of a home. And we also have breaking news in Fayetteville. Firefighters responding to a car that crashed into this building. It's called absolutely divine home care agency. The driver of the car was taken to the hospital. And investigators believe they were going around a curb on Cumberland Road and failed to turn

properly, sending them straight into the building. The building was closed at the time of the crash. Unfortunately, no staff members are hurt. Now to some developing news, the Pentagon placing hundreds of army military soldiers at Fort Bragg on alert for a potential deployment to Minnesota. That's according to two U.S. officials. The preparations are tied to the possibility that President Trump could invoke the Insurrection Act, a rarely used law allowing the president to deploy federal troops on American soil. The soldiers are assigned to the 16th military police brigade under the 18th Airborne Corps. We're tracking some major developments in President Trump's campaign to control.

Greenland as he attends the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Trump writing on social media, a framework of a future deal regarding that Danish territory has been formed, and he won't be imposing tariffs on European nations that could have gone into effect in February. This coming after his address to world leaders there in Davos today, the president repeated calls for the U.S. to acquire Greenland, but said he's taking military intervention off the table. And this afternoon, the stock markets close 1% higher after the Dow dropped 870 points yesterday. In a Raleigh courtroom, Headingham shooter, Austin Thompson pleaded guilty to all charges today. The teen killed five people in the Headingham neighborhood of Raleigh when he was just 15 years old back in 2022.

Among the victims, a Raleigh police officer and Thompson's older brother. Thompson pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm. The prosecution says there's evidence that for a long period of time prior to the tragedy, Austin Thompson was researching other mass shootings and looking up possible charges. as charges he could face. Thompson's parents were not in court today. His father pleaded guilty in September of 2024 to a charge of storing a firearm in a manner accessible to a minor. Thompson will be sentenced in Wake County on February 2nd.

Jurors getting more details into the murder of two teenagers hearing from the gunman himself in the trial of Isaiah Ross. Ross laying out the timeline testifying Devin Clark shot Lyric Woods, pointed the gun at him. They struggled over that weapon and he shot and killed Clark in self-defense. Ross's defense attorney asking his client, very pointed questions about how the three teens knew each other and why they gathered that night. He told the jury Clark messaged him to meet up with Clark with Woods for sex. He detailed stealing his mother's car that night, picking up Clark and later Woods. From there, he said Clark gave him directions to a remote location. During much of Ross's testimony, he drew a diagram on a whiteboard facing the jury box detailing what happened moments before those shots were fired. What did Lyric do after Devin did this?

She fell in this area. Eventually, eventually Ross says Clark pointed to the gun, around and going to be walking, I would say, back and forth. She's what? Crime was really. Eventually, Ross says Clark pointed the gun at him after killing Woods. he eventually took the gun shot and killed Ross in self-defense. Ross says he threw the handgun and other evidence that was in his car into a wooded area near Buckhorn Road. His testimony continues tomorrow. The judge anticipates at some point tomorrow she will give final instructions the jury before deliberations begin. We have more news to come here on eyewitness news tonight.

We have a new warning about a scam text message related to the DMV. We'll show you what you need to look out for on your phone. Plus make way for the monks. We're speaking with people who came out to watch the now famous group of Divor. Buddhist as they made their way through Chatham County. And Don's checking on the temps outside tonight. We've got a nice warm up tomorrow before the really chilly stuff comes back, huh? We do.

Last night, we dropped into the teens and spots. Tonight, we'll stay in the 30s. And tomorrow we could top out near 60. We'll talk about that warm up for your Thursday. And we're just getting the latest run of the America model in. I'll show it to you next. At Desjardin Insurance, we know that when you own a cleaning company, things need to be tidy and organized at every step.

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and book an assessment today. Medcan. Live well for life. Visit medcan.com slash moments to get started. New at 11, Durham Public Schools will hold a news conference tomorrow morning providing more details about three of its administrators facing charges. They were charged after authorities

say they were not fully forthcoming with information surrounding a report of child abuse. This stems from an incident in November of 2024 at Eno Valley Elementary School when a six-year-old with autism was obligedly tied to a chair. The three administrators are not accused of abuse

but for lack of cooperation with law enforcement. One of the three is Dr. Tanya Wright, who was the principal at Eno Valley Elementary. Today we spoke with a parent who has a child with special needs at a different DPS school and she expressed disappointment with the district's communication throughout the process. It feels like they're hiding things. It feels like, you know, we can't trust them with our

kids right now. With all this coming into light, it's scary to think, what if that was my child? Eyewitness news has tried to contact the three people charged. They have been suspended with pay. The Durham Association of Educators says it does not have a statement on the matter. New tonight, a new wave of text message scams that appear to be from the district. DMV hitting our phones. Take a look at this screenshot example. It claims this is your final notice for an unpaid parking ticket. And if you don't pay up, enforcement begins on January 20th.

A website link is included in the text. And while the website appears to look like the official website for the state, North Carolina, Attorney General Jeff Jackson says, it's all a scam. It's important to know the DMV never wants payment by text. You should not respond. Use the option to report it as spam and delete it. We want to thank everyone who came out today to take part in the sixth annual ABC 11 together blood drive.

Dozens of people rolled up their sleeve to give the gift of life. In total between our collection sites in Durham, Raleigh and Fayetteville, 192 units of blood were collected. The blood drive happening as the American Red Cross issued a plea for donors as blood donations reach a critically low level. We are continuing to track the Buddhist monks who were walking thousands of miles to promote peace and compassion, mindfulness, and unity. They were in Chatham County this afternoon.

Our camera was on the ground as the monks were walking south on Highway 421 in Silor City. part of a 2,000 plus mile journey to help unite what they describe as a divided world. We spoke with some of the people who came out to watch the monks. It is just wonderful. We love to see what they're doing. We love to see everyone united coming around, watching them, supporting them. It's just a great thing that they're doing out here. I think it's great for us to support them as we come together as one. And I wish them well and I wish them blessings because we're all human. We're part of mankind. Their walk for peace began in Texas and will end in Washington, D.C.

The monks are expected to be in the Raleigh area tomorrow. They're coming in on a good day. We're supposed to have a little bit of a nicer weather day. That's right, a nicer weather day. They may be delayed on the walk to Washington, though, this weekend because of the weather movie through. We just heard that the Raleigh Home Show is canceled for this weekend. That was happening downtown.

I know a lot of you were planning to go, but I'm sure they'll try to figure out another date for that. Yeah, better to be safe than sorry, right, Don? Absolutely. should lock in where you're going to be basically Saturday night through Monday morning. That's the time you're going to want to stay inside. First of all, we'll show you that seven-day forecast tomorrow. Great weather for the monks and for everybody else who gets out. 60 degrees tomorrow. Friday, showers, chilly, colder. We're in the 40s. Saturday, Sunday, Monday, all first alert days, but Saturday looking more like the daylight hours will be fine. It says we get toward the

late afternoon and evening. That's when things really start to kick off. So here's where we're we are in our winter storm forecasting, right? We're at two to four days out. So now we're working on the type of precipitation we'll see and we're zeroing in on the timing for the start of this system. So far, this is what it looks like. Here's the European model and you can see by 8 o'clock Saturday night. That's when it has the precipitation starting. Mainly snow up north, mainly mixed precipitation sleet and or freezing rain to the south. And then it continues all night through the overnight. This is Sunday, 7 o'clock still going. It has changed to rain down to the south. So that's the latest European model we had from this afternoon.

Here's the latest American model. This is just coming in. As a matter of fact, I can't even go out past Monday because we still don't have all of the data in. But this model now incorporates some of the data coming off the California coastline. We're finally getting real-time data into the system that's still in California and has to work its way here. Notice by 9 o'clock, Saturday. It starts to snow up to the north, possibly mixed precipitation. So I'm thinking earlier in the day you're going to be okay. But by Saturday, late afternoon into the evening, that's the timing adjusting. Now, as we go through the overnight and into Sunday morning, this becomes an ice event. We've talked about how the European has been trending to ice for days. Now the American model is switching over to ice too with the chance for snow up north. And then it quickly starts to move out of here. Even by 6 o'clock in the morning, though, we still see some frozen precipitation. there and some rain to the south. Remember, a model is not a forecast, but it gives us an idea what could happen. And at this point, extreme cold, we're going to stay below freezing for possibly three days.

That would leave everything locked in ice. Snow sleet or ice, high risk of that. Less on the snow side now. More on the sleet and ice side with this storm. I see roads and travel, absolutely. If you can lock in Saturday night, Sunday is going to be a bad day. And I wouldn't be surprised see power out of just widespread across the area, too. Live look at first alert Doppler net.

Couple of sprinkles up north. They'll stay up there. We'll head live out to RDU. 42 right now, mostly cloudy on a south-southwest wind at eight miles an hour. Maneota Murphy tonight's a warm night across the state. Everybody above freezing, 43 at the coast, boons at 39. And we'll see those numbers tonight down into the 30. So really not going to change that much.

34 in Smithfield. Tomorrow with the sunshine, mild temperature 60 in Raleigh, 61 in Durham, 63 in Fayetteville. that seven day forecast back to it. And Saturday, late day, Sunday, a mess. Monday 32. The mix ends early in the morning, but we stay cold. We could get down to 13 Monday night. That would be the coldest night of the winter.

Anything on the roads, re-freezes. And unfortunately, that could linger Tuesday into Wednesday. But again, still a possibility of some snowflakes, but trending more toward ice and a significant ice accumulation. And interesting to see the timing now. It looks like it might begin Saturday evening. Starting to get more of an idea and drill down in on it. Yep.

All right, Don, thank you. Sure. Still ahead, we are catching up with a former American Idol contestant to hear her perspective before a new season starts next week. We are back now with some entertainment news and we're less than a week away from the premiere of season 24 of American Idol right here on ABC 11. And new tonight we're hearing from a former contestant on the show and a Durham native. Ashley Tankard competed on season 21 of American Idol. She moved to Nashville after the show and recently released a book called Fear Didn't Win. talks about her desire for a music career going on American Idol and dealing with anxiety and fear and pursuing music.

This is the advice she had for anyone looking to audition. I would say the advice I would give to anyone auditioning is to go in it, already knowing who you are as a person outside of music and as a person, like, as an artist. Because I didn't have either when I went and I was kind of just like existing and it was just not good for. me and I compare myself to a lot of people around me that were the other contestants. So I would say go in knowing who you are. And what was the other question? I heard go in with some confidence. That's what she says, right?

Yeah. Season 24 of American Idol premieres on Monday, January 26th at 8 p.m. Right here on ABC 11. Okay, it's a big morning on GMA tomorrow at 8.30 a.m. with the announcement of this year's Oscar nominees, actress Danielle Brooks, and Lewis Pullman revealed the names of the 2026. in all 24 categories. You can watch the live stream on Disney Plus, Hulu, ABC11.com, and the ABC11 mobile app, or watch GMA right here on ABC11 beginning at 7 a.m. There's a conversation about potentially

moving the arena to the New Carolina North Campus. Trey, thank you. And thank you at home for watching. That's going to do it for us here tonight. We'll see you back here tomorrow with a lot. ABC 11 eyewitness news is sponsored by Capital Chevrolet. Together let's drive. Shop Capital Chevrolet.com.